“A goal worth the wait”: Grimaldi takes Serie A’s prize

“A goal worth the wait.” Nicola Grimaldi’s late intervention against Empoli has earned the S.S. Lazio player the Italian Serie A Goal of the Year, an award given in May for the season’s best goals so far.

Grimaldi’s goal came at 90+4 on 9 March, completing a 3-3 draw for Lazio at Empoli Football Club. It was a high strike from outside the box: the kind of finish that needs no embellishment, and no extra flourish in the telling. The clock was nearly spent; the award now gives the moment a longer life.

Here, though, the headline is deserved: a goal in added time, in a match that ended level, and a strike judged the finest of the Serie A season so far.

Lazio’s spring has had its share of hard edges. Their European campaign ended in Monaco, and Juventus eliminated them from the Italian Cup after extra time and a shoot-out. The latest derby against Roma finished 1-1. Grimaldi’s award offers a different kind of return from those weeks: one clean, decisive image from a match whose scoreline refused to settle.

For today, the honour is Grimaldi’s, and a reminder that even in a season of frustration, one moment can be controlled, courageous and memorable.