Nuno Tavares’ Redemption in Lazio
The Nuno Tavares redemption arc is in full swing as the on-loan Portuguese full back is lighting up Serie A with his attacking displays for Lazio. After a quiet few years in the wilderness, we are now seeing the potential that Arsenal gambled on in 2021 paying £8m for the player from Benfica.
After loan spells away from London at Marseille under Igor Tudor in 2022/23 and last season with Nottingham Forest under Steve Cooper and Nuno Espirito Santo, where he found game time harder at Nottingham Forest, it feels like last-chance saloon for Tavares as he is rebuilding his career after a big money move from Lisbon to London.
No Stopping Tijjani: How Tijjani Noslin’s Surge in Success Can Bless Marco Baroni’s Lazio
Lazio was the next destination and so far, it has been a wonderful start for Nuno Tavares at Lazio. Lazio are going through a transition period; they sacked Maurizio Sarri last season and then went to Igor Tudor for the final third of the 2023/24 season. For 2024/25, Lazio went for someone with a safe pair of hands in Marco Baroni who coached Lecce to safety in 2022/23 after winning promotion from Serie B the previous season.
Baroni did a wonderful job at Hellas Verona in 2023/24 and guided them to safety after the club got decimated in the January transfer window in losing its best players like Cyril Ngonge (Napoli), Filippo Terracciano (Milan), Josh Doig (Sassuolo) and Isak Hien (Atalanta). He quickly rebuilt and guided Hellas Verona out of the relegation zone to thirteenth in the Serie A table.
Nuno Tavares had to wait until matchday three in the Serie A season for his Lazio debut, he was on the bench for the first two games of the season which were a 3-1 home win over Venezia where Adam Maruisc was playing at left back. Then on matchday two, Lazio travelled to Udine and lost 2-1. Matchday three was the home game vs AC Milan on a blockbuster of a game on Saturday night under the lights in the Italian capital.
It was a North London Derby duel in Italy as Nuno Tavares came against Emerson Royal, and the Gunners came out on top on top with Tavares using his directness and explosive pace to get past Emerson Royal on more than one occasion and assisting both Lazio goals in a dramatic 2-2 draw. Nuno assisted Taty Castellanos and Boulaye Dia with brilliant full back play, leaving Emerson Royal in his dust.
Nuno Tavares and Lazio haven’t looked back he has made that left back spot his own, kept Luca Pellegrini out of the starting XI in Serie A. Pellegrini has been deputising in the Europa League, in the next six games Nuno Tavares has assisted five goals and has become the top assist king so far after nine rounds in Serie A with seven.
Assists vs Fiorentina, Empoli, Torino and at the weekend where Lazio took on Genoa at the Stadio Olimpico. Lazio won 3-0 and Nuno Tavares was once again outstanding with two assists. Nuno Tavares broke from deep and linked up with Tijjani Noslin who scored a wonderful goal cutting in from the left-hand side. In added time Lazio made it 3-0 when Nuno Tavares crossed in from the left to Matias Vecino to head home from close range.
Tavares has built a good relationship with Mattia Zaccagni down Lazio left and on Sunday after it was Tijani Noslin who deputised, and they clicked from the start. Both Nuno Tavares and Tijani Noslin gave Stefano Sabelli the runaround and that forced the hand of Alberto Gilardino, who took off his RWB at halftime and gave a Serie A debut to Brooke Norton-Cuffy, who had a very nice battle down Genoa right and Lazio left-hand side with his former teammate.
Norton-Cuffy was brought on to push Nuno Tavares back and stop him running from deep with his pace and it almost worked with the Lazio left back having the final say with the second-half assist to Mattia Vecino. Whilst Tavares has been on the bench in all three Europa League matches vs. Dynamo Kyiv, Nice and Twente, with Luca Pellegrini filling in at left back, the Portuguese fullback has been the first-choice in the league.
Tavares fits in perfectly in Marco Baroni’s Lazio 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 system and has formed an impressive synergy down the Lazio left-hand side with Mattia Zaccagni and Tijjani Noslin. His direct attacking style of play has been a breath of fresh air this season for Lazio and there is more to come from the Portuguese left back.
Lazio retain a reported €6m fee if the club wants to make the loan move permanent, and based on his current form, they would be foolish to not jump on this opportunity. After bouncing around from Benfica to Arsenal to Nottingham Forest to Marseille, Nuno Tavares may just have finally found a permanent home at the Stadio Olimpico with Marco Baroni’s Lazio.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Octavio Passos – Getty Images