A good point
Thanks to Bandoni’s great saves, Lazio manage to pick up a point in Taranto
Also on this day: December 26, 2018, Bologna Lazio 0-2. Luiz Felipe and Captain Senad Lulic secure a comfortable Lazio victory in the match that saw the Inzaghi brothers clash for the first time as managers. Player of the day: Luiz Felipe
The season so far
The disastrous 1970-71 season had culminated in relegation to Serie B for the Biancocelesti. It was a devastating and unexpected fall for the club so President Umberto Lenzini, on a suggestion from Sports Director Antonio Sbardella, chose a young manager called Tommaso Maestrelli who had done well in Serie C and Serie B with Reggina and Foggia.
The first problem the club had to face was the fact that Giorgio Chinaglia demanded to be sold. He refused to play in Serie B and was not entirely happy with the change of management. Maestrelli convinced him to stay.
Two fundamental future players joined Lazio in the summer transfer window. Luigi Martini, from Livorno, and Giancarlo Oddi returning from his loan spell at Massese. Lazio also signed goalkeeper Claudio Bandoni (Fiorentina) and midfielder Rino Gritti on loan from Lecco. Rino Marchesi, Nello Governato and Giancarlo Morrone left Lazio as free agents as well as Ferruccio Mazzola and Michelangelo Sulfaro on loan to Fiorentina.
In the November transfer window Lazio signed Carlo Facchin and Giambattista Moschino, returning after nine years, plus Alessandro Abbondanza on loan from Napoli with Pierpaolo Manservisi going in the opposite direction. Arrigo Dolso also left (on loan to Varese).
In August, Lazio managed to top their group in the first phase of the Coppa Italia. The first match of the season was the derby, which Lazio won 1-0 with a Chinaglia goal and at least four miraculous saves from Bandoni.
Lazio started the Serie B campaign slowly, losing the first two games away from home, but from the 6th match onwards things improved and the Biancocelesti were now second, one point from leaders Ternana and one ahead of Palermo and Taranto.
The match: Sunday December 26, 1971, Stadio Salinella, Taranto
A really difficult match lay ahead for the Biancocelesti on this Boxing Day of 1971. Capacity crowd and many Lazio supporters were unable to get into the stadium. Taranto started strongly and, in the 4th minute, a header from Bruno Beretti went just over the crossbar. In the 36th minute Luciano Aristei, from inside the box, gave the ball a big whack. Great save from Bandoni, Angelo Paina had the chance for the tap in but Mario Facco managed to save on the line. From the corner Paian tried again, the Lazio goalkeeper instinctively parried with his foot, Mario Biondi headed towards the goal but Bandoni again miraculously saved into corner.
The script did not change in the second half. Again, Bandoni was called to do extra work to parry a Beretti shot. In the 51st minute Lazio finally managed to break the siege with a corner taken by Abbondanza, a Taranto player kicked the ball towards his own goal but defender Ambrogio Pelagalli managed to clear.
In the 58th minute Paina finally found the back of the net but the referee disallowed the goal due to a previous foul. Eight minutes later Taranto’s final effort with a Gian Carlo Morelli shot but nothing could beat Bandoni today.
The Apulian side took their foot off the accelerator in the last 15 minutes and Lazio could have exploited the chance. After a magnificent Carlo-Facchio-Chinaglia-Abbondanza play, the little Neapolitan found himself all alone in front of the goalkeeper, but Paolo Cimpel managed to save the point for the Tarantini.
A very difficult game for Lazio, lucky to have come back with a point and for this there was only one player to thank : Claudio Bandoni
Who played for Taranto
Cimpiel, Biondi, Colletta, Pelagalli, Cattaneo, Gagliardelli, Morelli, Aristei, Paina, Tartari, Beretti.
Substitutes. Baroncini, Campidonico.
Manager: Caciagli
Who played for Lazio
Substitutes: Di Vincenzo, Nanni
Manager: Maestrelli
Referee: Giunti
What happened next
The fight for promotion in Serie A involved six teams: Lazio, Ternana, Palermo, Reggiana, Como, and Cesena. They all fought right to the bitter end, but the first three teams shared the promotion spots for most of the season. With one match to the end Lazio needed a draw to secure promotion at Bari and draw it was. The Biancocelesti were back in Serie A after only a year.
Lazio were able to secure promotion thanks to an excellent attack with Chinaglia, Massa and Abbondanza, and a very strong defence with the excellent goalkeeper Bandoni and Giuseppe Wilson. The midfield was not up to par and there was the need to find better players. They would come in the next season.
Wilson was the player with most appearances this season (48), Chinaglia the top goal scorer (26 goals)
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie B | 38 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 48 |
Coppa Italia | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
Total | 48 | 23 | 15 | 10 | 61 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
Wilson | 48 | 38 | 10 |
Massa | 44 | 38 | 6 |
Bandoni | 43 | 36 | 7 |
Martini | 42 | 34 | 8 |
Chinaglia | 41 | 34 | 7 |
Top goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
Chinaglia | 26 | 21 | 5 |
Massa | 12 | 12 | - |
Abbondanza | 7 | 7 | - |
Nanni | 3 | - | 3 |
Let's talk about Carlo Facchin
Carlo Dino Facchin was born on August 27 1938 at Portogruaro near Venice. He had a very long career both as a footballer as well as manager. He started playing locally for Mestrina in 1958 and in 1959 moved to Spal in Ferrara. After that he played a year at Rimini (Serie C), one at Monza (Serie B), two at Reggiana (Serie C) before he finally made it to Serie A when he signed for Catania in 1964. He stayed two years on the island and scored quite a lot of goals. In his first season he was fourth goal scorer of Serie A.
In 1966 he moved to Torino. He stayed there three years winning the Coppa Italia in 1967-68. In 1969 he signed for Vicenza in Serie A and for the next season he was at Reggina in Serie B.
He was in the last few years of his career, but for personal reasons he had to move to Rome. In 1970 he offered his service to Lazio but was refused. He hence played for Almas Roma in Serie D. He tried again the year after, and this time Tommaso Maestrelli accepted. He played his last year of active football for the Biancocelesti contributing with 29 appearances and two goals to Lazio’s promotion to Serie A.
Once he stopped playing, he had a very lengthy career as a manager starting from Pro Vercelli in 1972-73. What followed was an array of medium-minor teams: Avezzano, Reggina, Salernitana, Pro Vercelli again, Siracusa (promoted to C1 and winner of the Coppa Italia for semi-professionals), Casertana, Modena, Mestre, Venezia, Avezzano and Siracusa again in 1986-87. He was also head coach of the Italian five-a-side national team from May 1990 to April 1991 and again from October 1993 to May 1997, as well as for the Italian Women’s team in 1999.
He died in Rome on November 28, 2022.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1971-72 | 29 (2) | 24 (1) | 5 (1) |
Sources
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