Football: Late Keita winner boosts Lazio
Lazio shaded the first half against the Bundesliga side.
ROME (AFP) - Keita Balde came off the bench to hit a priceless second-half winner for Lazio as the Serie A side beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 to boost their group stage qualifying hopes ahead of the second leg of their Champions League play-off next week.
Lazio shaded the first half against the Bundesliga side and Spanish striker Keita, replacing veteran German striker Miroslav Klose at the break, finally made the break in the 77th minute when he ran on to a through ball to muscle past the Leverkusen defence to slot past Bernd Leno at the goalkeeper s far post.
Leverkusen, though, had been unlucky prior to 20-year-old Keita s strike. Admir Mehmedi skewed a shot just wide of the post just after the hour and Hakan Calhanoglu came close twice to break the deadlock.
Those misses proved costly and Keita s goal took the wind out of Bayer s sails and has given Stefano Pioli s side, third-place finishers in last season s Serie A, hope that they can join Italian champions Juventus and Roma in the group stages of the Champions League next month.
