Lazio took consolation at having
given "everything" after their exited the Europa League at the
quarter-final stage on Thursday, losing a penalty shoot-out 3-2
to Norway's Bodo/Glimt at the Stadio Olimpico.
Faced with having to recover a 2-0 deficit from the first leg,
the Rome side took the game to the visitors and levelled the tie
thanks to a first-half goal by Taty Castellanos and Tijani
Noslin's injury-time score.
They then took the lead in extra time with Boulaye Dia finding
the net, only for Bodo to pull one back and take the tie to
penalties, which Lazio lost, with three players failing to
convert their spot kicks.
"It hurts to go out like this because we played the perfect
game," said Dia, who was one of two Lazio players to score their
penalty.
"We came back, we did everything we can do.
"We conceded a goal and it's difficult to end like this,
especially after what we did tonight.
"We gave it our all. The stadium was full and they gave us
everything too, pushing us on.
"We're disappointed, but we did our best, even those who missed
their penalty".
Italy still has representatives in Europe's two other club
competitions.
Serie A title-holders Inter will face Barcelona in the Champions
League semi-finals after knocking out Bayern Munich this week,
while Fiorentina are in the last four of the Conference League
for the third consecutive year thanks to Thursday 2-2 draw with
Slovenia's Celje, which took them through 4-3 on aggregate.
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