Lecce too weak for Lazio
Two goals in the first half were enough for Lazio to beat a very weak Lecce
Also on this day: February 10, 1935, Livorno Lazio 0-2. Lazio, still shocked after the death of Fantoni II, beat Livorno away. Player for the day: Luigi Uneddu
The season so far
Lazio, tired of Mr. 0-0, Giuseppe Materazzi, were becoming ambitious and as a consequence needed a manager who could lead them to a European Cup participation. Dino Zoff, who had just been dropped by Juventus despite winning both the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia, was the chosen man.
A change in mentality was needed to accompany the new manager so in came Karl-Heinz Riedle, German centre-forward who had just won the world cup, Armando Madonna, Sergio Domini and Roberto Bacci among others. Lazio said goodbye to Paolo Di Canio and Amarildo.
Among the many pre-season friendlies, Lazio won the Trofeo Ciudad de La Línea, a prestigious tournament played in Spain, beating Real Madrid on penalties in the final. This was supposed to be the start of a triumphant journey. But the team seem to follow the path of their previous manager rather than have a winning mentality. In the first half of the season the Biancocelesti drew 13 times in 17 games!!!! Almost on the verge of ridiculousness.
Lazio was also kicked out of Coppa Italia early by losing to Serie B team Modena.
The problem was that Domini and Madonna were not playing up to their previous standards. The former was considered to be an excellent playmaker and he had shown a lot of promise in his previous club Cesena. But with Lazio it was a completely different story. He had the amazing ability of sending long passes in the only places on the pitch that lacked Lazio players. Madonna was to take Di Canio's place . With Atalanta he was very highly considered but did not settle down at Lazio and was more of a liability than an asset.
There seemed to be a bit of change in the beginning of the second half of the season and Lazio won against Torino at home and then drew for the 14th time this season against Parma. Time for another win?
The match: Sunday, February 10, 1991, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
A minute of silence was taken before the match to remember the passing of Giorgio Calleri, brother of President Gian Marco and Vice President of the club. He was the financial brains behind Lazio at that time.
Zoff finally decided to use Pedro Troglio who had not played a game since the World Cup final and Lazio benefitted immensely. It was not an easy start to the match. Lecce decided to build a wall in defence and Lazio had a few problems in finding the keys to get in the door, also due to a poor pitch.
In the 32nd minute Lecce had their best chance of the whole match. Free kick on the left, Antonio Carannante crossed the ball and Mazinho’s diving header went just wide. Three minutes later Lazio scored. Free kick this time for Lazio outside of the penalty box, just slightly left of centre. Somebody in the crowd cried “if God exists Lazio score”, and, possibly in order to prove a point, Troglio touched the ball to Roberto Soldà, his whack got deflected by Alessandro Morello and it was 1-0 for Lazio.
Two minutes later Claudio Sclosa took a free kick from Lazio’s right. Cross in the middle for Angelo Gregucci, completely unmarked, who had no problem in heading the ball in the net. 2-0 for Lazio and de facto game over.
In the second half Lazio continually tried to get a third but Riedle, Ruben Sosa, Giampaolo Saurini and Raffaele Sergio either found the gloves of the Lecce goalkeeper or shot wide. Lecce, reduced to ten men from the 64th minute after Giacomo Ferri’s second yellow card, disappeared from the game.
Good win for Lazio, there was still European hope.
Who played for Lazio
Fiori, Bergodi, Sergio, F. Marchegiani, Gregucci, Soldà, Madonna, Troglio, Riedle (63’ Saurini), Sclosa, Sosa
Substitutes: Orsi, Lampugnani, Vertova, A. Bertoni
Manager: Zoff
Who played for Lecce
Zunico, Garzya, Carannante, Mazinho, Amodio, G.Ferri, Alejnikov (46' Moriero), Conte, Pasculli, Benedetti, Morello.
Substitutes: Gatta, Virdis, Panero, Ingrosso.
Manager: Boniek.
Referee: Dal Forno
Goals: 35’ Morello (og), 37’ Gregucci
What happened next
Lazio after this match lost to Milan but won the following two games and Europe seemed to be a strong possibility. However, seven games with no wins and three losses meant that it was not to be. Lazio drew 19 times in the 1990-91 season, this sole fact was enough to see that a lot more had to be done to the squad to be able to have any type of ambition. Zoff was also to blame. It took him too long to change Domini and Madonna.
