This Week In Lazio History: May 26 – June 1 | OneFootball

This week starts with the legendary Coppa Italia final against rivals Roma when Senad Lulic scored for Lazio in the 71st minute.

Matches of the Week

Date: Sunday, May 26, 1940 Location: Stadio PNF, Rome Fixture: Lazio Roma 1-0 Early goal, saved penalty, and fights among players. In other words, a typical Rome derby.

Date: Saturday, May 27, 1944 Venue: Stadio PNF, Rome Fixture: Lazio Trastevere 8-0, Roman War League Champions of Rome. An easy win over Trastevere gives Lazio the title.

Date: Sunday, May 28, 2023 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Cremonese 3-2 Lazio self-inflict a dramatic game on themselves but ultimately win on a day of celebrations for the May 26 tenth anniversary and Radu’s last match at the Olimpico. Champions League secured.

Date: Sunday, May 30, 1993 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Napoli 4-3 Lazio qualify for the UEFA Cup for the first time in 16 years.

Date: Sunday, May 31, 1942 Venue: Stadio San Siro, Milan Fixture: Milano Lazio 2-5 Milano take a heavy beating as they collapse under the blows of Piola and Puccinelli

Match In Focus

Date: Sunday, May 26, 2013 Location: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Roma Lazio 0-1, Coppa Italia Final

It started out as the derby of fear. Many were afraid of clashes between fans so instead of a full house there were only 50,000 spectators. Tickets could even be bought at the last minute. The tension was absolutely unbearable, for both sets of fans. It was not surprising, the fact that there was a derby to determine who would win the Coppa Italia (and who would qualify for the UEFA Europa League) had been known since the evening of April 17. Lazio had surprisingly knocked out Juventus in January, Roma had played their first leg against Inter that same month but then had to wait until April for the return match. And they too had caused a shock by winning in Milan.

The first half was blocked by tension and no team wanted to risk anything. Just a couple of chances each. The second half was a lot more interesting with the ball moving from one end of the pitch to the other. And then in the 71st minute….

Free kick for Lazio. Eddy Onazi to Antonio Candreva on the right, inside the Roma half, ball back to Abdoulay Konko who passed it to Stefano Mauri who immediately gave it to Candreva and ran into an open space five metres from the edge of the box. Candreva understood what Mauri wanted to do, passed him the ball and ran forward. The Lazio skipper then waited for Candreva to get into the right position and passed it to the winger who in the meantime had accelerated and beaten Federico Balzaretti. As soon as Candreva saw the possibility of a cross, with Senad Lulic on the other side of the box, in came the low pass. Bogdan Lobont got a hand to it thus cutting out a Marquinhos clearance. The ball arrived to Lulic, open goal, 1-0. Delirium, tears of joy, hugs with strangers. The Lazio fans went crazy. But there were still at least another 20 minutes to go. And Roma had an immediate chance to equalise.

Free kick in the 73rd minute, Francesco Totti, completely absent from the game until this point, crossed into the box, nobody intervened, the ball bounced in front of Federico Marchetti who at the last possible second realized that it was going in. The Lazio goalkeeper managed to push the ball onto the crossbar and then catch it as it came down. Nothing else happened. Lazio won and Roma were dead and buried.

In Memory: Marco Saltarelli

In Lazio’s history there has been a lot of tragedy and misfortune, but what happened to Marco Saltarelli goes beyond being unlucky.

Born in Albano Laziale near Rome on May 28, 1962, in 1982 he signed for Lazio. That year Lazio were favourites for promotion since Bruno Giordano and Lionello Manfredonia were back from their suspensions due to the Totonero scandal.

Initially, he was supposed to be a reserve left-back but soon made the first eleven. He made 30 appearances that season and the Biancocelesti finally made it back to Serie A after three long and painful years; however, Saltarelli did not stay and later played for Monza, Sambenedettese, Barletta and Perugia.

In September 1992 he lost his wife. After giving birth to their second child, the doctor did not notice that something was wrong. Marco tried to convince him that his wife was ill, but the head physician ignored him and she passed away. The doctor was later sentenced to 20 months in jail.

This tragedy must have been difficult to overcome, but he managed to carry on and opened a bar near Rome. But at midnight on May 28, 2004, he had a terrible car accident. His Mercedes 200 hit a truck that was doing a U-turn. He was killed on the spot at only 42 years of age. Tragic.

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