April 24, 1949: Lazio Triestina 4-0

Updated: Jun 27

No contest

Lazio win easily against an ambitionless Triestina with goals from Remondini, Penzo and Nyers

Also on this day: April 24, 1966, Lazio Cagliari 3-1. Thanks to Sacco, Bartu and Rozzoni Lazio beat Cagliari and move to safer waters. Player of the day: Giovanni Sacco

The season so far

In the summer Lazio had signed forward Ferenc Nyers and said goodbye to Alessandro Ferri, Flavio Cecconi and Corrado Giubilo. But the economic crisis had hit national football big time and therefore also Lazio. The Italian Football League introduced a minimum wage and the players threatened to strike. The more active unionists in Lazio were Uber Gradella, Leandro Remondini, Sergio Piacentini, Romano Penzo and Aldo Puccinelli who refused to train and play. In the end a compromise was found just before the start of the first game. But this issue had a negative impact on Lazio as they collected only 4 points in the first ten games. Then they beat Bologna 8-2 and it was all smiles again. But they still only managed 9 points in the subsequent ten.

At the end of January Remo Zenobi returned as President of the club and with him he brought Norbert Hofling, exactly the centre forward Lazio desperately needed. And with him the Biancocelesti went considerably better. Hofling debuted against Lucchese and one could immediately see the difference. Before that match Lazio were joint bottom on 14 points. By today’s match the Biancocelesti had reached 13th place and had a comfortable six point cushion between them and relegation zone.

A win would have been useful to consolidate their position

The match: Sunday April 24, 1949, Stadio Nazionale, Rome

The game did not have much significance. Triestina were safe and Lazio almost, so it was hoped that the two teams would battle it out. However the only team interested in playing were Lazio. Triestina looked as if they were already on holiday.

Lazio scored early on. In the 12th minute there was a handball in the box and the referee could not do much to avoid indicating a penalty. Leandro Remondini took the spot kick and Lazio went one up.

In the 38th the Biancocelesti scored again. Enrique Flamini gave an excellent assist to Romano Penzo to make it two.

In the second half in the 59th minute there was a free kick for Lazio. Remondini with his usual thunderous shot made it 3-0 for Lazio.

The last goal of the day was scored by Ferenc Nyers II in the 80th minute after a one-two with Norbert Hofling.

An easy win for Lazio.

Who played for Lazio

Brandolin, Antonazzi, Remondini, Montanari, Piacentini, Alzani, Puccinelli, Penzo, Hofling, Flamini, Nyers II

Manager: Sperone

Who played for Triestina

Bacchetti, Zorzin, Blason, Giannini, Radio, Grosso, Rossetti, Trevisan, Ispiro, Tosolini, Begni.

Manager: Rocco

Referee: Bernardi

Goals: 12’ Remondini (pen), 34’ Penzo, 59’ Remondini, 80’ Nyers II.

What happened next

In the last five games of the season Lazio lost two, drew two and won one game but they had avoided relegation early. Lazio arrived 13th and there were also two spectacular 5-1’s against Palermo and Genoa and one away win against Pro Patria. Piacentini and Puccinelli had the most appearances (38) and Penzo the most goals (12).

The season ending was however tragic for Italian football. The great Torino who had won 5 consecutive scudetto's between 1942-43 and 1948-49 died in an air crash on May 4 1949. Returning from a friendly against Benfica in Lisbon, the plane carrying the whole team crashed into the wall at the back of the Basilica of Superga which is on a hill near Turin. All 31 people on the flight died. These included the players, coaching staff, a few journalists and the flight crew.

Tommaso Maestrelli was supposed to be on that plane. Despite the fact that he was playing for Roma at the time, he had been invited by Valentino Mazzola, Ferruccio Mazzola’s father, to join the team for the friendly match. Maestrelli did not make it because he was unable to renew his passport in time.

A great tragedy for Italian football. The Torino team was the backbone of the Nazionale and Valentino Mazzola was the best Italian player.

Lazio 1948-49

Competition	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goals scored
Serie A	38	11	12	15	60

Top five appearances

Player	Serie A
Piacentini	38
Puccinelli	38
Alzani	33
Magrini	32
Penzo	32

Top five goal scorers

Player	Serie A
Penzo	12
Magrini	9
Puccinelli	8
Nyers	8
Remondini	6

Let's talk about Ferenc Nyers

Ferenc Nyers was born on March 3 1927 in Freyming-Merlebach in France of Hungarian origin. He is the younger brother of Istavan Nyers who played for Inter and Roma in the 1950s. Their father was a Hungarian migrant who worked in the mines of Alsace.

He started playing for RC Strasbourg in 1946 and played in France for a few years before signing for Lazio in 1948. He played a couple of seasons for the Biancocelesti.

In 1950 he joined Hungaria FbC Roma. This was an Italian football club made up entirely of Hungarian expats founded by Laszlo Kubala.

When Hungary became part of the Communist block, many Hungarian players decided to leave Hungary. But there was a problem. Their federation had banned them for life and this ban was extended by FIFA for two years. As a consequence they formed this club which was based in the refugee camp at Cinecittà in Rome. The presence of Kubala was able to attract a lot of Eastern block players and guaranteed exhibition games in Spain in June 1950 and in November/December in Colombia.

The club disbanded while on tour in Colombia and that is why Nyers joined Atletico Junior in 1951 and played in the Colombian championship, just like many other of his teammates that year.

Back in France in 1952 he played for Saint Etienne for five seasons winning the French Championship in 1956-57 and the Trophée des Champions (the French Super Cup equivalent) in 1957.

Nyers was a fast left footed forward and an excellent header of the ball. He played 38 games for Lazio (36 in Serie A and 2 in the Latin Cup) and scored 14 goals (all in Serie A).