D’Amico illuminates the night
Lazio destroy Matera in Coppa Italia thanks to a marvellous game from D’Amico
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had missed out on a UEFA Cup qualification by just three points. The club did not have much money and could only afford minor signings. In came Filippo Citterio from Palermo, Vincenzo Zucchini from Pescara and Enrico Todesco from Como plus the return of Mauro Manzoni, who was on loan to Cerretese, and Maurizio Montesi, who had been sent to Avellino for a year.
Lazio said goodbye to scudetto hero Luigi Martini, who left to play in the NASL, Ciccio Cordova (Avellino), Paolo Ammoniaci (Palermo) and Aldo Cantarutti (Pisa). Roberto Badiani, Andrea Agostinelli and Pietro Ghedin were loaned out.
Today was the first official match of the season. Lazio had to play the group phase of the Coppa Italia and were paired with Matera, Brescia, Pistoiese and Udinese.
The match: Wednesday, August 22, 1979, Stadio Flaminio
Lazio had not really shown much in pre-season and it took a while to come to terms with Matera. In the first 25 minutes the team attacked but in a confused manner, making loads of mistakes. It was so bad that a group of fans started chanting for Ciccio Cordova who at this point was being desperately missed. But then everything clicked back into place and Lazio demolished the opposition.
In the 26th minute, Renzo Garlaschelli tried a long distance shot that hit Diego Giannatasio. Garla then went for the ball, perhaps a bit energetically, which arrived to Vincenzo D’Amico who tried a shot, Adriano Casiraghi parried but the ball went up in the air. Bruno Giordano beat everybody to it and headed the ball in.
The Biancocelesti reduced the pressure for some minutes and Massimo Cacciatori was forced to make decisive saves in the 34th and 35th minutes. In the 40th Toto Lopez gave a perfect ball to Giordano who beat Leonardo Generoso for speed and scored for the second time.
In the second half, D’Amico took over in spectacular fashion. In the 48th minute he went off on the left, dribbled past a couple of players, and crossed for Zucchini who did not miss the simple chance. In the 60th minute a free kick for Lazio. Giordano dummied a shot and ran forward; D’Amico lobbed the ball over the wall for Garlaschelli who with a marvellous volley made it 4-0.
Nine minutes from the end the D'Amico show reached its peak. He collected the ball in midfield and ran forwards, dribbled one, two, three players and with a clinical left footed shot beat Casiraghi for the fifth time.
A good Lazio performance, but Matera were too weak to put up much of a fight.
Who played for Lazio
Cacciatori, Pighin, Citterio, Wilson, Manfredonia, Zucchini, Garlaschelli, Montesi, Giordano, Lopez, D’Amico (82’ Labonia)
Manager: Lovati
Who played for Matera
Casiraghi, Generoso, De Canio, Giannattasio, Boggia, Bussalino, Picat Re, Sassanelli (48' Santamaria), Gambini, Morello, Florio (87' Antezza).
Substitutes: Troilo, Lotito, Cicchetti
Manager: Di Benedetto
Referee: Paparesta
Goals: 26’ Giordano, 40’ Giordano, 48’ Zucchini, 60’ Garlaschelli, 81’ D’Amico
What happened next
Lazio went on to win their group, winning away at Brescia and Pistoia and drawing at home with Udinese.
In the end however this was going to be one of the worst seasons in Lazio history. The start was the tragedy of Vincenzo Paparelli.
On October 28 Rome was ready for the first derby of the season. An hour before the match, Vincenzo Paparelli was sitting in Curva Nord having a sandwich. From the Curva Sud Giovanni Fiorillo fired two flares towards the Lazio Curva. They zig zagged over the top. For the third attempt, the Roma supporter lowered his aim. The flare hit Vincenzo Paparelli in the eye and killed him. He was 33 years of age and had two children.
What happened then was complete chaos. The Lazio fans did not want the game to go ahead but the police decided that it was best to play for security reasons. In a climate of warfare with few Lazio supporters left in the stands, the game was played. Every time the ball went into the stands with Lazio supporters, the fans refused to give the ball back. Captain Wilson and Giordano were forced to go under the Curva Nord in an attempt to calm down the Laziali. The game was a farce and finished 1-1. In the last minutes there was a clear penalty for Lazio but the ref decided that there was no way he was going to make matters worse. A game and day nobody will forget.
