Solitary leaders!!
Lazio suffer but win with a Garlaschelli goal and now top Serie A
Player of the day: Renzo Garlaschelli
Also on this day:
The season so far
Lazio went close to the scudetto the previous season before finishing 3rd.
The charismatic manager Tommaso Maestrelli was still on the bench. There had been no major changes to the squad. Lazio had received plenty of offers for their best players, Luciano Re Cecconi (Torino), Franco Nanni (Fiorentina and Juventus) and Giorgio Chinaglia (Milan, Juventus, Napoli and Inter). The president Umberto Lenzini, however, managed to resist and keep them all.
There had only been some lesser deals: in Fausto Inselvini (Brescia) and defender Sergio Borgo (Pro Patria), out Giacomo La Rosa (Palermo), Andrea Chini (Cavese) and Giambattista Moschino (retired).
So, basically, Lazio were giving the title another go with the same squad. The idea was that they had gone so close the previous season that this year with a little more experience they stood a realistic chance.
The pitch was so far proving them right. Lazio had played 9 games and won 5 (including derby 2-1), drawn 3 and lost 1 and were joint top with Juventus and Napoli on 13 points. Giorgio Chinaglia had already scored 6 goals. A week earlier the Biancocelesti had beaten Napoli 1-0 at home in a big clash.
Lazio had started their Coppa Italia campaign in August in the first group phase. The Biancocelesti had won 2 (Varese 2-0 and Novara 6-0, both at home), drawn 1 (the derby 0-0) and lost 1 (Brescia 0-2 away).
In the second group phase Lazio were with Juventus, Cesena and Palermo, all to be played home and away. Lazio had so far played Cesena away and lost 1-2. There was the impression Lazio were clearly prioritising the league.
Lazio were out of the UEFA Cup in a tie that would have serious repercussions. In the November away leg against Ipswich Town, in the round of 32, Lazio had lost 0-4 in England. In the return match Lazio had gone 2-0 up in the first 25 minutes and were dominating. They had not taken into account a tipsy Dutch referee, a certain Van der Kroft, who ruined the game with some farcical decisions. Lazio ended up 4-2 winners but tempers ran high both on and off the field. There was crowd trouble and brawls between players during but especially after the game. Lazio could expect heavy punishment by the UEFA authorities.
Today however, it was a league game against lowly Verona. A good opportunity to keep up with the front runners (both had difficult games, the Bianconeri away at Cagliari while the Neapolitans had Milan at home).
Verona had finished 10th the previous season, under Giancarlo Cadè. The Gialloblu had drawn 1-1 at home to Lazio but lost 1-2 in Rome. They had influenced the title race by beating Milan 5-3 in the last game and thus handing the Scudetto to Juventus. Top scorer was Gianfranco Zigoni with 8 goals (7 in A).
This season the manager was still Cadè. The main players arriving were: keepers Pierangelo Belli (Milan) and Giuseppe Porrino (Casertana), defender Aldo Bet (Roma), midfielders Walter Franzot (Roma), Sergio Maddė (Torino) and Sergio Vriz (Chieti) plus forwards Rosario Castronovo (Riccione), Giuseppe Fagni (Montebelluna) and Bruno Pace (Palermo).
Leaving were: keepers Pier Luigi Pizzaballa (Milan) and Angelo Colombo (Omegna), defender Alberto Batistoni (Roma), midfielder Giorgio Maioli (Lecco) and forwards Franco Bergamaschi (Milan), former Lazio, Nicola Ciccolo (Chievo), Carlo Jacomuzzi (Ternana) and Emiliano Mascetti (Torino, he would then be back both as a player and as a sporting director).
So far, Verona were in difficulty and were in joint 14th position with Sampdoria on 5 points. The Scaligeri had won 2, drawn 1 and lost 6.
In the Coppa Italia the Gialloblu had been eliminated in the first group phase in August- September after 1 win (Perugia 3-1 away), 2 draws (Fiorentina 1-1 and Palermo 0-0, both at home ) and 1 defeat (Bari 0-2 away.
