This Week In Lazio History: October 14-20 | OneFootball

Thomas Strakosha’s last-second penalty save against Juventus, the thrashings of Inter and Napoli, Klose’s last-minute goal in the Derby, Carlo Cudicini’s heroics, and more this week in Lazio history.

Matches of the Week

Date: Sunday, October 14, 1973 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Sampdoria 1-0 Captain Wilson managed to find the key to unlock the Sampdoria wall almost at the end of the game scoring his first goal for the club.

Date: Saturday, October 14, 2017 Venue: Juventus Stadium, Turin Fixture: Juventus Lazio 1-2 Strakosha saves a last-gasp penalty and Lazio beat Juve away.

Date: Sunday, October 16, 1994 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Napoli 5-1 Winter leads Lazio’s thrashing of Napoli and it could have been far worse for the visitors.

Date: Sunday, October 18, 1998 Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Fixture: Inter Lazio 3-5 Spectacular Lazio annihilate Inter at San Siro with goals from Salas, Conceição, Mancini and Nedved.

Date: Thursday, October 19, 2017 Venue: Stade de Nice (Allianz Riviera), Nice Fixture: Nice Lazio 1-3, Europa League Two Sergej Milinkovic-Savic second-half goals give Lazio an important win on Côte d’Azur.

Match In Focus

Date: Sunday, October 16, 2011 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Roma 2-1

In the last two seasons, Lazio had never beaten Roma. The last win had been a 4-2 on April 11, 2009. From then on only defeats. Manager Edy Reja had also never beaten the Giallorossi and during the week preceding the derby he had got a lot of slack from the Roma players. But Lazio now had Miro Klose.

At the beginning of the game, it was all Roma. In the 5th minute Valdes José Angel crossed from the left but the Lazio defence managed to block. Konko cleared but he merely passed the ball to Fernando Gago who immediately passed to Miralem Pjanic. The Bosnian sent the ball into the box, and the Biancocelesti tried to cut the Giallorossi forwards out by applying the off-side tactic but it did not work, Pablo Osvaldo was all alone in front of Federico Marchetti and scored. In celebration he showed a t-shirt underneath his jersey, copying what Francesco Totti had written on his in a derby a few years back, mocking the Biancocelesti.

In the 10th minute, a shot by Simone Perrotta went just out and at that point, Lazio decided that it was time to join the match so a minute later Cissé went off on the counterattack, ball towards the middle where Hernanes and Klose were arriving. The Brazilian passed to the German whose shot from inside the box went just wide. In the 24th Hernanes tried a shot from a long way out, again wide. In the 27th a colossal chance for the Giallorossi. A 3 against 3 counterattack allowed José Angel, on the left with no opponents, to cross into the box, Bojan Krkić arrived late, Marchetti tried to stop the ball and missed, Osvaldo fumbled and Giuseppe Biava kicked the ball into the corner. Instead of a high cross, Roma opted for a low pass and Krkić had another chance but his shot was saved by Marchetti.

The first half ended with Roma on top and Lazio in a spot of bother.

The Biancocelesti were a lot more aggressive in the second half and in the 51st minute, Cristian Brocchi interrupted a Roma attack and went for the fast counterattack. Ball to Hernanes who passed it back to Brocchi running into the box. Simon Kjaer fouled him on entry. Penalty for Lazio and a red card for the Dane. Hernanes took the spot kick and equalized. A completely different ball game now.

In the 54th minute, a long ball to Klose from the right, the German just inside the box volleyed towards the goal, and Maarten Stekelenburg saved into the corner (not given by the referee). In the 70th minute corner for Lazio. Cristian Ledesma crossed inside the box, Klose headed the ball towards the goal but it hit the crossbar. A minute later another corner, this time taken by Hernanes who tried a shot at goal but the Dutch keeper cleared. Roma were in great difficulty and Lazio smelt blood.

In the 80th minute, Lesdema to Senad Lulic, a low cross to the middle but Stefano Mauri’s attempt was too high. A minute later Mauri in the Roma half saw Cissé move towards the box and sent him a perfect high pass. A magnificent volley from the Frenchman, post!!! It would have been one of the greatest goals in Lazio history.

In the 89th minute, Hernanes saw Lulic arriving on the left wing so ball to him. The Bosnian faked a cross, the Roma defender fell for it, and he tried a shot, but Stekelenburg saved into the corner.

Time was running out for Lazio. With thirty seconds from the final whistle, Hernanes was in the middle of the Roma half, he passed the ball to Francelino Matuzalem who, without looking, put a lovely ball into the box for Klose. The German controlled the ball, shot and scored.

At the stadium, it was pure mayhem. Reja, always very composed, went berserk. The players, substitutes and members of staff all jumped on top of Klose. In Rome pets were terrorized by owners’ shouts and windows were shattered by the cries of “gooooooaaaaaalllll” as Laziali all over the world celebrated. The Biancocelesti had turned the derby around and won.

