In the name of Cruz
Lazio win coming from behind thanks to a Julio Cruz brace
The season so far
The previous season Lazio won the Coppa Italia beating Sampdoria on penalties in the final. They hence qualified for the Super Coppa where they would meet the mighty Inter who had easily won the scudetto.
The Biancocelesti had changed managers. The relationship between President Claudio Lotito and Manager Delio Rossi had worsened during the season so Lazio decided on a change: Davide Ballardini, who had done well at Cagliari and Palermo.
Before the start there were contractual problems with Goran Pandev, Cristian Ledesma and Lorenzo De Silvestri.
Lazio had spent quite a lot of money, for their standards at the time, to keep Pandev, but he refused to renew his contract. In the meantime, he claimed he was injured. In reality he wanted to go back to Inter and he pushed Lotito for a sale. The issue with Ledesma was similar. There were arguments over the renewal of his contract and the Italo-Argentinian also had a contract awaiting him at Inter. De Silvestri too had a dispute with Lotito over the renewal of his contract. All three were not allowed to play with the team or even to train with the squad. De Silvestri would eventually be sold to Fiorentina, Pandev and Ledesma took Lazio to court in order to dissolve their current contracts.
So, Ballardini started the season without these three players but joining Lazio was Julio Cruz, the legendary Inter striker. Other arrivals included goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri from Catania and midfielder Eliseu from Malaga. Mauro Zarate and Francelino Matuzalem had their loans transformed into definite signings. Leaving Lazio were Juan Pablo Carrizo (loan to Real Zaragoza), David Rozehnal (Hamburg) and Libor Kozak (loan to Brescia). Manuel Belleri’s contract was not renewed.
In the Supercoppa Lazio surprisingly beat Inter 2-1. An incredible feat considering the might of the Nerazzurri.
Before the start of Serie A, Lazio had to play a Europa League preliminary round against Swedish team IF Elfsborg which they won 3-1 on aggregate
In the first match of the season Lazio beat Atalanta at home. Today was the second game.
The match: Sunday, August 30, 2009, Stadio Bentegodi, Verona
The beginning was slow but in the fifth minute Lazio had a chance with Francelino Matuzalem who from 25 metres tried a shot which was just slightly wide. In the 13th minute Mauro Zarate hit the woodwork on a free kick. But in the 16th minute Chievo scored. Michele Marcolini took a corner and Sergio Pellissier beat Emilson Cribari and headed the ball past Fernando Muslera.
Chievo started playing well and Lazio had problems in organising their attack. But in the 41st minute there was a penalty for Lazio. Roberto Baronio took a free kick, Santiago Morero held onto Cruz’s shirt and for the ref it was a simple decision. The Argentine forward made no mistake and scored his first goal for the Biancocelesti.
Towards the end of the half Aleksandar Kolarov tried a shot from inside his own half to surprise Chievo’s goalkeeper. It almost worked as he hit the top of the crossbar.
At the beginning of the second half Gianpiero Pinzi gave an excellent ball to Pellissier who ran all alone towards the Lazio goal but his second touch of the ball allowed Muslera to anticipate him. In the 53rd minute Stefano Mauri on the counter attack. Ball to Zarate on the left who tried a shot that Sorrentino got a hand to but allowed an unmarked Cruz the easiest of chances. Chievo 1 Lazio 2.
In the 59th minute Cribari got a second yellow card and was sent off. In the 65th minute Erjon Bogdani headed a ball crossed from the right which went slightly too high. Seven minutes later a cross from Andrea Mantovani in the Lazio box, Kolarov got to the ball but passed to Simone Bentivoglio who volleyed the ball towards Muslera. The crossbar saved the Biancocelesti.
