Lazio beat Roma, again
Lazio also won the second leg of the Coppa Italia quarter final derby with a goal from Gottardi in the dying minutes of the match.
Also on this day: January 21, 2018, Lazio Chievo Verona 5-1. After several disappointments, Lazio record a rare but big home win against Chievo. Player of the day: Nani
The season in Coppa Italia so far
Having only a few days ago talked about the 1997-98 season, today we’ll only talk about the Coppa Italia.
It had not been an easy ride so far. Lazio entered the competition in the second round and met Fidelis Andria who played in Serie B that season. After winning away 3-0 (thanks to an own goal and two Beppe Signori goals), the second leg was almost a friendly with the Biancocelesti winning 3-2 (another Signori double plus a goal from Alen Boksic).
In the third round Lazio faced a struggling Napoli. The first leg, at home, saw Lazio destroy any hopes Napoli had of playing the decisive match in the second leg at home. 4-0 to Lazio thanks to two braces, one from Boksic and yet another from Signori. The return match should have just been a formality but Napoli fought to the death and won 3-0 putting Lazio’s qualification at great risk.
This meant that the quarter final was going to be a double derby, since Roma had eliminated first Verona, then Udinese. The first leg was embarrassing. So clear was Lazio’s superiority that Roma really did not stand a chance. The final result, 4-1 with goals from Boksic, Vladimir Jugovic on penalty, Roberto Mancini and Diego Fuser, meant that Roma had to win the return match 3-0, at least. Strangely enough many Roma supporters were still feeling optimistic.
The match: Wednesday, January 21, 1998, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Roma were determined to overturn the result and a foul after only three seconds showed just how intense this match was going to be. The Giallorossi were however incapable of translating their intensity into pressure and serious goal opportunities.
Lazio had many chances to score in the first half. A Pavel Nedved shot was well saved by Konsel who also denied Mancini's two chances. Without the injured Boksic it was up to the former Sampdoria captain to bear the weight of the Lazio attack.
In the dying seconds of the first half Lazio Lazio went ahead. Beppe Pancaro cleared a ball which was picked up on the right-hand side by Roberto Rambaudi. The Lazio winger was fouled by Filippo Dal Moro inside the penalty box. No doubt in anybody’s mind, penalty. Jugovic whacked the ball centrally under the crossbar and Lazio were in the semis.
In the second half Lazio slowed down and Roma took advantage. In the 54th minute Vincent Candela went into the penalty box, ball to Francesco Totti who passed it back to the Frenchman. His shot was walled by the defence but Paul Sergio was in perfect position to equalise.
Roma had 35 minutes to attempt something but decided that it was more fun to repeatedly and dirtily foul Lazio players. The Biancocelesti had their chances with Mancini and especially Giorgio Venturin who got to the ball a fraction too late after a Rambaudi cross. After a chance for Damiano Tommasi anticipated by Luca Marchegiani, Alessandro Nesta harpooned a ball from Marco Delvecchio's feet, he tried to start a counter attack but was slowed down by Totti’s attempt to stop him come what may, and again by Del Vecchio before Luigi Di Biagio settled the matter with a final filthy foul that earned him a red card. It was the 72nd minute.
In the fourth minute of injury time, Paolo Negro cleared and the ball, deflected by another Roma player, reached Tommasi who, in an attempt to head the ball forward, actually passed it backwards to Guerino Gottardi. The Swiss had a chance to become a legend and he did not miss it. 2-1 for Lazio, game over.
Who played for Roma
Konsel, Candela, Aldair, Petruzzi (77' Servidei), Dal Moro, Tommasi, Di Biagio, Scapolo (77' Vagner), Paulo Sergio, Delvecchio, Totti.
Substitutes: Chimenti, Tetradze, Pivotto, Helguera, Gautieri.
Manager: Zeman
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Pancaro, Negro, Nesta, Chamot, Rambaudi (77’ Gottardi), Fuser (75’ Marcolin), Venturin, Jugovic, Nedved, Mancini
Manager: Eriksson
Referee: Bolognino
Goals: 45’ Jugovic (pen, 54’ Paulo Sergio, 94’ Gottardi
What happened next
In the Coppa Italia semi-finals in February Lazio faced Juventus who were clear favourites. But Lazio had been playing very well and there was optimism. The Biancocelesti won the first leg in Turin with yet another goal by Boksic. Juventus were stunned by the authority with which Lazio had played and learnt their lesson in time for the return match at the Olimpico in March. The Bianconeri went ahead in the first half with Daniel Fonseca, but Lazio were on another footballing level at that moment and a double from Pavel Nedved sent Lazio into the final. Beppe Favalli’s own goal at the end of the match was useful only for statistics.