The return derby was however very exciting. A spectacular first half with opportunities for both teams gave way to an incredible second half. First a non-existent penalty given to Roma, then Sclosa was sent off (and Ruggiero Rizzitelli was not, but should have been) and then also Soldà and Stefano Desideri. Lazio down to nine players versus Roma with ten. But Lazio managed to equalise with Ruben Sosa. A miracle.
Valerio Fiori and Sergio were the players with the most appearances (36) and Ruben Sosa the leading goal scorer (12).
Lazio 1990-91
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 34 | 8 | 19 | 7 | 33 |
Coppa Italia | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 36 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 34 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Fiori | 36 | 34 | 2 |
Sergio | 36 | 34 | 2 |
Riedle | 35 | 33 | 2 |
Ruben Sosa | 35 | 33 | 2 |
Bergodi | 34 | 33 | 1 |
Pin | 34 | 32 | 2 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Ruben Sosa | 12 | 11 | 1 |
Riedle | 9 | 9 | - |
Pin | 2 | 2 | - |
Gregucci | 2 | 2 | - |
Madonna | 2 | 2 | - |
F. Marchegiani | 2 | 2 | - |
Let's talk about Angelo Gregucci
Angelo Adamo Gregucci is one of the heroes of the -9 season. A splendid defender, tall, but also fast, great man to man marker (Marco Van Basten never had it easy against Lazio), he also scored quite a lot of goals in his career.
Angelo was born in San Giorgio Jonico on June 10 1964. He started playing in the youth teams of Taranto and debuted in the first team in 1981. He was sold to Alessandria in 1982 and stayed in the C2 club for four years. Alessandria was owned by Gian Marco Calleri and when the Calleri brothers bought Lazio, they brought Gregucci with them.
He immediately became a staple player for the Lazio squad, contributing enormously in both the -9 season and in the promotion the following year. The jump to Serie A was not a problem and he stayed with the Biancocelesti until 1993 when, much to the dismay of the fans, he was sold to Torino.
He played with the Granata for just one year and then signed for Reggiana where he stayed for the last three years of his career.
He played 212 times for Lazio (124 in Serie A, 63 in Serie B, 2 in the Serie B play outs and 23 in Coppa Italia) and scored 13 times (8 in Serie A, 4 in Serie B and once in Coppa Italia)
Once he stopped playing he became manager. He was Roberto Mancini’s assistant coach at Fiorentina and later manager at Legnano, Venezia, Salernitana, Lecce in Serie A (but was sacked after 5 games) and Vicenza. In 2009 he signed for Atalanta but was sacked after four games. In October 2010 he was called to Sassuolo but was again shown the door with three games to play in the season. In January 2012 he was appointed manager by Reggina but the job lasted only three months.
Roberto Mancini asked Gregucci to be one of his technical assistants in 2012 at Manchester City. He left when Mancini was sacked. Back at Salerno in January 2014, Salernitana won the Lega Pro Coppa Italia but he refused to renew his contract at the end of the season. In July he became manager for Casertana in Lega Pro but was sacked in November despite the team being second. He had a brief stint as technical assistant to Fabio Liverani at Leyton Orient and in 2015 became manager at Alessandria and took the team to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia. In 2016 he was back with Mancini at Inter as assistant coach and continued with the former Lazio player also at Zenit Saint Petersburg the following year. In 2018 he joined the Italian national team as assistant and stayed for a year before going back to Salernitana. His third stint at Salerno did not last long and neither did his next job at Alessandria.
He is currently technical manager for Esteghlal in Iran.
Gregucci is a Lazio hero. He became a fan too and is often heard on local radio stations talking about Lazio.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Serie B | Serie B Play outs | Coppa Italia |
1986-87 | 36 (1) | - | 31 (1) | 2 | 3 |
1987-88 | 37 (3) | - | 32 (3) | - | 5 |
1988-89 | 32 (5) | 26 (4) | - | - | 6 (1) |
1989-90 | 30 (1) | 29 (1) | - | - | 1 |
1990-91 | 33 (2) | 31 (2) | - | - | 2 |
1991-92 | 30 | 26 | - | - | 4 |
1992-93 | 14 (1) | 12 (1) | - | - | 2 |
Total | 212 (13) | 124 (8) | 63 (4) | 2 | 23 (1) |
Source
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