Historic double for Lazio

Updated: Nov 14

1999-00 Season

Coppa Italia, Final, Second Leg

Thursday May 18 2000

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan

Inter Lazio 0-0

Lazio secure a historic double by winning the Coppa Italia following a goalless draw against Inter.

Lazio, like many of the big teams, started the Coppa Italia In the fourth round games and had to play against Reggiana, who had won their group in August. Lazio, with a few Primavera players in the starting eleven, plus more on the bench, had drawn the first leg away 1-1 (Alen Boksic the scorer for the Biancocelesti) and won the return match 4-1 at home thanks to a Sinisa Mihajlovic free kick double and goals by Simone Inzaghi and Boksic.

The quarter finals were much more difficult as Lazio had to face Juventus. At the end of the first half in Turin the Biancoclesti were losing 3-0 and were virtually out of the competition. But in the second half first a penalty scored by Fabrizio Ravanelli and then a goal by Roberto Mancini with ten minutes to go re-opened the contest. In the return match at the Olimpico Lazio scored in the second half with Boksic. Alessandro Del Piero equalised but Diego Simeone put Lazio ahead in the 81st minute and the Biancocelesti were able to hold onto the precious victory.

Whereas on the one side there were two big clashes in the quarter finals (Lazio vs Juve and the Milanese derby), the other two games should have been more one-sided: Cagliari-Roma and Fiorentina-Venezia. But the islanders eliminated the Giallorossi and an away goal by Venezia gave them an historic semi-final against Lazio.

In the first leg, Lazio destroyed Venezia 5-0 with doubles from Mancini and Mihajlovic (with two penalties) plus a Ravanelli goal. Silver Fox had also missed a penalty. The return was just a formality and Lazio drew 2-2 with an Inzaghi double.

Inter brushed off Cagliari and so met Lazio in the final. The first leg was in Rome on April 12. Inter scored immediately with Clarence Seedorf but Lazio managed to equalise with Pavel Nedved at the end of the first half. In the beginning of the second, Simeone put Lazio ahead so Marcelo Lippi put Ronaldo on the pitch, his first game in five months. Five minutes later the Brazilian broke his patellar tendon. The scene was dramatic and very sad. The game basically ended there.

The return would be played four days after the end of the campionato.

The match

Nobody knew what to expect from Lazio. They had just won the scudetto in incredible circumstances and still smelling of champagne now had a final to play. The Lazio players came onto the pitch with dyed hair, some blond, some with streaks of blue, others with the Italian colours. The Biancocelesti had not trained for a few days and Inter needed just one goal to win.

Inter started much better than Lazio. In the 8th minute Nestor Sensini to Juan Sebastian Veron who lost the ball, Gigi Di Biagio to Seedorf in the box on the left, ball to the centre to Roberto Baggio whose shot was weak and saved by Marco Ballotta. Seerdorf tried again in the 16th minute but his shot went wide. Three minutes later Simeone headed a Beppe Favalli cross but Angelo Peruzzi saved. With one minute to go to the end of the first half Inzaghi, in an attempt to anticipate Laurent Blanc, sent the ball towards his own goal but Ballotta saved.

In the second half Veron hit the woodwork in the 47th minute from a free kick. Peruzzi was miraculous on a Sensini header for a corner in the 74th. In the 81st minute Grigorios Georgatos crossed in the box from the left, Benoit Cauet managed to pass the ball to Alvaro Recoba who dribbled Alessandro Nesta and had only Ballotta to beat. His shot was brilliantly saved by the Lazio second goalkeeper. In injury time Seedorf sent a good ball into the box on the right, Recoba ran faster than Favalli and aimed for the far post. Ballotta was beaten but the ball hit the woodwork.

The match ended 0-0 and Lazio won their third Coppa Italia.