Lazio were hoping to take advantage of the Veronesi's problems to continue their Scudetto dream.
The match: Sunday December 23, 1973, Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, Verona
A rainy day in Verona but the pitch held up well. The spectators were about 22,000.
Verona could not play defender Glauco Cozzi, midfielder Pierluigi Busatta or forwards Livio Luppi and Gianfranco Zigoni while Lazio fielded their best team.
Verona had two tame early shots by Sergio Maddė and Giuseppe Fagni but then Lazio dominated. In the 16th minute Renzo Garlaschelli headed just over the bar and two minutes later "Garlasca" was just a fraction late on a Giorgio Chinaglia cross. In the 23rd minute Chinaglia was brilliantly teed up by Vincenzo D'Amico but blocked roughly by Aldo Bet, the referee gestured to continue.
The goal was coming and it came in the 36th minute. Roberto Mazzanti messed up a ball control and Franco Nanni put in a through ball which Garlaschelli hit first time beating Pierangelo Belli low to his right. Verona 0 Lazio 1.
Lazio then controlled the game well and Verona only had two long range shots by Giuseppe Fagni but they were both off target. Half time Verona 0 Lazio 1.
For the second half the Scaligeri replaced Bruno Pace with Rosario Castronovo, a role for role substitution.
Verona then practically attacked non-stop. The Gialloblu had endless shots off target or comfortably saved by Felice Pulici. They did however have three real chances. In the 63rd Paolo Sirena and in the 69th Castronovo missed from favourable positions. The biggest of all fell to Renato Zaccarelli in the 70th but despite being completely unmarked he incredibly headed the ball wide from a Fagni cross.
In the 80th minute Lazio replaced goal scorer Garlaschelli with Paolo Franzoni.
Verona's energy slowly faded but in the 88th minute came a moment of controversy. In a scramble in Lazio’s area Walter Franzot tried a shot but it clearly hit Sergio Petrelli's arm. The referee Gonella saw nothing in it or just an unintentional touch and the game went on. Verona were furious but this would be their last attempt. Final score, Verona 0 Lazio 1.
A precious win for Lazio although in all fairness Verona would have deserved a point. Lazio had played well in the first half but then sat back too much in the second and were a touch lucky to leave the Bentegodi with both points.
The table however was looking good: Lazio 15, Fiorentina 13, Juventus 13, Napoli 13. Fiorentina had drawn 0-0 away to Roma, Juventus had lost 1-2 in Cagliari and Napoli had lost 1-2 at home to Milan. Lazio were solitary leaders at the top of Serie A!!
Who played for Verona
Belli, F.Nanni, Sirena, Zaccarelli, Bet, Mascalaito, Franzot, Maddė, Fagni, Mazzanti, Pace (46' Castronovo)
Substitutes: Porrino, Ranghino
Manager: Cadè
Who played for Lazio
Pulici, Petrelli, Martini, Wilson, Oddi, Nanni, Garlaschelli (80' Franzoni), Re Cecconi, Chinaglia, Frustalupi, D'Amico
Manager: Maestrelli
Referee: Gonella
Goal: 36' Garlaschelli
What happened next
In the next 14 games Lazio won 9, drew 2 and lost 3. The main wins were against Milan 1-0 at home (a week after today's game), the big one against Juventus 3-1 at home and the derby 2-1.
Then came the return game against Verona on April 14 and this was another key win when, 2-1 down at halftime, Lazio stayed on the pitch waiting eagerly for the second half and ended up 4-2 winners. With five games to go Lazio had a four-point lead on Juventus who drew at home with Cagliari
Lazio then earned a good away point against Milan and beat Genoa at home 1-0 with a Garlaschelli winner and had a three-point lead.
Despite losing to Torino on May 5 (only team to beat Lazio twice that season) a week later, on May 12, Lazio came into the penultimate game of the season knowing a win would give them the scudetto (Roma had done Lazio a rare favour beating Juve 3-2).
