Ex-Barcelona star makes European history in Lazio's defeat to Alkmaar

Former Barcelona forward Pedro Rodriguez has made European history following his goal for Lazio in the Europa Conference League.

Pedro scored Lazio’s only goal of the night as they fell 2-1 at home to Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in their round of 16 first leg in Rome on Tuesday night.

The goal by Pedro in the Europa Conference League encounter saw him become the first player in European history to score in the knockout stage of UEFA’s three-tier competitions - UCL, UEL and Conference League.

The Biancocelesti came into the Europa Conference tie in a confident mood following an impressive 1-0 win over runaway Serie A leaders, Napoli at the weekend.

Lazio put in a masterclass to halt the rampaging Victor Osimhen-inspired Napoli side thanks to a solid defensive performance.

However, in Europe, Maurizio Sarri and his men have failed to look convincing and have struggled to replicate their domestic performances in the Conference League.

That inconsistency continued on Tuesday when Alkmaar came, saw, and defeated them right there in Rome to take a deserved advantage into the second leg in the Netherlands next week.

Just 18 minutes into the Conference League encounter in Rome, Pedro netted his history-making goal to put Biancelesti ahead following good work from teammate Mattia Zaccagni.

But Lazio failed to hold on at least till halftime as Alkmaar found a way back into the game before the break via Evangelos Pavlidis, who levelled the score.

1-1 became 1-2 as the visitors took the lead for the first time just after the half-hour mark when Milos Kerkez fired a second of the game for Alkmaar.

The away side held on for the win which will see them take a slim advantage heading into the second leg in Holland next week.