The first leg of the final was played in April, three days after Lazio’s defeat against Juventus in Serie A. Lazio played very well and would have deserved to win, but the Milan goalkeeper Sebastiano Rossi saved everything that night. In the last minute of the game, Negro and Nesta made a mistake and George Weah scored.
The one goal deficit was possible to overturn in the return match at the Stadio Olimpico but after a goalless first half, Demetrio Albertini scored for Milan in the 46th minute. Lazio now needed to score 3 goals to win the Cup. Sven Goran Eriksson then made a decisive substitution that to many seemed weird. Out went Alessandro Grandoni and in came Guerino Gottardi. Nobody could ever have imagined that Guerino would change the match but he did. Little Guerino became Garrincha (or Cristiano Ronaldo for the younger generations), scored the first goal in the 55th minute and won a penalty 3 minutes later that Jugovic, with his usual calm, put in the back of the net. Lazio needed just one more goal and had half an hour to get it, but why wait? Milan disappeared from the pitch and Lazio were unstoppable. Pierluigi Casiraghi hit the woodwork before Nesta, scoring his first goal for the club, made it 3-1. Lazio triumphed. Almost all Lazio fans cried tears of joy. Finally, a trophy after so many years of pain.
Lazio Coppa Italia Games 1997-98
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Coppa Italia | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 22 |
Top five Coppa Italia appearances
Player | Coppa Italia |
Negro | 10 |
Fuser | 9 |
Jugovic | 9 |
Nesta | 9 |
Venturin | 9 |
Top five Coppa Italia goal scorers
Player | Coppa Italia |
Signori | 6 |
Boksic | 5 |
Jugovic | 3 |
Gottardi | 2 |
Nedved | 2 |
Let's talk about Guerino Gottardi
Gottardi was by no means a star player, but gave everything he had every time he came on. His goal against Roma in the 1998 Coppa Italia and the impact he had in the final made him a Lazio legend.
Gottardi was born in Bern on December 18 1970 to Italian immigrants. He started playing football in the youth teams of BSC Young Boys and he continued to the A team playing his first professional season in 1989-90. He moved to Neuchatel Xamax in 1991 and stayed there for four years. In the summer of 1994 he went on loan to Juventus for a summer tour but was not confirmed.
Lazio bought him in 1995 as an alternative on the right wing and he stayed with the club until his retirement in 2004. He never became a regular first team player but was always very useful in whatever position he played. He will be remembered for his last minute goal against Roma in the Coppa Italia derby of 1998 but more specifically for being the player who changed the course of events in the final of Coppa Italia against Milan. Lazio were losing and had to score three goals. He came on in the second half and changed the course of the match. He was devastating and unstoppable for the Milan players and led the Biancocelesti to glory.
He did not play much but was vital when he did, as during the 2000 derby when he played exceptionally well helping Lazio win the match coming from behind. That game was fundamental for Lazio and reduced the deficit from Juventus to six points. Gottardi also scored in the Champions League in Madrid in 2001 against Real.
He played 144 games for Lazio (84 in Serie A, 32 in Coppa Italia, 10 in Champions League, 5 in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, 11 in the UEFA Cup and 2 Super Coppa finals) and scored five goals (one in Serie A, two in Coppa Italia, one in Champions League and one in the UEFA Cup).
He won eight trophies for Lazio: a scudetto, the Coppa Italia 3 times, a UEFA Cup Winners Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and the Super Coppa twice.
When he stopped playing he continued to collaborate with Lazio in the youth teams before quitting football altogether and concentrating on his businesses.
“I really enjoyed myself. I was lucky, honoured to have participated in a similar adventure”, he said to the Corriere della Sera in 2021.
The fans used to chant “Mi diverto solo se, solo se gioca Guerino” (rough translation: I enjoy myself only if Guerino plays), for the Lazio hero and legend Guerino Gottardi, and they still do to this day.
Lazio Career
Season | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Cup Winners Cup | UEFA Cup | Super Coppa |
1995-96 | 23 | 20 | 2 | - | - | 1 | - |
1996-97 | 24 | 18 | 3 | - | - | 3 | - |
1997-98 | 33 (4) | 19 (1) | 8 (2) | - | - | 5 (1) | |
1998-99 | 22 | 13 | 3 | - | 5 | - | 1 |
1999-00 | 19 | 5 | 7 | 7 | - | - | - |
2000-01 | 8 (1) | 3 | 2 | 2 (1) | - | - | 1 |
2001-02 | 8 | 5 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
2002-03 | 6 | 1 | 3 | - | - | 2 | - |
2003-04 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
Total | 144 (5) | 84 (1) | 32 (2) | 10 (1) | 5 | 11 (1) | 2 |
Sources
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