Surprisingly easy against M'Gladbach
With two first half goals Lazio wrap up tie without excessive difficulty
Also on this day: February 21, 1943, Juventus Lazio 2-4. An easy win for Lazio over a terrible Juventus. Player of the day: Salvador (Salvatore) Gualtieri
The season so far
The main novelty for Lazio this season was the arrival of Swiss coach Vladimir Petkovic, an elegant polyglot of Bosnian origin. Apart from Petkovic, Lazio had Brazilian Ederson (free transfer) in midfield, plus defensive giant Michael Ciani (Bordeaux). Sergio Floccari, Mauro Zarate and Luis Pedro Cavanda retuned from their loans. In January, striker and fan favourite Tommaso Rocchi had left for Inter after nine wonderful years in Rome (and 105 goals) and Brazilian Francelino Matuzalem had joined Genoa.
Lazio had started well in Serie A with three wins. Then, despite defeats against Fiorentina, Napoli, Genoa and Catania, there had been more wins including a 3-2 derby triumph, wins against Milan and Inter, plus a hard earned away point against Juventus. At the end of the first round of fixtures Lazio were 2nd. In the last 5 games however, Lazio had only got two points and had dropped to 4th. Their last game had been a 0-3 defeat at Siena.
Today however, was a Europa League game. The Biancocelesti had started their European campaign in a play-off in August beating Slovenians Mura 5-1 on aggregate.
Then came the group phase with Tottenham, Maribor and Panathinaikos. Lazio won 3 (Maribor 1-0, Panathinaikos 3-0, at home and Maribor 1-4 away) and drew 3 (Tottenham both 0-0 and Panathinaikos 1-1 away).
In the last 32 the Biancocelesti had to play Germans Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The Germans had some good players: keeper Marc-André Ter Stegen (later to play for Barcelona), midfielder Granit Xhaka (later Arsenal) and strikers Patrick Herrmann and Luuk De Jong (later PSV, Sevilla, Barcelona) to name a few.
"Die Fohlen" (The Foals) manager was Swiss Lucien Favre. They had finished 4th in the league the previous season and so played a Champions League preliminary but lost 3-4 to Dynamo Kiev. They therefore dropped down to the second European competition.
In the Europa League group phase, they came 2nd behind Fenerbahçe. The Germans had won 3 (AEL Limassol and Marseilles, both 2-0 at home, Fenerbahçe 3-0 away), drawn 2 (AEL 0-0, Marselles 2-2, both away) and lost 1 (Fenerbahçe 2-4 at home).
They were already out of the DFB-Pokal (the domestic cup) having lost 0-1 away to Fortuna Dusseldorf in October.
In the Bundesliga Borussia were just off the Europa League slots so best to concentrate on the current tournament.
The first leg in Germany, on February 14, ended up 3-3. It was an exciting game. "Die Elf vom Niederrhein" (The team of the Lower Rhine) took the lead through a penalty, Sergio Floccari equalised, Libor Kozak put Lazio in front before Gladbach scored two late goals to seemingly win the tie but a 94th minute Kozak goal gave Lazio a precious high scoring draw.
Now a week later came the return leg in Rome. Lazio were considered slight favourites as they only needed a draw (except the unlikely case of a 4-4, 5-5 etc) but German sides were competitive and known never to give up. The Germans were also bringing a good number of traveling fans (a trip to Rome is always appealing).
The match: Thursday, February 21, 2013, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
A decent 35,000 crowd turned up for this Thursday evening clash, with at least 5/6,000 Germans in Curva Sud.
Lazio were without defender André Dias, midfielder Stefano Mauri and striker Miro Klose.
Lazio were more than pleased to let themselves be attacked by the visitors and then to try and punish them on the break. Sergio Floccari was Lazio’s only striker with Antonio Candreva and Senad Lulic on the wings and a crowded midfield made up of Hernanes, "El Tata" Gonzalez and Cristian Ledesma.
Lazio took the lead after only ten minutes. Borussia were tapping it about in their own half when Álvaro Dominguez messed up a basic ball control and was dispossessed by Candreva who ran straight towards goal and beat Ter Stegen with a low shot to his left. Lazio 1 Borussia MGB 0.
A perfect start for Lazio as now the Germans needed two unanswered goals to qualify.
The "Die Mythen" reaction was far from fierce and in the 14th minute Lulic forced Ter Stegen to dive low to his right to save the Bosnian's low, long range shot into corner.