At the start of game 10 the Biancocelesti were in fourth place and only 4 points behind leaders Inter. But in the next 15 matches Lazio won only once and in March, after the defeat at Pescara, were fourth from bottom, just three points above Catanzaro. They had also lost the Coppa Italia quarter final against Torino after a penalty shoot-out.
Then, an already bad and tragic season got even worse. At Pescara Wilson, Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia and Cacciatori were arrested for match fixing.
Rumours that there was something wrong in Serie A had begun to circulate earlier in the year. At Cagliari Montesi broke his leg and from the hospital spoke to the few journalists who went to see how he was. He was alone, none of the Lazio players had had the decency to drop by. He started talking of match fixing, agreements between clubs over results, and illegal betting.
In Italy one could not legally bet on the result of a single game or on the scores of a series of games. There was just the Totocalcio where one had to guess the result of 13 games. There was however an illegal betting system called Totonero run by illegal bookmakers similar to how legal bets were organised in the UK.
Match fixing had always been a problem in Italy and taken place since the early 1950s. Clubs and/or players would agree to share points during the season in a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” system. But then the players started to bet on these games. It was easy money; they knew what the result would be so why not have a little wager.
Alvaro Trinca was the owner of a restaurant in the centre of Rome where Lazio and Roma players would often go and eat before games. Massimo Cruciani was a fruit seller and was very friendly with a number of players. Both would hear the players talk of match fixing and therefore started to bet and win large sums of money. They teamed up and devised a plan which was to offer money to the players to fix games as well as bet money for them.
Their plan failed miserably and they were hugely indebted with people with whom you do not want to be indebted to. Apparently, they first asked the clubs for money but not all wanted to pay, then they presented their case to the Italian Football Federation but that was not going to solve the debts, so they then tried by resting their case with the law. They were later both arrested and started talking to the magistrates.
On March 23 1980, the Italian police arrested a number of players of Lazio, Milan, Bologna, Avellino, Genoa and Perugia. The scandal had exploded and Lazio were right in the middle of it.
But in all of this there was a very important game to be played: Lazio vs Catanzaro. If Lazio had lost, the Biancocelesti would have almost certainly gone down to Serie B especially because without Giordano, Manfredonia, Wilson and Cacciatori the chances of survival would have been very very slim. Vincenzo D’Amico took the team by the hand and literally single handedly guided Lazio to victory.
After this win Lazio needed just a couple of points to secure their permanence in Serie A and with the draw against Napoli with two games to go, Lazio were mathematically safe.
Once the season finished there was the Sport Justice court case regarding the match fixing. The Lazio players were allegedly involved in the match fixing of Milan Lazio that ended 2-1 for the hosts and Lazio Avellino which finished 1-1.
The first sentencing between May and June gave Cacciatori and Wilson a life ban, Giordano and Manfredonia an 18-month suspension, Maurizio Montesi four months and Lazio were fined 10 million lire. At the time fans thought that all in all this was acceptable.
Others had even worse sentences. Milan were relegated (there was a direct involvement of the club President), Avellino, Bologna and Perugia given a 5 point penalty. Among the various players, Enrico Albertosi got a life ban and Paolo Rossi 3 years.
The Lazio fans looked at the appeal case with optimism. They were wrong. Lazio were relegated to Serie B for the game against Avellino, Giordano and Manfredonia got a three-and-a-half-year suspension, Cacciatori 4 years and Wilson three years. Paolo Rossi’s suspension was reduced to two years, Albertosi’s to four.
Why were Lazio relegated? There was no legal reason since none of the club directors were involved. The only motive was the fact that first sentences were considered too lenient and the Sports Justice system wanted to set an example. Hence, Lazio, always everybody’s favourite scapegoat, were relegated because they had a large number of players involved. But others were involved far deeper and got off lightly or with no penalisation at all. Lazio were a sacrificial lamb to keep the media happy.
