Convincing victory
A Rocchi brace gives Lazio a win in South East England
The season so far
Lazio had qualified for the UEFA Cup the previous season, an excellent first season for manager Delio Rossi, but three days before today's game they had been given a 30-point docking due to the Calciopoli scandal and would therefore not participate.
In the summer, Lazio said goodbye to Fabio Liverani, Ousmane Dabo and Paolo Di Canio who had not renewed their contracts. The new arrivals were Cristian Ledesma (Lecce), Pasquale Foggia (Milan on loan), Massimo Mutarelli (free transfer), Stephen Makinwa (Palermo), Modibo Diakité (Pescara) and Tommaso Berni (Ternana, loan).
Some of these players were already available for the pre-season training. Angelo Peruzzi and Massimo Oddo, who had won the World Cup in Berlin earlier in the month, were still on holiday. Lazio had already played a few friendlies, but today’s was the most difficult so far.
Lazio had played Ipswich Town before, in 1973. They lost the first leg 4-0 in England but the players were really convinced they could at least take the opponents to extra time in the second leg. Lazio scored after 48 seconds with Renzo Garlaschelli. In the 23rd minute Allan Hunter, a defender, saved a goal on the line with a deliberate handball. The referee Leo Van der Kroft (the Lazio players accused him of having had a little too much to drink before the game) did not give Lazio the penalty. Giorgio Chinaglia two minutes later made it 2-0. In the second half Lazio doubled their efforts but could not score their third. In the 75th minute Clive Woods dived in the box and the referee gave a penalty. All hell let loose. The referee was surrounded by the Lazio players, some allegedly even hit him. Ipswich scored and from then on, the game became a battle on the pitch and in the stands. It even continued in the changing rooms with a massive brawl among the players caused by one of the Ipswich players calling the Italians bastards. Lazio won 4-2 but were eliminated. UEFA banned Lazio from Europe for three years, reduced to one on appeal.
Today’s game will not be a revenge and the Lazio players will certainly not have that game on their minds, but many fans certainly will.
The match: Friday, July 28, 2006, Portman Road, Ipswich
Ipswich Town were further ahead in the preparation for the current season since they were about to start the second division championship and had high hopes of promotion. But Lazio were already in good shape.
The Biancocelesti dominated the first 20 minutes, scoring early with Tommaso Rocchi in the 8th minute following an assist from Goran Pandev. Ledesma played well, showing that he could easily be the new Liverani. After 30 minutes the hosts began to start to come into the game, as Lazio’s physical level had probably reached the limit of its autonomy, but veteran goalkeeper Marco Ballotta was in top form.
In the second half another wonderful assist from Pandev allowed Rocchi to score his brace in the 53rd minute.
All in all, a good performance from the team, an exceptional one from Pandev.
Who played for Ipswich Town
Supple, Sito, Naylor, De Vos, Wilnis (73' Barron), Peters, Westlake, Richard, Currie (73' Garvan), Forster, Bowditch (46' Lee)
Substitutes: Price, Parkin, Clarke
Manager: Magilton
Who played for Lazio
Ballotta, Belleri (89’ Diakite), Stendardo, Cribari (46’ Siviglia), Zauri, Manfredini (61’ De Silvestri), Mutarelli, Ledesma (70’ Baronio), Mauri (77’ Bonetto), Rocchi (77’ Tare), Pandev (82’ Quadri)
Substitutes: Berni, Buelli, Greco, Santarelli
Manager: Rossi
Referee: Marriner
Goals: 8’ Rocchi, 53’ Rocchi
What happened next
Lazio then also got an 11-point docking for the 2006-07 season, but that was later reduced to 3.
The first games of the season had been in Coppa Italia. In the first round Lazio had beaten Rende 4-0, in the second they had drawn at Monza 1-1 but won on penalties, in the third they had lost to Messina 4-3 in extra time.
By the end of the first half of the season the Biancocelesti were 4th. In the winter transfer window, the club sold captain Massimo Oddo to Milan and loaned Pasquale Foggia to Reggina. In came Chilean midfielder Luis Jimenez on loan from Ternana.
Between mid-February and mid-April Lazio won eight consecutive games taking them from fifth place to third with an 8-point lead over fourth. This meant that not only did Lazio have a good chance of playing in Europe the following season, but it could even be in the Champions League. The Biancocelesti managed to qualify for the preliminary round of the top tier European football with two matches to go despite losing 4-3 against Inter. Lazio finished third ahead of Milan and behind Inter and Roma. They certainly took advantage of Milan’s 8-point deficit due to Calciopoli and Juventus having previously been relegated to Serie B, but for such a young, inexperienced team such as Lazio in 2006-07 this was still an incredible feat.
Lazio ended up with 18 wins, 11 draws and 9 defeats. Rocchi was the leading scorer with 16 goals and also one of the three who played most, together with Pandev and Luciano Zauri (36 appearances).
Lazio 2006-07
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 59 |
Coppa Italia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
Total | 41 | 19 | 12 | 1 | 67 |
Top Five Appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Pandev | 39 | 36 | 3 |
Rocchi | 39 | 36 | 3 |
Zauri | 39 | 36 | 3 |
Ledesma | 36 | 33 | 3 |
Siviglia | 34 | 32 | 2 |
Top Five Goal Scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Rocchi | 19 | 16 | 3 |
Pandev | 14 | 11 | 3 |
Mauri | 6 | 6 | - |
Oddo | 5 | 5 | - |
Siviglia | 3 | 3 | - |
Makinwa | 3 | 3 | - |
Stendardo | 3 | 3 | - |
Let's talk about Alberto Quadri
Alberto Quadri was born on January 9, 1983, in Brescia.
He started playing football in the Inter youth teams and in 2002 joined Spezia in Serie C1.
After a year at Mantua and one at Montichiari, he showed his quality with Pizzighettone in Serie C1 in 2005 and arrived at Lazio in the summer. He however made no impact with just two appearances. In January 2007 he was loaned to Spezia. This was the first of a number of loans from Lazio to minor teams: Perugia, Avellino, Monza, Taranto.
In February 2011 he signed for PSFC Chernomorets in Bulgaria but he was back in Italy by the summer. He continued to play for third and fourth tier clubs (Campobasso, Catanzaro, Mantova, Barletta, Lupa Roma, FeralpiSalò, Maceratese).
He was a bit of a disappointment at Lazio, perhaps the level was too high for him.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
2006-2007 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Sources
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