Claudio Bandoni only stayed at Lazio for a season but the goalkeeper was one of the most important players in Tommaso Maestrelli's first promotion team to Serie A.
Bandoni was born in Ponte di Mariano near Lucca on August 5, 1939. He did his youth training at Altopascio and at 19 joined Inter. After a season spent on the bench and having played just a couple of times in Coppa Italia, he was sold to Parma and he became a regular player. He changed teams every year (Parma, Catanzaro, Venezia, Bari) until 1962 when he finally managed to play more than one year with a single club, this time at Palermo.
In 1964 he signed for Napoli. With the Partenopei he won a promotion to Serie A, an Alpine Cup, a third and fourth place in Serie A. He said of his Napoli experience “we were having so much fun, that at a certain point we lacked that necessary killer instinct”. At the height of his career, Napoli sold him to Mantova in exchange for Dino Zoff. “The worst moment in my career”, he has often said. He had to share goalkeeping duties with another player and the team was relegated to Serie B.
In 1968 he moved to Florence. Fiorentina were looking for a reserve and he was perfect. He won a scudetto in his first year even though he played just one game and appeared in 14 games in the next two seasons.
In 1971 he signed for Lazio in Serie B. He was one of the protagonists and Lazio managed to win promotion to Serie A after only one year of purgatory. He played 43 games (36 in Serie B and 7 in Coppa Italia) before he was substituted by Felice Pulici.
In 1972-73 he was first choice keeper for Catanzaro and then from 1973 to 1975 reserve to future Lazio Massimo Cacciatori at Sampdoria. He ended his career in Serie C with Mantova again.
Interviewed by Lazio Style Radio in 2017 he spoke about his year with the Biancocelesti: “I have a very strong bond with Lazio and I still have contacts with my old team mates”.
Lazio Career
Season | Appearances | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1971-72 | 43 | 36 | 7 |
Sources
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