Lazio reach the final of the Coppa Italia
A fantastic win against Juventus opens the gates to the final of the Coppa Italia
Also on this day: April 22, 2018, Lazio Sampdoria 4-0. Two headers and Immobile make it look easy against Sampdoria. Player of the day: Davide Di Gennaro
The season so far
Having written only recently about the 2008-09 season we will concentrate on the Coppa Italia.
Lazio opened the Coppa Italia campaign at the end of August in the third round by beating, not without initial difficulty, Benevento who were playing in Serie C. A Goran Pandev double plus goals from Mourad Meghni, Christian Manfredini and an own goal secured access to the next round.
In October Lazio had to face Atalanta and won comfortably 2-0 (Cristian Ledesma and Pandev), setting up a fifth round against Milan in San Siro. A difficult game where Lazio played very well and had a number of chances before Andriy Shevchenko scored his umpteenth goal against his favourite victim. All seemed lost but Lazio managed to equalise in the dying minutes thanks to a Mauro Zarate penalty. In the second minute of extra time Pandev was lethal and Lazio went on to the quarterfinals against Torino, this time at home.
In a two faced game, Lazio fell behind in the first half, but came back in the second and scored three goals (again Pandev plus Stefano Mauri and Tommaso Rocchi).
In the semifinal Lazio had to play against Juventus, this time over two games. In the first at the Olimpico, Juventus were the obvious favourites and went one up in the first half. But Lazio put up a fight and created a number of unexpected headaches for the Bianconeri. Pandev equalised and Rocchi gave Lazio the advantage for the return match in Turin.
The match, Wednesday, April 22, 2009, Stadio Olimpico, Turin
Juventus needed to win to get to the final and were clear favourites. But they needed the right attitude because the Biancocelesti had already shown in the first leg and in Milan that they had players who could change a game at any moment.
Lazio started the match quite well, by no means intimidated by the might of the Bianconeri. In the 2nd minute Ledesma took a free kick that was only just wide and a minute later Vincenzo Iaquinta was anticipated by Fernando Muslera. In the 5th minute Rocchi stole the ball off Marco Marchionni but his shot was deflected into corner by a Juve defender.
Juventus did not show much determination, perhaps underestimating Lazio. They were slightly dangerous on a few corners but Lazio were controlling the match quite comfortably. In the 30th minute Muslera saved a David Trezeguet shot and seven minutes later Lorenzo Ariaudo put the ball over the crossbar from a favourable position. From the subsequent goal kick the ball reached Aleksander Kolarov on the left. He advanced and passed to Mauro Zarate outside the box but central. The Argentinian, as soon as the ball arrived, sent a curling shot towards goal beating Gianluigi Buffon and giving Lazio the lead.
At this point Juventus had to score three goals. Difficult but not impossible. Manager Claudio Ranieri in the second half took off Sebastian Giovinco and Marchionni and threw in heavy weights Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi. The Bianconeri tried to increase the pressure but it was again Zarate with a chance in the opening minutes of the second half but his shot went wide.
In the 51st minute Kolarov was on the edge of the box on the far left. His attempted shot (or cross) hit Zdenek Grygera and became an impossible ball to save for Buffon. Juve now needed to score four goals!!!
In the 58th minute a Trezeguet header was brilliantly saved by Muslera. In the 63rd minute Juventus reduced the deficit. Camoranesi crossed into the box, Lorenzo De Silvestri did not make contact, Alessandro Del Piero stopped the ball with his chest and volleyed it into the goal. In the 73rd minute Nedved’s header off a Camoranesi cross hit the woodwork.
The Bianconeri put more pressure on the Lazio defence but it was Zarate who had the chance to give Lazio a third goal but instead of passing the ball to a better positioned teammate he went for the shot that was parried by Buffon. Juventus basically gave up after Camoranesi was sent off for dissent in the 81st minute and the last chance was a Nedved shot saved into corner by Muslera.
Lazio were in the final. They would face Sampdoria who, after beating Inter at home for 3-0 in the first leg, managed to keep the Nerazzurri's onslaught to a minimum and only lost 1-0.
The final would be played at the Stadio Olimpico.
Who played for Juventus
Buffon, Grygera, Mellberg, Ariaudo, De Ceglie, Marchionni (46' Camoranesi), Tiago, Marchisio, Giovinco (46' Nedved), Iaquinta (60' Del Piero), Trezeguet
Substitutes: Manninger, Knezevic, Molinaro, Poulsen.
Manager: Ranieri.