The opponents were Foggia, Maestrelli's former team, who were desperately battling against relegation. Fans started arriving at the stadium at 6 o'clock in the morning and the gates were opened at 8.45. The hills above the stadium were also packed as, before the roof was added for the Italia '90 world cup, it was possible to follow the game up on Monte Mario near the "Madonnina" statue on the hill. It was obviously a sell-out but many fans also managed to get in for free, swelling the crowd to explosive levels.
It was a tough game, with Lazio playing the last half hour with ten men (Garlaschelli sent off) and Luigi Martini out injured, but Lazio got the all-important goal with a Chinaglia penalty in the 60th minute. Foggia threw everyone forward but a tired and comprehensively tense Lazio managed to resist the Satanelli's assaults. On a glorious 1974 May Day in Rome the Biancocelesti founded in 1900 were finally Italian Champions!
Maestrelli's crazy gang had done it. The team was divided in clans during the week but was masterfully brought together by the "Maestro" on match days. They played an entertaining brand of football based on the new Dutch philosophy and thoroughly deserved the title. Like Bologna, Fiorentina and Cagliari before them, they had broken the monopoly of the big three (Juve, Milan and Inter). Top scorer had been charismatic "Long John" Chinaglia with 34 goals in total (24 in Serie A).
Lazio unfortunately would never get to take part in the European Cup a year later. After trouble on the pitch and off it, in the UEFA Cup return match against Ipswich Town, Lazio were banned from all European competitions for three years, then reduced to one.
The scudetto celebrations however went on in Rome and the region for months and were enough to help forget the European disappointment. SS. Lazio were Champions of Italy!
Verona ended up relegated, not on the field where they finished 13th, but for corruption. They were then demoted to 16th place. After today the Gialloblu had won 6 (including Milan again 2-1 at home), drawn 8 and lost 6 (including Lazio 2-4) but it was all in vain and they went down with Foggia and Genoa. Top scorers were Pierluigi Busatta and Livio Luppi with 6 goals each.
Let's talk about Renzo Garlaschelli
Renzo Garlaschelli was born on March 29, 1950, in Vidigulfo, half way between Pavia and Milan. It is a small village of 3,000 souls, often covered in thick fog, where they live growing rice, maize or grazing cows. A land of farmers, the alternative being to move towards Milan to a factory, which is what Garlaschelli's father did, finding work in a paper mill.
Renzo Garlaschelli started playing for his home village team before joining Sant'Angelo Lodigiano in Serie D, where he played 32 games and scored 6 goals. At 18, like all boys of his age, he was called up for the year of compulsory military service. He was terrified of being sent far from home, especially down South, so luckily for him the option of joining Como in Serie B came up, enabling him to get off doing a lighter stint in the army not far from home. At Como he played for 3 years making 72 appearances, scoring 6 goals and narrowly missing out on promotion in 1971-72.
In the summer of 1972, while on holiday at the sea, he received a call from Como informing him he was to be sold to Brindisi, in Puglia. Garlaschelli's reaction was to refuse, saying he would rather retire than be sent to play in the deep South. It was only at this point that the director told him it was all a joke, and that in reality he had been sold to Lazio in Serie A, and was now heading for the capital.
Prior to his definite move to Rome, he met Lazio manager Tommaso Maestrelli and club director Antonio Sbardella, who both warned young Renzo of the “temptations and distractions” Rome could bring. It was all in vain however. In the capital Garlaschelli would live the good life, especially at night… He became known as the Dandy, a snappy dresser, a regular face in the nightclubs and definitely a ladies man. He would later claim that in the 10 years he lived in Rome he never once had an evening meal at home. Despite his lifestyle however, he trained hard and Maestrelli turned a blind eye on his nocturnal off- pitch antics as long as he performed well on it. In fact, he proved to be an ideal attacking partner for “Long John” Giorgio Chinaglia, the Lazio centre-forward. A larger than life character, Chinaglia, brought up in South Wales, gave Renzo one piece of advice, “Garla, give me the ball and I'll score”.
Garlaschelli's early years at Lazio were a great success. He was an attacking winger with great speed, agility, dribbling skills and had a good cross. He soon became a permanent first XI choice. In the 1972-73 season he only missed one match, scoring 7 goals with Lazio going very close to winning the title.