Birth of a Hero: Carlo Cudicini

Carlo Cudicini played ten years for Chelsea and was one of the best goalkeepers of the Premier League. He is also a Lazio hero despite having made just one appearance for the Biancocelesti.

In 1996 Lazio needed a backup goalkeeper for Luca Marchegiani and Cudicini, son of the legendary Fabio, one of the greatest goalkeepers in Italian football history, who was (rarely) playing for Milan was available to be loaned out for a year.

On October 20, 1996, Carlo walked out of the changing rooms and sat on the bench as he had done in the previous five Serie A games. But after four minutes Luca Marchegiani made a terrible mistake. Long ball from Fabian O’Neil for Dario Silva, the Biancoceleste goalkeeper came out of the box but completely mistimed the trajectory and touched the ball with his hands. Red card. In went Cudicini.

Despite being down to ten men, Lazio played well and scored with Pavel Nedved in the first half. At this point Cudicini became the hero of the day, saving twice on Pierpaolo Bisoli and once on a Fábian O’Neill free kick. The Biancocelesti scored again in the beginning of the second half with Beppe Signori but then they stopped. Cagliari got back into the game with a Giacomo Banchelli goal in the 77th minute and the Lazio players literally prepared for the Sardinians’ onslaught. Continuous scrambles in the penalty area and the Biancocelesti defenders cleared the ball as far away from the box as possible.

With four minutes to go, Cudicini had to come out of goal to stop Bisoli and in doing so he injured his Achilles tendon. The injury was serious, he should have been substituted immediately but Lazio had finished the sub slots. Igor Protti was ready to go in goal, but the Biancocelesti would have been left with 9 men. Cudicini decided to stay on the pitch despite the fact that he could hardly walk. The Lazio defenders crowded around him and the Biancocelesti managed to win.

A heroic decision, never forgotten by the fans.

In Memory: Giuseppe Massa

Giuseppe Massa was one of the most important players for the Lazio scudetto win of 1973-74, despite the fact he had left Rome two years earlier.

He started playing football with a small local Neopolitan team, Flegrea, but his first real professional experience was with Internapoli, the second team in Naples, in the 4th division in 1965/66. He became known as “Peppiniello”. Here he met and played alongside Pino Wilson who would later be his captain at Lazio.

In 1966 he joined the Biancocelesti and after one year in the youth team, he was moved up to the first team squad by Roberto Lovati. He made his debut on March 3, 1968, against Catania in Serie B. He made 13 league appearances in his first year and scored 3 goals.

The following year, again in Serie B, he played 30 league games with 6 goals helping Lazio back to Serie A.

In 1969/70 in the top flight, he played 27 times with 5 goals while in 1970/71 he played 29 games with another 5 goals but could not avoid Lazio’s relegation.

His most prolific year was 1971/72 when he scored 12 league goals in 38 appearances and Lazio were promoted back to Serie A under Tommaso Maestrelli.

He had a good spell at Lazio in his six years playing 137 league games with 37 goals. Maybe a little unfairly, Massa will be remembered just as much for his transfer to Inter in the summer of 1972 as for his Lazio goals. This was not merely because he was sold to Inter, but more importantly for who came to Lazio in the opposite direction. The deal was Massa to Inter in exchange for Massimo Silva and Mario Frustalupi, plus 300 million Lire (approx 150,000 Euros). The latter, Frustalupi “The Wolf Thrasher”, would prove fundamental to Lazio’s scudetto glory in 1973/74.

So, as well as Massa had served Lazio, his departure turned out to be for the best. Frustalupi was exactly the playmaker Lazio were looking for and joined all the pieces of the puzzle into that perfect fit, the “Banda Maestrelli”. Furthermore, with the cash Lazio signed goalkeeper Felice Pulici, forward Renzo Garleschelli and defender Sergio Petrelli, all fundamental pieces of the crazy team which won the Scudetto two years later.

At Inter Massa played two seasons totalling 43 Serie A games with 4 goals. He then played for Napoli for four years, Avellino for three and closed his career in Campania in Serie C1. He then retired in 1983 at 35 years old.

Massa was a diminutive player at 1.68 but he was extremely mobile. He was what you call a traditional number 7 who could play as a right winger in midfield or as a forward. He was particularly quick with excellent dribbling skills. He was skillful with good technique and scored goals as well as setting them up.

At Lazio Massa played for six years, so is an important part of their history. He scored 34 goals and helped Giorgio Chinaglia get countless more. He won two promotions with Lazio and was part of the build-up to Maestrelli’s scudetto of 1973/74. He served Lazio well and gained eternal gratitude for coming, playing and even leaving…

Giuseppe Massa died on October 17, 2017, in Naples at the age of 69. His daughter Azzurra is also now a top-level football player.

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