Lazio coach Vladimir Petkovic hailed the influence of Miroslav Klose on their victory over Cagliari.
Klose came off the bench and changed the game, scoring a goal and earning a penalty.
"Klose is a very important player, one of the leaders of this team and I am very pleased amid all this criticism that the team showed strong character. That was the most important thing today.
"The most important thing now is to get all the players back from injury, as there are six or seven missing.
"I never wanted to use that as an alibi and we worked with these players who are giving a good response, but considering the situation we are above expectations."