Were the players guilty? Who knows? Wilson hardly ever spoke about it. In his official biography though, he admitted having reached an agreement with some Milan players regarding Milan-Lazio. The plan was to let them win in Milan and Lazio in Rome. The Biancocelesti did not have much of a chance in Milan and the points at the end of the season could have been useful in case of a battle to stay in Serie A. He had nothing to do with betting, as also shown in the case files and his name appeared only for the Milan match. But Montesi accused him of being the ring leader. He always denied this and in a book on Montesi’s life, the author wrote that since he needed to give a name to the football authorities, he chose Wilson’s since the captain was close to retirement.
These types of agreements had always happened in Italian football, this was no different from other similar agreements like in the last matches of the season when one team needed a point to stay in Serie A and the other maybe a point for a UEFA Cup qualification. The games would practically be non- starters. This is a violation of every Sports Code, and if the agreement is reached among clubs, if found guilty, these should be relegated or given point deductions. And if it is between players, these, if found guilty, should be suspended. If the players take money all that has to be done is to verify and check.
Manfredonia stated in an interview that he paid a rather large price compared to what he actually did. So maybe when Wilson announced that they were going to lose the Milan game, he complied. He did not play the match against Avellino, so he can’t have been guilty for that.
Giordano proclaims his innocence to this day. In his official biography he claims that Trinca and Cruciani tried to blackmail President Umberto Lenzini who refused to pay. When the magistrates asked him if he had got some extra cash Giordano denied it, saying “check my bank statements”. This is probably what they did and as a consequence none of the players were found guilty in the legal court case.
Where does the truth lie? A few facts are almost certain. Milan- Lazio was fixed by the players. The club had nothing to do with it. The rest is just speculation. Lazio, some Lazio players and Lazio fans paid a very high price for the Italian Football Federation's need to find guilty parties, whether they were actually guilty or not. And unfortunately, it would not be the only time. Claudio Vinazzani’s friendship with a Neapolitan illegal bookie, who was fixing games, translated into a 9-point deduction for the 1986-87 season, despite Lazio not being involved. President Claudio Lotito’s requests for decent referees would cost Lazio a 30-point deduction in the 2005-06 season and 3 for the following one in the Calciopoli farce. Stefano Mauri’s friendship with a player who fixed games cost him a six-month suspension and jail time, even if he was innocent.
Lazio had invested a lot for the 1980-81 season and even signed Rene Van de Kerkhof, the Dutch star, but he could not play in Serie B so the deal did not go through.
It would take Lazio three seasons to get back to Serie A.
Lazio 1979-80
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 30 | 5 | 15 | 10 | 21 |
Coppa Italia | 6 | 3 | 3 | - | 9 |
Total | 36 | 8 | 18 | 10 | 30 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Citterio | 36 | 30 | 6 |
D'Amico | 33 | 28 | 5 |
Viola | 33 | 28 | 5 |
Tassotti | 32 | 27 | 5 |
Zucchini | 30 | 25 | 5 |
Cacciatori | 30 | 24 | 6 |
Top goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Giordano | 12 | 9 | 3 |
D'Amico | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Garlaschelli | 5 | 2 | 3 |
Zucchini | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Let's talk about Antonio Labonia
Antonio Labonia was born in Buenos Aires on July 27, 1959. He started playing football in the youth teams of River Plate and in 1977 arrived in Italy to play for Crotone in Serie C. He made seven league appearances and in 1978 he signed for Lazio.
In Rome he played mainly for the Primavera team, with which he won a Coppa Italia, but managed to debut in Serie A on February 1 1979 in the goalless Lazio game against Atalanta. He continued to play for the youth team also in the following season but also made another 7 appearances with the first team (4 in Serie A and 3 in Coppa Italia).
In 1980 Lazio sent him on loan to Siracusa but he did not leave much of a mark. After participating in the pre-season training of 1981, he decided to go back to Argentina and played for Huracan, Tigre, Lanus, Nueva Chicago, Almirante Brown and Villa Dalmine.
He stopped playing in 1993 and became a manager for clubs in lower Argentinian tiers.
Lazio Career
Season | Total Appearances | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
1978-79 | 1 | 1 | - |
1979-80 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
Total | 8 | 5 | 3 |
Sources
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