A good win, an excellent start to the season
Who played for Chievo Verona
Sorrentino, Frey, Morero, Yepes, Mantovani, Luciano (79' De Paula), Rigoni (66' Bentivoglio), Marcolini, Pinzi, Bogdani (66' Granoche), Pellissier
Substitutes: Squizzi, Scardina, Malagò, Ariatti
Manager: Di Carlo
Who played for Lazio
Muslera, Lichtsteiner, Cribari, Radu, Kolarov, Dabo (71’ Scaloni), Baronio, Mauri, Matuzalem, Zarate (90’ Rocchi), Cruz (61’ Diakité)
Manager: Ballardini
Referee: Damato
Goals: 16’ Pellissier, 41’ Cruz (pen), 53’ Cruz
What happened next
For a third win Lazio would have to wait until December (Lazio Genoa 1-0). Ballardini was hated by the fans and not particularly loved by the players. Lazio really missed the two rebel players but Mauro Zarate was not playing well either. He tended to ignore all his teammates and try to do everything himself, and obviously this was not working. By the end of the year Lazio were only three points above the relegation zone.
In the winter market transfer, Lotito made three fundamental signings: defenders Giuseppe Biava from Genoa and André Dias from São Paulo plus centre forward Sergio Floccari from Genoa. Floccari's impact was a breath of fresh air for the team and he scored three goals in his first two matches for the club. Lazio ended the first part of the season in 15th place with a 5-point cushion on the drop zone.
But in the next four games Lazio only managed two draws and were now third from bottom. Bye bye Ballardini, welcome Edy Reja.
In the meantime, Pandev had won his case against Lazio and joined Inter as a free agent. Ledesma instead lost his. With the arrival of Reja, all was forgiven and Ledesma was back on the pitch.
In Reja’s first match, Lazio won at Parma but things then precipitated with just one point in the next four games. Then Lazio managed to win at Cagliari and also beat Siena the week after.
After the game against Siena, Lazio really improved. They won at Bologna after being 2-0 down, lost an unfortunate derby, but beat Genoa away a week later. With three games to go to the end of the season Lazio needed only three points to secure survival in Serie A. And they clinched them at Livorno with a game to go.
Prior to this match there was the game against Inter. Apparently, Roma supporters thought that Lazio had a genuine chance to beat the Nerazzurri, who were fighting for the scudetto with the Giallorossi. All Lazio fans however knew that there would be no contest against the strongest team in Serie A, and that was exactly what happened. But for the media and Roma fans, Lazio let Inter win. A ridiculous accusation that many still claim to this day, forgetting that the Nerazzurri went on to win the Champions League a month later, and therefore Lazio really did not stand a chance.
In the Europa League Lazio played against Red Bull Salzburg, Villareal and PFK Levski Sofia. After losing the first match against the Austrians they won two in a row but defeats in Spain and Salzburg meant that Lazio had to say goodbye to Europe.
Stephan Lichsteiner and Stefano Mauri were the players with most appearances (43), Rocchi was the leading goal scorer (10).
Lazio 2009-10
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 39 |
Coppa Italia | 2 | 1 | - | 1 | 4 |
Europa League | 8 | 3 | - | 5 | 12 |
Super Coppa | 1 | 1 | - | - | 2 |
Total | 49 | 16 | 13 | 20 | 57 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Lichtsteiner | 43 | 33 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
Mauri | 43 | 34 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
Muslera | 42 | 36 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
Kolarov | 41 | 33 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
Zarate | 41 | 31 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Rocchi | 10 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Floccari | 9 | 8 | 1 | - | - |
Zarate | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | - |
Kolarov | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - |
Mauri | 4 | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Cruz | 4 | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Let's talk about Chievo Verona
Chievo Verona are a football club from Chievo, a suburb of Verona with about 4,550 inhabitants. They were founded in 1929 and started at amateur level. They were disbanded in 1936 but came back after the Second World War and were registered in the Second Division regional league. In 1959, after the restructuring of the Italian football leagues, they joined the eighth tier (“Seconda Categoria”), quickly moving up to Prima Categoria but were relegated in 1962.
