What if I were to tell you that there is a team which in just this season alone might make the leap from not even being Champions League participants to winning a major domestic league for the first time in over two decades?
There is, in fact, such a team, and not only that - despite being very much improved from last season and overcoming a slow start by recording a key victory over their bitter rivals, absolutely nobody is taking their league title chances seriously. However, as the season progresses, I believe that it will become evident - overlooking this team will prove to be a grave mistake.
The team I'm talking about is Lazio, who just beat city rivals Roma 3-2 during the latest Serie A matchday. This most recent iteration of the Derby della Capitale saw I Biancocelesti emerge victorious despite Roma's greater control of the match. Although Roma shot twice as often as Lazio did, took nine corners to Lazio's one, and generally dictated the match's tempo, a resolute Lazio claimed all three points thanks to goals scored by Sergej Milinković-Savić, Pedro, and Felipe Anderson.
Although Lazio may currently lie just sixth in Serie A, seven points behind league leaders Napoli, it's still early days - only six of the 38 matchdays have gone by. This is a team which could absolutely bridge that gap and mount a serious challenge for their first Scudetto since 2000.
Just like the team as a whole, Milinković-Savić, Lazio's best player is one who continues to be underrated despite the fact that he may soon make the leap to elite status. A fundamentally sound central midfielder who is a true two-way player, Milinković-Savić returned to the Stadio Olimpico for a seventh season despite off-season interest from Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Liverpool. Given his career trajectory thus far, it isn't out of the question that the Serb might emerge as one of the world's best midfielders this season and lead Lazio to new heights.
During the off-season, Lazio made some very savvy acquisitions which, once again, went under almost everyone's radar. Felipe Anderson came back to the club at which he had previously spent five years; he has fit in seamlessly since his return from three years at West Ham - it almost feels as though he never left. Lazio also picked up Albanian full-back Elseid Hysaj from Napoli on a free transfer. Hysaj has been solid for Lazio since his arrival. If the wheels eventually begin to fall off for Napoli, releasing Hysaj may prove to be a move which they will regret.
Lazio even made a major upgrade in the dugout. In June, they replaced Simone Inzaghi with the perpetually underrated yet often luckless Maurizio Sarri. As Lazio's new head coach, Sarri will undoubtedly have a point to prove, especially to Juventus. Just over a year ago, Juve shockingly fired Sarri even though he led them to yet another Scudetto. He is a coach whose relative lack of silverware belies his actual skill. No matter where Sarri has coached, his teams have almost always overachieved. It would be no surprise if this were to be true of Lazio as well.
Perhaps the biggest factor working in Lazio's favour, however, is the sudden decline of their Serie A rivals. Inter Milan and Juventus both lost their respective best players to second stints at their former Premier League clubs. The effects of these departures are obvious; without Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo, Inter and Juve do not even look close to the teams they were last season. AC Milan also lost their best player in June when Gianluigi Donnarumma signed for Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
When you look at the five other clubs which could realistically win the Scudetto this season, all of them are flawed in some way be it in players, coaching, ownership and front office, or perhaps even a combination of the preceding. Though this is true of Lazio as well, the fact that there is no obvious leading contender to win this season's league title means that they realistically to have a chance to break their drought this season.
The glory days of Pavel Nedvěd, Alessandro Nesta, Marcelo Salas, and Sven-Göran Eriksson may long have passed, but now a new generation could be set to take its place in club history.
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