The Germans showed none of their characteristic fighting spirit and in the 33rd minute Lazio scored again. Stefan Radu ran forward on the left and skilfully freed himself for a shot from the edge of the box, the keeper dived low and parried but Gonzalez was quickest to the rebound and lunging forward put the ball in the roof of the net. Lazio 2 Borussia MGB 0.
Lazio were cruising, the visitors now needed three goals but there was already the sensation it was not going to happen.
Lazio controlled the game and halftime came without them running any risks.
There were no changes during the break but in the 52nd minute Amin Younes came on for Juan Arango.
It was still Lazio with the chances. In the 59th minute Candreva tried his luck from 30 metres out but his blistering shot was just wide.
In the 66th minute Gladbach finally showed signs of life when a powerful low strike by Martin Stranzl was blocked low by Federico Marchetti.
In the 68th minute Favre tried to change things by throwing on Mike Hanke for Tolga Ciğerci while a minute later Vladimir Petkovic substituted Gonzalez with Eddy Onazi.
The game went flat with Lazio more than content to slow things down and Borussia unable to threaten.
More substitutions came for both sides, in the 78th minute Granit Xhaka came on for Thorben Marx while, in the 78th and 82nd, Libor Kozak and Pereirinha replaced Floccari and Candreva.
The game however had nothing more to say. Not even the Germans believed anymore and the game ended with Lazio two nil winners.
A surprisingly easy win for Lazio against decent Bundesliga opposition. The tie was virtually decided after just over half an hour. Lazio then controlled and qualified for the next round without any real worries.
Next up, another German club, VfB Stuttgart.
Who played for Lazio
Marchetti, Konko, Biava, Cana, Radu, Candreva (82' Pereirinha), A. Gonzalez (69' Onazi), Ledesma, Hernanes, Lulic, Floccari (78' Kozak)
Manager: Petkovic
Who played for Borussia MGB
Ter Stegen, Stranzl, Jantschke, Dominguez, Wendt, Ciğerci (68' Hanke), Marx (78' Xhaka), Nordtveit, Herrmann, De Jong, Arango (52' Younes)
Substitutes: Heimeroth, Daems, Brouwers, Rupp
Manager: Favre
Referee: Göçek (Turkey)
Goals: 10' Candreva, 33' Gonzalez
What happened next
Lazio played Stuttgart in the next round and won 5-1 on aggregate. In the quarterfinals came Fenerbahçe. The first leg was in Istanbul and things were going reasonably well until in the second half Scottish referee Mr. William Callum suddenly started to blow everything against Lazio including a very generous penalty and a non-existent free kick which led to the Turks second goal. In many years of watching Lazio I have rarely seen such a blatantly anti-referee, it was almost as if he had received instructions during the break to make sure the Romans were beaten.
In the return match Lazio played well, went one up but then a Caner equaliser basically decided the tie.
In Serie A Lazio faded and finished 7th. The only really good win before the end of the season was a 3-1 win away to Inter while the second derby ended 1-1. Top scorer was Miro Klose with 16 (15 in A).
The Coppa Italia however was a different story. Lazio had started in December beating Siena on penalties (after equalising in the 95th minute). Next had come a 3-0 win against Catania. The semi-final was against Juventus and Lazio won 3-2 on aggregate. The final was a final of finals against bitter local rivals A.S Roma.
On the 26th May, Lazio triumphed 1-0 with a Senad Lulic goal in the 71st minute (one can still see the number graffitied around town).
An average season became an epic one thanks to the derby win which will be remembered forever on both sides of the Tiber.
Borussia finished 8th in the Bundesliga. Top scorer was Juan Arango with 9 in total while in the Bundesliga it was De Jong and Herrmann with 6 each.
Lazio 2012-13
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 51 |
Coppa Italia | 5 | 3 | 2 | - | 8 |
Europa League | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 25 |
Total | 57 | 29 | 14 | 14 | 84 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
Hernanes | 53 | 34 | 5 | 14 |
Ledesma | 52 | 36 | 5 | 11 |
Lulic | 50 | 33 | 5 | 12 |
Candreva | 49 | 35 | 3 | 11 |
Gonzalez | 49 | 34 | 4 | 11 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
Klose | 16 | 15 | - | 1 |
Hernanes | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Floccari | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
Kozak | 10 | - | - | 10 |
Candreva | 7 | 6 | - | 1 |
Let's talk about Borussia Mönchengladbach
The club's full name is Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 Mönchengladbach but are usually known as Borussia Mönchengladbach or simply Gladbach.
Mönchengladbach is a town in the west of Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of 260,000 inhabitants. The nearest really big town is Dusseldorf.
