Best game of the season so far
Lazio beat Sampdoria thanks to Magrini and D'Avino
Also on this day:
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, therefore also Lazio. The Italian Football League introduced a minimum wage and the players threatened to strike. The more active unionists at 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. Well, not really. The Biancocelesti were second from bottom with just 9 points in 16 games. But they had shown signs of improvement before Christmas when they beat Modena 5-1.
Victory today was fundamental.
The match: Sunday, December 26, 1948, Stadio Nazionale, Rome
Lazio played in a white jersey today with a black armband as a sign of mourning for the death of Romolo Alzani’s mother.
Right from the word go Lazio attacked and Costantino De Andreis had a chance early on. Sampdoria were forced on the defensive as the Biancocelesti pegged the Genoese in their half. Any attempts by them to put the heads out were immediately interrupted by Salvador Gualtieri and Serafino Montanari. Luigi Zorzi’s injury in only the third minute certainly did not help matters for the Blucerchiati.
In the 10th minute Lazio went ahead. Leandro Remondini took a free kick, Giovanni Ballico did not clear, ball to Mario Magrini who went past him and beat Satiro Lusetti.
Samp did not react and the game proceeded as if nothing had happened. Romano Penzo missed a sitter in the 35th minute and 60 seconds later Lusetti saved his goal with a marvellous save off a massive whack from Magrini.
In the second half the Biancocelesti continued to attack but with less intensity. Lusetti again parried a De Andreis shot in the 69th minute but could do nothing in the 82nd minute when Giuseppe D’Avino received the ball from Penzo, reached the edge of the box and beat the Samp goalkeeper with a clinical shot.
With five minutes to go the referee sent off Aldo Puccinelli and Renato Gei who had been kicking each other for the last few minutes.
Excellent game for Lazio, the best so far this season.
Who played for Lazio
Gradella, Antonazzi, Piacentini, Gualtieri, Remondini, Montanari, Puccinelli, Magrini, Penzo, De Andreis, D’Avino
Manager: Sperone
Who played for Sampdoria
Lusetti, Ballico, Zorzi, Coscia, Bertani, Gramaglia, Rebuzzi, Bassetto, Baldini, Curti, Gei
Manager: Baloncieri
Referee: Camiolo
Goals: 10’ Magrini, 82’ D’Avino
What happened next
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 did considerably better: seven wins in the second half of the season with two spectacular 5-1’s against Palermo and Genoa and one away win against Pro Patria. At the end of the season Lazio arrived 13th. 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 Italy's best player.
Let's talk about Giuseppe D’Avino
Giuseppe D’Avino was born in Salerno on September 9 1927. He started playing football with Salernitana and debuted professionally in 1946 appearing in one game before being sent on loan to Nocerina in Serie C for the rest of the 1946-47 season. That year Salernitana reached a historic promotion to Serie A and Nocerina got promoted to Serie B and he contributed 9 goals in 20 appearances. After a year with Torres where he scored 20 goals, in 1948 he signed for Lazio. He did not play much, just seven appearances, but scored two goals. In 1949 he was sold to Salernitana in exchange for goalkeeper Aldo De Fazio. He stayed just one year before moving to Empoli in 1950.
In 1951 he signed for Catanzaro where he stayed for six seasons taking the Giallorossi to Serie C and winning a fourth tier title in 1953. During his stay in Calabria, he scored an extremely important goal against his former team Salernitana and his brother in law De Fazio. This did not go down well in his home town nor in the relationship with De Fazio who did not speak to him for years. His last two years of active football were with Battipagliese and Palmese.
After he stopped playing, he was athletic trainer for Nocerina for a few years.
He died in Salerno on March 12, 2011.
Lazio Career
Season | Serie A appearances | Serie A Goals |
1948-49 | 7 | 2 |
Sources
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