Italy has long-produced some of the finest defenders in world football. Their sides have been renowned for their stingy defences and they’ve exported centre-halfs around the world as readily as they do prosciutto or olive oil.
Trends have changed over the last number of years though and the number of goals scored in Italian domestic football has shot up in these last few seasons.
So what’s caused this? A slow-down in the churning out of quality defenders, or an increase in the skill of young Italian attackers?
One man who's been rattling Serie A defences for quite a while now is Lazio attacker Ciro Immobile.
The diminutive attacker burst onto the European scene with Torino in the 2013-14 season, earning himself a move to Borussia Dortmund with his rich goalscoring form.
Things didn’t work out for him in Germany, though, and moves to Sevilla and back to Torino followed.
The form of old still evaded the 28-year-old at those two clubs but a move to Lazio in 2016 has sparked him right back into life.
He’s scored 47 goals in 61 appearances for the Rome-based side and that’s been a big part of their improved showings in the league during that time.
There’s been a few sweet strikes among that number but perhaps no more than, perhaps, the one he scored for his side away to Cagliari today.
With his side trailing 2-1 deep into injury time, he produced a stunning, flying flicked goal to steal a point.
Watch the replay below:
