Sassuolo moves the ball near midfield, and the Lazio players step out of their positions to apply pressure. On the right, Walukiewicz finds an inside lane to slip behind Zaccagni, combining with Berardi. Then he spots Moro, the center forward, coming back behind Patric, the Lazio playmaker replacing Cataldi, who was injured after about half an hour.
Moro has time to control the ball but makes a mistake, almost tripping over it. Mario Gila, Lazio’s left center-back, lunges for the ball. Without hesitation, Gila carries it forward vertically. He immediately looks toward Isaksen, sprinting on the right into the space between Sassuolo’s fullback and center-back. Matic, covering in front of the defense, moves to block that passing lane. Gila reads this and, with the inside of his foot, redirects his run even more vertically.
Gila bypassed Matic and momentarily opens the central portion of the field from his perspective. From his left, however, Walukiewicz is coming to close him down. Without touching the ball again and slightly lengthening his stride, Gila plays a first-time vertical pass to Isaksen and finds him in the space between the two center-backs. Isaksen reaches the goalkeeper, Muric, one-on-one, and tries a chip, but it goes just over the crossbar.
At the end of this match, which Lazio won 2-1 with a goal in injury time (along with Juventus, Lazio has scored the most goals after the 90th minute, six out of 28 total, 21%), Mario Gila, awarded man of the match, stated that Lazio is only six points away from safety. He then added that, in any case, that is not their objective.
By the way, for fans looking to combine football excitement with online entertainment, sites like JB’s secure casino provide a safe space to bet on games and sports, including football matches, making the action off the pitch just as thrilling as on it.
Lazio is in a sort of limbo, despite their recent win against AC Milan at the Olimpico, with no clear purpose because it’s uncertain what will happen at the end of the season. What will become of the increasingly open conflict between the president and the coach, not to mention between the president and the fans? That’s unknown. Meanwhile, Lazio plays in empty stadiums, due to fan protests against Lotito, matches that are sometimes incredible and desperate, like the one against Sassuolo. Incredible, desperate, but also full of quality.
Mario Gila is central to all of this. He perfectly embodies his coach’s football philosophy. In his first year in Rome, arriving at 22 from Real Madrid, he barely played at all, he later said that period was very difficult for him. But he also represents the underlying dilemma of all the good we see in Lazio today: how long can it last?
Gila is one of the best defenders in the league, even in one of the apparently less aggressive teams in Serie A. According to Hudl Statsbomb data, Lazio has the highest PPDA index in the league, meaning they allow opponents more passes without intervening with a tackle, interception, or foul, but this is mostly due to Sarri's style, one of the few coaches not to mark man-to-man with a three-man defense.
The second-highest team in this metric is Grosso’s Sassuolo, another team with a four-man back line defending zonally. In reality, Lazio makes roughly the same number of pressures per match as Roma (164–167), who instead have one of the lowest PPDA indexes after Como. Lazio’s players press to close spaces and hinder opponents’ progress upfield, but intervene rarely.
Comparing again, Roma wins more balls through pressing, while Lazio is third from last. It’s a cautious game that requires concentration, which Lazio follows by often lowering its defensive line and playing vertically whenever possible, without leaving too much space behind. They don’t have many fast recovery defenders, except for Gila, quick to retreat and with excellent timing. He is aggressive but less so than the average league defender, not overly physical or foul-prone. He doesn’t defend purely with strength like most of his peers but by covering space, making contact, applying pressure, and always keeping his eyes on the ball.
As a true Catalan, his best work comes when he has the ball at his feet. Gila is an atypical Catalan, raised in Real Madrid’s youth system under Guti, known for incisive runs behind defenses. Yet he remains a defender with a midfield background, visible in how he handles the ball, especially in carrying it forward.
In the 66th minute of this same match against Sassuolo, Gila manages the ball in his half while under heavy pressure from Nzola. He allows him to approach, spins around him, and starts dribbling. He passes between Laurienté and Koné, who do nothing to stop him, then continues past Dele-Bashiru, the mezzala, who had offered a passing option. Matic confronts him, but Gila accelerates past him into the space between Matic and Sassuolo’s left-back, Ulisses Garcia, who had brought down Isaksen.
At this point, Gila directly threatens the opposing center-backs. He passes to Dia and runs behind Muharemović, and waits for Dia to complete the triangle and feed him through. For technical reasons, or personal choice, Dia instead plays Isaksen, who rises from behind. Gila spreads his arms but continues. Soon after, Isaksen will ignore him for a backward pass, and the move ends with a cross cleared by the defense.
Mario Gila, the atypical defender redefining Lazio?
Gila is an atypical Serie A defender. At 1.85 m, he does not instinctively go physical with attackers. This could be an issue if he ends up in a three-man defense with man-marking. Milan showed interest, as well as Inter, but perhaps even a return to Real Madrid is within his technical reach, given the players currently in the squad.
He closes down attackers, prevents them from turning, covers the full-back even in depth, escorts wide opponents to the corner, and wins aerial duels despite not being a giant. He plays like a classic ball-playing defender: switching the field, line-breaking passes to mezzalas, long balls to attackers (91% overall passing accuracy). He executes the manual of the perfect four-man zonal defender. But who in Serie A really needs such a defender today?
Lazio’s current reality is grim, but the results are not. Results confirm that Sarri’s ideas are still highly competitive and capable of keeping a team afloat that might otherwise have fallen apart, as relayed via Ultimo Uomo. Defenders like Gila, with or without the ball, are crucial in this system, players who think, choose, interpret the game, and manage timing. Equally important is a coach like Sarri who leverages his skills and encourages him to take risks.
Lazio is a team with character, and Mario Gila has emerged over the years for his charisma. Now, at 25 (26 in the summer) and in his third season as a starter, we finally see the completeness of his game and the potential of his talent, he was even called to the Spanish national team last year to replace an injured Cubarsí.
Currently, Gila earns "only" 1.6 million gross per year. Only seven Lazio players earn less, three of whom are goalkeepers. His contract runs until 2027, and its renewal is a complex issue, especially since any transfer would be pure capital gain. Between the upcoming contract expiration and Real Madrid’s 50% resale clause, this is another situation Claudio Lotito has handled too slowly, now working against him. The hope is that Lazio finds a way to bring fans back to the stadium and relaunch its sporting project, centering on Mario Gila. Players of his type are increasingly rare.
