End of the crisis?
A Franzoni goal hopefully puts an end to Lazio's difficulties
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had triumphantly won the scudetto. A fantastic campionato where, once the Biancocelesti reached the top of the table in winter, they never looked back. It was going to be difficult to repeat the previous year. In the summer transfer window, President Umberto Lenzini refused to sell any of the first eleven players despite attempts from Torino to sign Luciano Re Cecconi and Milan with Giorgio Chinaglia. There were only some minor movements with the arrival of Roberto Badiani from Sampdoria and Pietro Ghedin in the autumn window from Fiorentina. Leaving Lazio were Pierpaolo Manservisi (Mantova), Ferruccio Mazzola (Sant’Angelo), Mario Facco (Avellino), Fausto Inselvini and the loan of Sergio Borgo to Foggia.
The Coppa Italia in September saw Lazio lose two and draw two. They did not proceed to the second phase.
In Serie A, the Biancocelesti started well winning the first three games, but then they lost the lead with four points in the next five. They were currently fifth with 10 points together with a number of teams but not too far off first place which was held by Juventus with 13 points. The previous Sunday Lazio had lost the derby.
The match: Sunday, December 8, 1974, Lazio Bologna 1-0
Lazio needed to win to regain a bit of confidence after losing the derby. The game was played in two distinct phases: before the 28th minute and after.
Initially the Biancocelesti were dangerous when in the 23rd minute a low cross in the box from Roberto Badiani was about to reach Giorgio Chinaglia but Long John was sandwiched between Mauro Bellugi and Vittorio Caporale. A probable penalty but the referee gestured to play on as the ball then reached Renzo Garlaschelli who was a little surprised so his aim was not as good as it could have been and his shot hit the woodwork. Previously Franco Nanni had to leave the pitch for 6 minutes following a harsh tackle and when he came back, Garlaschelli left for a few minutes, he too was a victim of Bologna’s “caresses”. But everything changed in the 28th minute. Eraldo Pecci went off on a counter attack with Beppe Savoldi, Pietro Ghedin stopped the former with a strong tackle which the Bologna player did not really appreciate. Pecci kicked the Lazio defender and was sent off.
At that point the Biancocelesti threw caution to the wind and attacked, rather confusedly, but at least attacked. Garlaschelli missed an open goal chance in the 41st minute and Badiani imitated him shortly after.
In the interval Tommaso Maestrelli substituted Nanni with Paolo Franzoni. Chinaglia almost immediately hit the post with a header from a Luciano Re Cecconi cross. Lazio scored in the 61st minute. One-two between Mario Frustalupi-Re Cecconi, cross in the box, Franzoni controlled the ball with his chest and then volleyed it in. Marvellous goal.
What followed was a hit and miss from Lazio who continued to attack in a disorderly fashion. Bologna did not attempt anything at all until the 85th minute when Claudio Maselli crossed into the box, Pino Wilson tried to clear but sent the ball the wrong way, fortunately Felice Pulici confirmed what a great keeper he was.
A good win for the Biancocelesti, hoping that the crisis has been left behind.
Who played for Lazio
Pulici, Ghedin, Martini, Wilson, Oddi, Nanni (46’ Franzoni), Garlaschelli, Re Cecconi, Chinaglia, Frustalupi, Badiani
Manager: Maestrelli
Who played for Bologna
Buso, Roversi, Cresci, Caporale, Bellugi, Maselli, Ghetti, Pecci, Savoldi, Massimelli, Brugnera (46' Colomba)
Substitutes: Adani, Paris
Manager: Pesaola
Referee: Mascali
Goal: 61’ Franzoni
Red Card: 28' Pecci
What happened next
By the end of the year they were second, three points behind Juventus. The first match of 1975 was Lazio vs Juve and the Biancocelesti won but the three-point deficit was re-established at the end of the first half of the season with a loss at Ascoli. The three-point gap stayed until the end of February. Two points in the next four games meant that Lazio dropped to fourth place, -6 from the Bianconeri.
After winning at Bologna, the team were told that Tommaso Maestrelli had cancer and at that point the players lost interest in Serie A.
Lazio finished fourth qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The big question was who was going to substitute Tommaso Maestrelli?
Giancarlo Oddi, Giorgio Chinaglia, Pino Wilson and Felice Pulici had the most appearances (34), Chinaglia was the top scorer with 14 goals.
Let’s talk about Beppe Savoldi
Beppe Savoldi was one of Italy’s great centre forwards of the 1970s. Top scorer in 1972-73, he has the record of placing himself 12 times in the top ten Serie A scorers. Despite this, he was hardly ever considered for the national team.
Giuseppe Savoldi was born on January 21 1947 in Gorlago near Bergamo. He started his football career with Atalanta debuting in Serie A on September 5 1965 in the home game against Fiorentina. He played for his hometown club for three years, all in Serie A, with 57 league appearances and 17 goals. In his last season he scored 12 goals, attracting the interest of the bigger teams.
In 1968 he signed for Bologna. He stayed for seven years, winning the Coppa Italia twice (1970 and 1974), the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1970 beating Manchester City 3-2 on aggregate, was Serie A top scorer together with Gianni Rivera and Paolo Pulici in 1972-73, made 277 appearances with 126 goals. He was also the protagonist of a ghost goal at Ascoli in the 1974-75 season. He had scored but a ball boy kicked the ball out of the goal and the referee did not notice.
In 1975 he joined Napoli. It was the most expensive signing in Italian football up to that point, 2 billion lire between cash, Sergio Clerici and Rosario Rampanti who joined Bologna. He stayed for four years winning a Coppa Italia in 1976 and another Anglo-Italian League Cup beating Southampton 4-1 on aggregate. He made 165 appearances with 77 goals.
In 1979 he went back to Bologna and stayed a year but he was involved in the totonero scandal and was suspended for three years. After Italy won the world cup in Spain in 1982, the Federation cut two years from all the suspensions so he went back to playing this time for Atalanta in Serie B in 1982-83 where he made 17 appearances with one goal. At the end of the season he retired.
As previously mentioned, Savoldi never had a good relationship with the national team. Despite the fact that he was certainly one of the best forwards in Italy, he was always at the wrong club. At that time, it was important to keep on good terms with the stronger Serie A clubs so the Turin and Milanese teams had the lion share of the call-ups. As a consequence, he played just four games for Italy with one goal in the friendly against Greece on December 30 1975. He also won a gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in Tunis in 1967 with the Under-21s.
He then became a manager coaching lower tier sides such as Carrarese, Lecco, Leffe, Massese, Siena, Spezia and Telgate. His biggest result was in 1994-95 when he was called to substitute Roberto Bacchin at Saronno and took the club to promotion to Serie C1.
Beppe Savoldi, Mr. 2 Billion as he was called, was a great centre-forward, had a long career cut short, and was a very good goal scorer. The fact that he hardly played for Italy is a mystery.
Sources
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