Their colours are White, Black and Green (the latter from the 1970's) and from 2004 play in Stadion im Borussia-Park with a capacity of 54,000. Until 2004 they played in the Bökelbergstadion (known as Westdeutsches Stadion in the 60's). This was a small ground so sometimes they had to play in nearby Dusseldorf.
They have various nicknames Die Fohlen (The Foals), Die Elf Vom Niederrhein (The team of the lower Rhine) and Die Mythen (The Legends).
They were founded in 1900 and for many years played in the lower German divisions. They had their first success in 1960-61 when they won the German Cup beating Karlsruhe 3-2. They then reached the quarter finals of the Cup Winners Cup.
In 1962 they had their first player participating in a World Cup, Albert Brülls in Cile 1962.
In 1964-65 Gladbach were promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time. The manager was Hennes Weisweiler, he would remain until 1975.
There followed some good years with 13th, 8th, 3rd and 3rd places and in 1969-70 Gladbach won their first league title. The stars were keeper Wolfgang Kleff, defenders Berti Vogts, Hartwig Bleidick, Ludwig Müller, Klaus -Dieter Sieloff, midfielders Günter Netzer, Peter Dietrich, Winfried Schäfer plus forwards Horst Köppel, Herbert Laumen and Herbert Wimmer. Top scorer was Laumen with 21 goals.
In 1970-71 they won the title again. Key new players were midfielder Rainer Bonhof and striker Jupp Heynckes (he would later have a great coaching career).
The 70's were Gladbach' s glory years. In 1971-72 they finished 3rd, in 1972-73, 5th but won the German Cup and reached the UEFA Cup final (losing 2-3 on aggregate to Liverpool), in 1973-74 2nd and reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winners Cup.
In the summer of 1974 five of their players won the World Cup with West Germany; Wolfgang Kleff, Herbert Wimmer, Berti Vogts, Rainer Bonhof and Jupp Heynckes while Netzer had already gone to Real Madrid.
In 1974-75 they won the league again and also won the UEFA Cup (Twente 5-1 on aggregate). Jupp Heynckes was top Bundesliga goal scorer.
In 1975-76 the Udo Lattek era started and they were confirmed as champions and then again in 1976-77, making it three in a row. In May 1977 they played the European Cup final in Rome against Liverpool but lost 1-3. I was present at the game in the Liverpool end and, despite not being a fan, I was supporting the Reds but was impressed by the German fans. One of their players, Danish Allan Simonsen won the Golden Ball that year.
In 1977-78 they finished 2nd and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup. They set a record winning score in the Bundesliga defeating Borussia Dortmund 12-0.
In 1978-79 they finished 10th but won the UEFA CUP again defeating Red Star Belgrade 2-1 on aggregate.
In 1979 Jupp Heynckes became manager and stayed until 1987. They finished 7th and were runners up in the UEFA Cup losing to compatriots Eintracht Frankfurt on away goals.
In the 1980's came a slight decline but they were still competitive with 6th, 7th, 12th, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 7th, and 6th places. In 1987 Uwe Rahn was top Bundesliga goal scorer. In 1987 until 1989 Wolf Werner became manager.
The 90's saw Gladbach lose some of their strength. They finished 15th, 9th, 13th, 9th,10th, 5th,4th, 11th, 15th and in 1998-98 were relegated to Zweite Bundesliga (2nd tier). In these years however, in 1995, they won their third German Cup defeating Wolfsburg 3-0.
In 2000-01 Gladbach were promoted back to the Bundesliga, under manager Hans Meyer. They however struggled and after 12th, 12th, 11th, 15th and 10th places, in 2006-07 they were relegated again.
They bounced straight back up under Dutch manager Jos Luhukay and have been in the top flight ever since. Their best seasons were 4th in 2011-12, 3rd in 2014-15 and 4th in 2019-20. They have never fought for the title again but sometimes play in Europe (reached UCL last 16 in 2020-21) and are more often than not mid-table finishers.
Borussia Mönchengladbach are one of the most supported teams in Germany. A curious fact is that they have an official band, a punk rock group called B.O. The music at the stadium is almost exclusively theirs, as well as the supporters’ chants, so the fans are spared some of the awful commercial stuff that is blasted out in other stadiums.
The organised fans, the Fohlenfan, are twinned with Liverpool and also have special friendships with Mainz and Carl Zeiss Jena. Their sworn enemies are nearby Cologne and also Alemannia Aachen.
So, all in all one of the bigger German clubs. Gladbach are the only club, along with Borussia Dortmund, to have the two stars on their shirts for winning five league titles. Bayern Munich, the biggest club in Germany, have 5 stars but that's another story.
Sources
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