In 1964 the club was purchased by Luigi Campedelli, an entrepreneur and owner of Paluani specialised in the production of typical festive seasonal cakes (panettone, pandoro, etc). He however in subsequent years gave the presidency to others while keeping ownership.
In the 1960s Chievo won their Seconda Categoria regional championship three times (1965, 1968 and 1969) but in 1968-69 were forced to give up promotion due to economic reasons. They played in the sixth tier (Promozione) between 1971 and 1975 and in Serie D for the next six years until Serie D was changed to Interregionale (Interregional).
Chievo Verona changed name in 1981 and became Paluani Chievo from the name of the sponsor. In 1986 they lost the playoff against Bassano for promotion to Serie C2, but the latter were later found guilty of sports violation and Chievo took their place.
It was the first appearance in the semi-professional world for the club that changed name again to Associazione Calcio Chievo and moved to play their games in the Stadio Bentegodi, home of Hellas. After a couple of years, they got promoted in C1 and in 1990 changed name again to Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona. In 1993-94 they won promotion to Serie B and in 2000-01 were promoted to Serie A.
They stayed in Serie A for six years and in their first year were surprisingly fifth. In 2005-06 they came fourth but in lucky circumstances. Juventus, who had won the scudetto, was stripped of the title and relegated following the Calciopoli scandal. Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio had 30 points deducted so Chievo, who had arrived seventh, went up three places and qualified for the Champions League third preliminary round. They were eliminated by Levski Sofia and had to play the UEFA Cup where they lost in the first round against Sporting Braga. The effort and possibly the
disappointment was too much and at the end of the season they were relegated, but immediately came back the year after by winning the Serie B championship.
They stayed in Serie A for another 11 years but in 2019 were relegated to Serie B. In 2019-2020 and 2020-21 they reached the playoffs for promotion but lost.
At the end of that season Chievo were excluded from the professional leagues due to debts. Campitelli in 2018 had started to cook the books and increase the value of players in order to overcome the issues with the Financial Fair Play and the large debt he had accumulated during the years. A few exchanges of players with Cesena raised the attention. Chievo would sell an unknown player for a large amount and in return receive another unknown for that same amount. When this was discovered, they were unable to overcome their debts. In 2023 Paluani collapsed too.
In 2024, a company owned by former star Sergio Pellissier, picked up the pieces and in 2024-25 they will start again from Serie D.
Famous players and managers
Among the many well-known players that have worn the Chievo jersey we can point out goalkeepers Flavio Roma (Monaco 2001-09), Luca Marchegiani (Lazio 1993-03), defenders Luciano Zauri (Lazio 2003-08 and 2011-12), Nicolo Legrottaglie (154 appearances with Juventus), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus 2011-19, World Champion 2006), Mario Yepes (PSG 2004-08), Francesco Acerbi (Lazio 2018-22), midfielders Eugenio Corini (Juventus 1990-92), Christian Manfredini (Lazio 2002-09), Simone Perrotta (Roma 2004-13 and World Champion 2006), Gianpiero Pinzi (Udinese 2010-15 and former Lazio youth player), Leandro Paredes (PSG 2019-22 and World Champion 2022), forwards Bernardo Corradi (Lazio 2002-04), Olivier Bierhoff (Milan 1998-01), Amauri (Juventus 2008-11).
Among the various managers we can point out Alberto Malesani (1993-97 later to coach Fiorentina), Stefano Pioli (2010-11, later to coach Lazio and win a scudetto with Milan), Luigi Delneri (the one behind the Chievo miracle when they went from Serie B to fifth place in Serie A) and former players Eugenio Corini and Rolando Maran.
Lazio have played Chievo 35 times, including Coppa Italia. Their biggest win was 5-1 on January 21, 2018 in Rome and their biggest defeat was 4-0 in Verona on August 30, 2015. They have won 14 matches (4 at home and 10 away), drawn 13 (7 at home and 6 away) and lost 7 (2 away and 5 at home) plus a draw in Coppa Italia (but won on penalties).
Sources
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