Lazio bring SPAL down to earth
Lazio defeat high flying Ferraresi and overtake them in the table
Also on this day:
The season so far
Lazio had finished a positive 4th the previous season, under manager Mario Sperone. The Biancocelesti had won both derbies and and beaten Milan away. Top scorer was Norberto Höfling with 11 league goals.
This season the manager was Giuseppe Bigogno. The main additions to the squad were Luigi Fuin (Palermo), Ragnar Nikolay Larsen (Sandaker), Sigvard Löfgren (Helsingborg), plus forward Lelio Antoniotti while leaving were defender Sergio Piacentini (Chinotto Neri), midfielder Flavio Cecconi (Napoli) and forwards, Dionisio Arce (Napoli) and Höfling (Pro Patria).
The Eagles were having another good season and were joint 6th with Novara on 18 points. Lazio had won 7, drawn 4 and lost 5. The most recent match had been a 1-1 away draw to Milan. There was no derby this year as Roma had been the first team from the capital to be relegated to Serie B.
Società Sportiva Ars Labor known as SPAL were newly promoted. The Biancazzurri had won Serie B the previous season under manager Antonio Janni. The top scorer was future Lazio forward Alberto Fontanesi with 16 league goals.
This season the manager was still Janni. The new signings for the higher level were: keeper Ottavio Bugatti (Seregno), defenders Aulo Gelio Lucchi (Verona), midfielder Dion Ørnvold (KB) and forwards Aziz Esel Bülent (Beşiktaş), Andrea Marzani (Fanfulla), Domenico Mussino (Fanfulla) and Bruno Quaresima (Vicenza).
Leaving Ferrara were: keeper Renato Bertocchi (Palermo), defender Plinio Patuelli (retiring) plus forwards Renato Dini (Verona), Enzo Rosignoli (Forlì), Aldo Biagiotti (Empoli) and Silvano Trevisani (Fiorentina).
SPAL were doing well and were in joint 4th place with Palermo on 19 points. The Estensi had won 6, drawn 7 (including Juventus and Milan both 1-1 away and Inter 1-1 at home) and lost 3. They came from two consecutive wins (Palermo and Napoli).
So, a high table clash today. Lazio could overtake the Ferraresi today but had to watch out against the high-flying newcomers.
The match: Sunday, January 13, 1952, Stadio Torino, Rome
A rainy day in the Eternal City with the pitch in an awful state with large muddy patches. A crowd of about 20,000 at the Torino stadium today.
Lazio had defender Stefano Malacarne and forward Aldo Puccinelli out, while the visitors had no injury problems.
Lazio played well at the start forcing SPAL on the backfoot. In the 11th minute the Romans took the lead even if it was with an own goal by Raffaele Guaita, who put the ball past Ottavio Bugatti. Lazio 1 SPAL 0.
SPAL however, showed why they were so high up in the table. They played fast, precise football and Lazio had to defend for most of the half, fending off the waves of intense attacks by the visitors. Halftime Lazio 1 SPAL 0.
The second half had barely started when Norwegian Ragnar Larsen scored in the 47th minute.
The Estensi however, did not give up and pulled a goal back in the 58th minute. Their best player so far, Dane Niels Bennike, was fouled in the area and Aulo Gelio Lucchi scored the spot kick. Lazio 2 SPAL 1.
SPAL's game nevertheless started to be affected by the heavy pitch. Their style was based on high-speed movements and passes and they started to tire.
It was then Bugatti who kept the visitors in the game with impressive saves from Larsen, Enrique Flamini and Sukrü Gülesin.
More Lazio goals came towards the end. In the 83rd minute big Turkish forward Sukrü scored and then two minutes later Flamini got Lazio's fourth. Lazio 4 SPAL 1.
The Turkish forward was the protagonist of a funny episode during the match. The muddy conditions made the players' shirts and numbers almost unrecognisable after only 10-15 minutes, but for a long period the sturdy Turk's remained immaculate. It was a great disappointment to the crowd when Sukrü finally went flying into the muddy water and joined his filthy looking teammates.