Who played for Lazio
Muslera, Lichsteiner, Siviglia, Rozehnal, Kolarov, Brocchi (55’ De Silvestri), Ledesma, Matuzalem (71’ Dabo), Foggia (61’ Mauri), Rocchi, Zarate
Manager: Rossi
Referee: Rizzoli
Goals: 37’ Zarate, 51’ Kolarov, 63’ Del Piero
What happened next
Lazio and Sampdoria were the surprise finalists, and despite the fact that the Biancocelesti had the home advantage, there was no clear favourite. Zarate gave Lazio the lead early on but Giampaolo Pazzini equalised on the half hour. There were chances for both teams, but the game finished 1-1. The result did not change in extra time, so the 2008-09 Coppa Italia was to be decided on a penalty shootout.
Fernando Muslera saved the first penalty and it looked as if Lazio had won it. But Rocchi hit the woodwork in the second penalty and the teams were still level after the first five. When Muslera saved Hugo Campagnaro’s spot kick, Ousmane Dabo gave Lazio their fifth Coppa Italia and a European Cup qualification for the 2009-10 season.
A magnificent victory and the first silverware for President Claudio Lotito. Lorenzo De Silvestri, Pasquale Foggia and Ledesma were the players with most appearances (7) and Pandev top scorer with 6 goals.
Lazio in Coppa Italia 2008-09
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Coppa Italia | 7 | 6 | 1 | - | 17 |
Top five appearances
Player | Appearances |
De Silvestri | 7 |
Foggia | 7 |
Ledesma | 7 |
Kolarov | 6 |
Lichtsteiner | 6 |
Muslera | 6 |
Pandev | 6 |
Top goal scorers
Player | Goals |
Pandev | 6 |
Zarate | 3 |
Mauri | 2 |
Rocchi | 2 |
Let's talk about Aleksander Kolarov
Aleksander Kolarov was born in Belgrade on November 10 1984. He started his football career in the youth teams of Red Star Belgrade but his professional debut came in 2004 with another Belgrade team, FK Čukarički. He played there for a year and a half before signing for OFK Beograd in January 2006.
In 2007 he came to Lazio. A left back, but he occasionally also played at midfield, his main characteristic was his powerful left shot. He could take free kicks from a great distance and always be dangerous. He was often compared to Sinisa Mihajlovic.
He played three very profitable seasons with the Biancocelesti winning two trophies: the Coppa Italia 2008-09, where he scored the fourth spot kick in the final penalty shoot out and a goal in the semi-final, and the Super Coppa in 2009 against Inter.
In the summer of 2010 Lazio could not turn down the €18 million offer from Manchester City and Kolarov went to play in the Premier League. With Lazio he appeared in 104 games (82 in Serie A, 13 in Coppa Italia, 3 in Champions League, 5 in Europa League and one Super Coppa final) and scored 11 goals (6 in Serie A, 4 in Coppa Italia and 1 in Europa League).
At Manchester Kolarov won a lot of trophies: two Premierships (2011-12 and 2013-14), an FA Cup in 2011, a Community Shield in 2012 and two League Cups (2013-14 and 2015-16). He played a total of 247 games with 21 goals.
Despite stating many a time while at Manchester that he really wanted to come back to play for Lazio and showed a lot of affection for the Biancocelesti, in 2017 he signed for Roma. A shock for Lazio fans who were really fond of the Serb and never would have imagined him joining their hated rivals.
He certainly did not have an easy time with the Roma fans in his three years with the Giallorossi. Despite playing a lot and giving a good contribution, there were a number of incidents with fans culminating with a rather harsh banner in a home Champions League match of 2019. He did however extend his contract but a further dispute with the Roma fans meant that it was time to go.
In 2020 he joined Inter. He played for two years in Milan but appeared just 15 times and at the end of the 2021-22 season he decided to quit.
Kolarov was a very important player for the Serbian national team. He played 94 games for his country (11 goals) playing in the World Cup of 2010 (two caps) and 2018 (three caps as skipper).
Aleksander Kolarov is one of the three players who have scored in derbies for both sides (one for Lazio and two for Roma), the other being Arne Selmosson (two for Lazio and three for Roma) and Pedro (one for each team, for the moment).
Lazio career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Europa League | Super Coppa |
2007-08 | 32 (3) | 24 (1) | 5 (2) | 3 | - | - |
2008-09 | 31 (3) | 25 (2) | 6 (1) | - | - | - |
2009-10 | 41 (5) | 33 (3) | 2 (1) | - | 5 (1) | 1 |
Total | 104 (11) | 82 (6) | 13 (4) | 3 | 5 (1) | 1 |
Sources
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