In his first season with Lazio, Ivan Provedel is already close to making history at the club after keeping multiple clean sheets in the early stages of the 2022/23 season.
The 28-year-old arrived from Spezia in the summer initially as a back-up to Portuguese goalkeeper Luis Maximiano, but the Italian has taken his place in goal after Matchday 1 of Serie A and he has been an assuring presence in between the posts.
According to cittaceleste.it, Provedel is second overall for the longest run of minutes unbeaten in goal in Serie A matches for Lazio excluding injury time at 569 minutes, while Luca Marchegiani holds the record after not conceding a goal for 745 minutes in 1997/98.
The current Biancocelesti goalkeeper has kept clean sheets in the last six rounds of Serie A fixtures while Marchegiani also has the record for the most consecutive clean sheets in Serie A fixtures with seven from the aforementioned 1997/98 season. However, Fernando Orsi has the record for the most clean sheets in a league campaign with eight from the 1982/83 Serie B campaign.
Provedel has kept eight clean sheets in 15 competitive appearances so far this season.
Lazio boast second-best defence in Europe, only Barcelona better
Although Maurizio Sarri is best known for his attacking philosophy as a coach, his Lazio team have one of the best defences in Europe as they have conceded just five times in Serie A after 11 rounds. They are still an impressive attacking force as well, having found the back of the net 23 times.
It was a different scenario last season when the Aquile had a leakier defence. Although they scored 77 goals throughout the 2021/22 league campaign, their backline was anything but watertight as they conceded 58 times.
The gradual improvement of Patric as well as the arrivals of Alessio Romagnoli and Nicolo Casale from AC Milan and Hellas Verona have helped to tighten the defence while the acquisition of Provedel has provided much-need reliability in goal that was missing last season.
Surprisingly, the tightest defence in all of the European leagues is Barcelona. Coached by club legend Xavi, the Blaugrana are still prolific scorers, having found the back of the net 28 times in 11 La Liga matches. Despite their emphasis on attacking football, the Spanish giants have conceded just four goals.
