New Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri has made his decision as far as the starting goalkeeper is concerned after he opted for veteran Spanish shot stopper Pepe Reina ahead of Thomas Strakosha.

It had previously been revealed that Strakosha would seek to leave Lazio before the end of the transfer window if he’s not the first choice goalkeeper and it was certain that the possibility of Strakosha leaving the Italian capital club didn’t influence Sarri and his final decision on who starts the season in goal.

Pepe Reina was picked by Sarri for the starting goalkeeper’s slot ahead of his rival and it took him just four minutes to pick the ball out of the net after Lazio were stunned by their hosts, Empoli.

Sarri knows a lot about Empoli whom he managed before taking up the Napoli job. Empoli got their goal through Filippo Bandinelli. Lazio replied almost immediately with Serbian international Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. The visitors were behind for just two minutes.

Lazio went ahead for the first time in the game when Manuel Lazzarri scored a second goal for Sarri and his players shortly after the hour mark. Star player Ciro Immobile made sure of the points with a penalty four minutes before the break. The two sides didn’t add to their respective goal tally in the second half as Sarri began his reign at Lazio on a positive note. His team had to do it the hard way by coming from behind to beat Empoli who are back in the Italian Serie A following their promotion from Serie B.

Lazio are joint second on the Serie A table alongside city rivals AS Roma who also won away from home by the same 3-1 scoreline. Roma won at Fiorentina to move behind leaders and defending champions Inter Milan. Inter are at the top of the table at the moment after the emphatic 4-0 win over Genoa at home.