January 14, 1951: Lazio Bologna 1-0

Updated: Jul 11

Lazio beats a disappointing Bologna

An Arce goal was enough for Lazio to beat a disappointing Bologna.

Also on this day: January 14, 1996, Lazio Torino 1-1. Last second goal by a (hopefully) future star allows Lazio to avoid defeat. Player of the day: Alessandro Iannuzzi

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had surprisingly arrived fourth so expectations were high for the 1950-51 season. A lot of money was spent on new players such as Leoncino Unzain, Primo Sentimenti V and Stefano Malacarne so some of the old timers such as Romano Penzo and Leandro Remondini had to go.

The season so far had been a positive one, following the footsteps of the previous campaign. Lazio had won the derby, drawn against Inter, after being down 3-0, Juventus and Milan who were a lot stronger than the Biancocelesti. There had been a few losses on the way, including a heavy one against Novara lead by Silvio Piola, but overall a good performance.

The match: Sunday, January 14, 1951, Stadio Torino, Rome

The game between Lazio and Bologna was not an exceptional one. The Biancocelesti did not play well but the Rossoblu played even worse. Bologna had an enormous chance in the 19th minute. Corrado Bernicchi, all alone in front of Lucidio Sentimenti IV and with all the time in the world, was only able to hit the woodwork.

In the 26th minute Lazio went ahead. Romolo Alzani took a free kick, the ball was first headed by Aldo Puccinelli and then touched by Mario Magrini. After an interception from a Bologna defender, the ball landed at Dionisio Arce’s feet and he had no difficulty in scoring. 1-0 for Lazio.

Bologna did very little to equalise and Lazio had numerous chances to score a second goal but wasted all of them. In the 73rd minute Puccinelli placed a ball so invitingly easy for Magrini that is was more difficult to miss than put the ball into the net. Magrini decided on the more difficult option.

At the end of the day, two more points to Lazio to end the first part of the season.

Who played for Lazio

Sentimenti IV, Antonazzi, Sentimenti V, Alzani, Malacarne, Sentimenti III, Puccinelli, Magrini, Arce, Flamini, Cecconi

Manager: Sperone

Who played for Bologna

Vanz, Giovannini, Ballacci, Pilmark, Mezzandri, Jensen, Cervellati, Bernicchi, Cappello, Campatelli, Matteucci.

Manager: Crawford.

Referee: Liverani

Goal: 27’ Arce

What happened next

Lazio continued the good performance of the first half of the season. Lazio had some convincing wins against Padova, Torino and Atalanta plus a good draw against Inter away from home. They beat Roma for the second time this season. The Giallorossi were relegated to Serie B, the first Rome team ever to be relegated.

After winning in Milan, with one game to go to the end of the season, Lazio were mathematically fourth, the same result as the previous year. Another miracle for the Biancocelesti, obviously with much more limited financial possibilities compared to Milan, Inter and Juventus.

The fourth place allowed Lazio to participate in the Zentropa Cup, an unofficial edition of the Mitropa Cup. The latter was a tournament that initially was devised in the 1920s with two teams from Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia competing in a knock out competition. The first tournament took place in 1927. In 1929 Italian teams took the place of the Yugoslav ones. In 1934 the tournament was expanded to four teams per nation. Switzerland joined in 1936 and 1937, Romania and Yugoslavia in 1937. Austria was withdrawn following the German annexation of 1938. The tournament was stopped in 1940 due to the Second World War.

In 1951, in the light of other tournaments that were taking place such as the Latin Cup (between clubs from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal) and the Rio Cup (between European and Latin American teams), an attempt was made to resuscitate the Mitropa Cup. The Italian teams that were competing in the other two tournaments backed out so it was up to Lazio to defend the Italian colours. The other three teams were Rapid Wien, and Admira Wien (first and second in the Austrian league and very, very strong) and Dinamo Zagreb. Lazio was crushed 5-0 by Rapid and lost 2-0 against Dinamo. Rapid beat Admira in the final.

Sentimenti IV and Aldo Puccinelli were the players with most appearances during the 1950-51 season (40) and Norberto Hofling the top goal scorer (11).

Lazio 1950-51

Competition	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goals scored
Serie A	38	18	10	10	64
Zentropa Cup	2	-	-	2	-
Totale	40	18	10	12	64

Top five appearances

Player	Total	Serie A	Zentropa Cup
Puccinelli	40	38	2
Sentimenti IV	40	38	2
Alzani	38	36	2
Flamini	35	33	2
Antonazzi	33	31	2
Hofling	33	33	-

Top five goal scorers

Player	Serie A
Hofling	11
Flamini	10
Puccinelli	9
	9
Sentimenti V	7
Arce	7

Let’s talk about Dionisio Arce

Dionisio Arce was born in San Juan Bautista de la Misiones on June 14 1927. He was a good forward, good technique and very fast. He however had a bad temper and this probably hampered his career. For example, he was suspended for five games due to having thrown the ball in the referee’s face during the course of the game with Sampdoria on October 22 1950.

He started playing professional football with Sportivo Luqueno and was one of the fan favourites. In 1949 he participated in the South American Championship helping Paraguay to reach the playoff with seven goals in the tournament. The tournament was a round robin and the team with most points won the tournament. In the last match of the group Paraguay beat Brazil and the two teams were tied in first place. The subsequent playoff was won by Brazil.

In 1949 his club sold him to Lazio. The Sportivo fans did everything they possibly could to block the transfer. They even cut the tires of the bus that would have taken Dionisio to Asuncion to board the plane for Rome.

With Lazio he played two seasons before being sold to Napoli. His bad temper and the dualism with his attacking team mate Norbert Hofling meant that he had to go. “The player is technically interesting, he has qualities, but he is finding it hard to settle in”, said the Lazio manager of the time Mario Sperone.

A year at Napoli was followed by a year at Sampdoria. In both seasons he did not play much. He had a longer spell with Novara, three years, with Silvio Piola as attacking companion. It was however his conflict with Helge Bronee in the 1955-56 season that characterised his stay in Piedmont. The two never got on, arguing or even ignoring each other on the pitch. This was one of the reasons Novara was relegated at the end of the season.

Arce then went to play for Torino from 1956 to 1959 but had problems even there. His last two years of professional football were with Palermo. After he quit football he stayed in Italy and became a manager of minor teams. He then opened a shop in Bracciano, near Rome, and helped out for the local team.

His son Alessandro played in the Lazio youth teams in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Dionisio was often seen at the Stadio Olimpico supporting Lazio.

Arce played 28 games for Lazio and scored nine goals, all in Serie A. He died at Bracciano on November 5 2000.