The game finished 4-1 but the result was a bit generous to Lazio. The Biancocelesti had possibly the better players but SPAL had played well until their energy ran out also due to the heavy pitch.
A bit harsh on the Ferraresi but a good win for Lazio who leapfrogged today's opponents and were now joint 4th with Palermo. SPAL meanwhile were down to 6th.
Who played for Lazio
Sentimenti IV, Antonazzi, Furiassi, Alzani, Sentimenti V, Fuin, Flamini, Larsen, Antoniotti, Löfgren, Sukrü
Manager: Bigogno
Who played for SPAL
Bugatti, Guaita, Lucchi, Ørnvold, Macchi, Nesti, Quaresima, Colombi, Bülent, Bennike, Fontanesi I
Manager: Janni
Referee: Liverani
Goals: 11' Guaita (og), 47' Larsen, 58' Lucchi, 83' Sukrü, 85' Antoniotti
What happened next
Lazio finished 4th again. In the next 21 games the Biancocelesti won 7 (including Juventus 2-0 at home), drew 9 (including Inter 1-1 away and Milan 1-1 at home) and lost 5 (including SPAL 0-4 away). Another good season for the Romans who only came behind the big three. Top scorer was Gülesin Sukrü with 16 league goals.
SPAL finished 9th. After today's defeat the Estensi won another 6, drew 6 and lost 9. Top scorer was Aziz Bülent with 13 league goals.
Juventus won their 9th league title while Lucchese, Padova and Legnano descended to Serie B.
Let's talk about Lelio Antoniotti
Lelio Antoniotti, known as Lello, was born in Bard (Aosta Valley) on January 17, 1928.
He started playing football with Sparta Novara and debuted in Serie C in the 1945-46 season.
In the following year he signed for Pro Patria in Serie B and with 22 goals in 35 appearances contributed to the club’s promotion to Serie A. The team then managed to stay in the top tier with an 8th place and Antoniotti scored 11 goals. Unfortunately, pleurisy maimed his subsequent two years where he made far fewer appearances (19 games with 9 goals). His last year in Lombardy was 1950-51 where he played a lot more but did not score as much, just six goals in 32 appearances.
In 1951-52 he signed for Lazio. The goal-scoring drought continued and in his two years in Rome he only scored ten goals in 53 games. In his first year Lazio finished 4th under Giuseppe Bigogno and Antoniotti got 6 goals (Udinese, Juventus, Legnano, SPAL, Juventus in 2-0 home win and Bologna). In his second season Lazio finished 10th, first under Bogogno and then Alfredo Notti, and Antoniotti scored 4 goals (Pro Patria, Sampdoria, Palermo x2). Lazio won both derbies against newly promoted Roma.
He was no more prolific when he moved to Turin in 1953. With Torino he played 78 games with 13 goals over three seasons. The Granata finished 9th twice and 11th. Antoniotti did score against Lazio in Rome in a 2-0 Granata win and in a 2-2 derby draw against Juventus, both in 1954.
His last three years were with Juventus, Vicenza and Novara.
With the Bianconeri he played 18 league games with 2 goals (Sampdoria, Udinese) and finished 9th. He played alongside legends such as Giampiero Boniperti and Kurt Hamrin.
With the Biancorossi of Vicenza he played 16 league games with 1 goal and finished 7th.
Finally, with the Piedmontese Azzurri he played 7 games in Serie B and finished 10th.
He retired at 31.
When he finished playing football, he became part of the Italian Football Federation Staff and was in charge of courses on football techniques. Later on, he was one of the examiners for the Coverciano Manager courses.
Antoniotti was not a bad player, but perhaps he was too small (1.68 and 58 kilos) to be a centre-forward, more like Paolo Rossi without the speed than Christian Vieri. But he was good with his feet and knew what to do with the ball. The only problem is that a centre-forward has to score goals, and he scored too few.
He died in Novara on March 29, 2014.
Lazio Career
Season | Apperances Serie A (goals) |
1951-52 | 29 (6) |
1952-53 | 24 (4) |
Total | 53 (10) |
Source
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