Adrian Mutu gave Cesena the lead then debutant Vincenzo
Iaquinta fired home a spot kick following an incident which also saw Lazio
defender Abdoulay Konko sent off.
However, Lazio surged back in the second half with three
goals in 10 minutes, from Hernanes, Senad Lulic and Libor Kozak.
Lazio moved provisionally into third place, ahead of Udinese,
which faces second-placed AC Milan on Saturday. Cesena remained second from
bottom, four points off safety.
Meanwhile, Siena beat Napoli 2-1 in the first leg of the
Italian Cup semifinals. The second leg will be played on March 21.
Cesena desperately needed a victory to help its fight
against relegation. And it looked like the three points were on the cards in
the first half.
A swift counterattack saw Giuseppe Colucci release Iaquinta
who set up Mutu in the area for the opener.
Lazio seemed to have shot itself in the foot shortly after
half an hour when Konko was sent off for pushing over Mutu in the area after
the Romanian beat the offside trap and raced toward goal.
Iaquinta, who joined on loan from Juventus last month,
struck a powerful penalty high into the right of goal.
Lazio had given little sign of what was to come after the
break, during the opening 45 minutes.
It got itself back into the game in the 52nd minute. Miroslav
Klose threaded the ball through to Hernanes, who muscled his way into space
before half turning and thumping the ball into the back of the net.
Cesena almost restored its two-goal advantage immediately
but Mario Santana's effort flew a whisker wide of the left upright.
Lazio leveled on the hour as Klose nodded the ball on to
Lulic, who fired a razing strike into the bottom right corner.
The comeback was complete two minutes later as Kozak stole
the ball in a goalmouth scramble and slid a shot in between Cesena goalkeeper
Francesco Antonioli and the right-hand post.
Elsewhere, Siena put on an impressive display in its first
ever Italian Cup semifinal.
Reginaldo latched onto Daniele Mannini's pass and rounded
onrushing Napoli goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis before slotting the ball home to
give Siena the lead.
Gaetano D'Agostino doubled Siena's advantage in the 66th
from Andrea Rossi's cross.
Napoli grabbed one back four minutes from time when Siena
defender Emanuele Pesoli turned into his own net as he was trying to keep the
ball away from Edinson Cavani.