In 1973-74 he did even better, again only missing one match (the last against Bologna), scoring 10 goals. In the penultimate and decisive game of the season Lazio were one win away from the scudetto and played Foggia - who were desperately battling against relegation - at the Olimpico. It was Garlaschelli who procured the penalty, which Chinaglia scored to put Lazio 1-0 up. The Foggia players then targeted Garlaschelli, who eventually retaliated and got himself sent off. With 10 men and with Gigi Martini stoically playing on with a broken shoulder, Lazio managed to cling on and conquer their first historic league title. In the post-match celebrations Maestrelli hugged Garlaschelli warmly, but added "Garla, you got off lightly today".
After the glory years of the scudetto, luck turned its back on Lazio. Manager and father figure Tommaso Maestrelli became ill and died in 1976. Midfield dynamo Luciano Re Cecconi was killed in a prank, which tragically ended with him being shot dead. In the meantime, midfield playmaker Mario Frustalupi (the wonderfully named "Wolfwhipper" or "Wolfthrasher") and central defender Giancarlo Oddi had been sold to Cesena in 1975. A year later in the spring of 1976, star goal scorer and charismatic leader Chinaglia, with his American wife, left to play for New York Cosmos.
Garlaschelli stayed however, alongside captain Pino Wilson and Vincenzo D'Amico. He stayed on but the 1981-82 was to be his last for Lazio after a dismal 11th place in Serie B (Lazio had been relegated due to the betting Scandal of 1980). He played 279 times for Lazio (199 in Serie A, 29 in Serie B, 38 in Coppa Italia, 10 in the UEFA Cup and 3 in the Intertoto Cup), scoring 67 goals (49 in Serie A, 2 in Serie B, 9 in Coppa Italia, 4 in the UEFA Cup and 3 in the Intertoto Cup).
After Lazio, despite some offers from medium level teams, he decided to return home to Pavia in C2. He went back to his family home and played 2 more years (46 appearances and 11 goals). Pavia was promoted to Serie C1 in Garlaschelli’s last professional season.
He then retired and, after his parents passed away, sold his family home and bought a smaller one with his sister. For many years he completely cut himself off from football. He spent his days playing cards in his village, cycling and reading. A far cry from his lively and eventful Roman days.
Today Garlaschelli still lives his quiet life in the provinces, but he has rekindled an interest in football and especially Lazio. He now collaborates daily as a pundit with a Roman radio station that talks exclusively about Lazio, the highlight of his career and life.
Garlaschelli is probably one of the best Lazio players never to have played for Italy, but he certainly played a major role in the 1973-74 league triumph. His ability to open up space and to play for Chinaglia was fundamental but he also contributed with 10 goals of his own. He will always be remembered as part of that unrivalled and magical team whose line-up any self-respecting laziale can reel off in their sleep!
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup | Intertoto Cup |
1972-73 | 33 (7) | 29 (7) | - | 4 | - | - |
1973-74 | 38 (14) | 29 (10) | - | 5 (2) | 4 (2) | - |
1974-75 | 26 (6) | 23 (6) | - | 3 | - | - |
1975-76 | 36 (9) | 29 (7) | - | 5 (2) | 2 | - |
1976-77 | 27 (5) | 23 (5) | - | 4 | - | - |
1977-78 | 35 (12) | 26 (7) | - | 2 | 4 (2) | 3 (3) |
1978-79 | 23 (5) | 17 (5) | - | 6 | - | - |
1979-80 | 27 (5) | 23 (2) | - | 4 (3) | - | - |
1980-81 | 31 (4) | - | 26 (2) | 5 (2) | - | - |
1981-82 | 3 | - | 3 | - | - | - |
Total | 279 (67) | 199 (49) | 29 (2) | 38 (9) | 10 (4) | 3 (3) |
Sources
Guy Chiappaventi, Pistole e palloni: 12 maggio 1974: il primo scudetto della Lazio nel cuore degli anni Settanta, Ultra Sport
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