Serie A!!!!
Lazio beat Pro Patria and are back in Serie A
Also on this day: June 16, 1968, Lazio Foggia 1-0. A dismal season finally over as Lazio manage to avoid relegation fears. Player of the day: Bruno Gioia
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had lost out on promotion by just one point due to the infamous ghost goal.
Lazio had to play Napoli at the Stadio Flaminio on March 4 1962. It was a big match, if Lazio had won the immediate return in Serie A would have been downhill. In the 76th minute the referee, Iginio Rigato, gave a free kick to Lazio. Gianni Seghedoni with a splendid shot put the ball in the back of the net. The Lazio players and fans celebrated, the Napoli players despaired. Rigato laughed. “It’s not a goal, the ball was out”. He claimed there was a hole in the net and the ball went right through it. Lazio protested but there was nothing the players could do. The Rai TV footage demonstrated the referee’s mistake and Lazio appealed to the Lega Calcio, but the game’s result remained 0-0. The ref never admitted his mistake. Lazio missed out on promotion by one point, Napoli went into Serie A thanks to that point.
In the summer transfer window not a lot was done, with perhaps the exception of the return of Pierluigi Pagni from his loan to Cosenza. More interesting were the autumn transfers with Gianfranco Garbuglia, Gianbattista Moschino on loan and the return of fan favourite Orlando Rozzoni. Also signed was Gianmarco Calleri who would have an important impact on Lazio but in another role in 20 years time. Leaving Lazio were, among many, Giacomo Del Gratta, Franco Pezzullo and Maurilio Prini.
After just four games Lazio had sacked manager Carlo Facchini and called up Juan Carlos Lorenzo for the first of his three stints with the Biancocelesti. The promotion race was very tight with lots of teams involved. At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 6th just one point off Padova, Foggia and Lecco, third, and two behind Brescia. Messina were leaders.
Lazio reached second place in the second half of March after four consecutive wins and had stayed in the promotion zone ever since.
There was one match to go. Messina were already promoted, the other two places were being fought out by Bari, second on 47 points, Lazio third with 46 points and Brescia, one point behind Lazio. The last three matches were Brescia-Padova, Cosenza-Bari and Lazio-Pro Patria. A win would mean Serie A.
The match: Sunday June 16, 1963, Lazio Pro Patria 2-0
The day of reckoning had arrived. The Olimpico was packed in the hopeful wait for the return to elite football.
Lazio started very strongly. In the 2nd minute the Pro Patria goalkeeper had to dive in front of Paolo Bernasconi and got a fortuitous kick in the ribs. Two shots at goal by Nello Governato in the 13th and 14th minute tested Umberto Provasi but one could see that he was suffering. In the 25th minute Bernasconi for Mario Maraschi who crossed into the box, excellent opportunity for Giambattista Moschino who missed his chance for glory.
Three minutes later there was a corner for Lazio. Maraschi crossed into the box, Giancarlo Amadeo cleared, the ball was picked up by Graziano Landoni who found the gap and scored. 1-0 for Lazio. In the chaos, Provasi received another knock and that was it for him. Future Lazio Sports Director Carlo Regalia took his place (there were no substitutions at the time, not even in case of a goalkeeper injury).
Lazio put the game to sleep. Pro Patria were content with keeping the Biancocelesti as far from the goal as possible and the Laziali just passed the ball amongst each other. At the end of the first 45 minutes, Bari and Brescia were drawing, so Lazio were virtually promoted.
In the second half, Lazio put their foot on the accelerator looking for a second goal. Landoni had a chance in the 49th minute but hit the woodwork. The improvised goalkeeper then did well and elegantly dribbled Bernasconi avoiding Lazio’s double. But the goal came anyway. In the 69th minute Moschino to Giancarlo Morrone, the Argentinian’s shot hit the inside post and went in. 2-0 for Lazio and game over.
Lazio were finally back in Serie A.
Who played for Lazio
Cei, Zanetti, Garbuglia, Governato, Pagni, Gasperi, Maraschi, Landoni, Bernasconi, Morrone, Moschino
Manager: Lorenzo
Who played for Pro Patria
Provasi, Amadeo, Taglioretti, Crespi, Signorelli, Rondanini, Rovatti, Dappiano, Muzzio, Calloni, Regalia
Manager: Pedroni
Referee: De Marchi
Goals: 28’ Landoni, 69’ Morrone
What happened next
A triumphant year for Lazio who came second behind Messina and ahead of Bari. A deserved return to Serie A. Idilio Cei and Diego Zanetti were the players with most appearances (39), Giancarlo Morrone, Paolo Bernasconi and Orlando Rozzoni the top goal scorers (10).
Lazio 1962-63
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie B | 38 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 50 |
Coppa Italia | 1 | - | - | 1 | - |
Total | 39 | 18 | 12 | 9 | 50 |
Lazio top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
Cei | 39 | 38 | 1 |
Zanetti | 39 | 38 | 1 |
Gasperi | 38 | 37 | 1 |
Governato | 36 | 35 | 1 |
Landoni | 36 | 35 | 1 |
Lazio top five goal scorers
Player | Serie B |
Morrone | 10 |
Bernasconi | 10 |
Rozzoni | 10 |
Maraschi | 8 |
Moschino | 5 |
Let's talk about Giancarlo Morrone
Juan Carlos Morrone, better known as Giancarlo and nicknamed “El Gaucho”, is a Lazio legend. Born a forward but later in his career he moved behind the attackers, Morrone was a Biancoceleste idol for many years and once he quit football he worked with the youth teams for over a decade.
Born in Buenos Aires on February 5, 1941, he started playing football at Platense in the Argentinian Second Division at just 17 years of age. In two years he scored 46 goals and in 1960 signed for Lazio. He arrived when the season had already started and Lazio were bottom. He could not save the Biancocelesti.
In the first year of Serie B, Morrone scored 14 goals (including the first ever Lazio goal in Serie B), but Lazio missed out on promotion due to the infamous ghost goal.
Lazio returned to Serie A in the 1962-63 season with Morrone contributing another 10 league goals.
In 1963-64, manager Juan Carlos Lorenzo decided to transform the centre forward into a number 10, so he could provide assists to forwards Orlando Rozzoni and Mario Mareschi. The intuition did not really work well but not through any fault of El Gaucho. The forwards had simply seen better days.
In 1964 Lazio sold Morrone to Fiorentina. Always short of money, the club took the opportunity to cash in a large amount plus two players (Can Bartu and Giampiero Vitali). Morrone played two years in Florence, met his future wife, won a Coppa Italia, and showed all his quality.
But he missed Lazio. So in 1966-67 he returned and stayed for another 5 seasons. Lazio had mixed fortunes in this period, but Morrone stood out. He played a total of 270 games for Lazio (120 in Serie A, 119 in Serie B, 18 in Coppa Italia, 5 in Mitropa Cup, 2 in the Intercities Fairs Cup, 3 in the Anglo Italian Cup and 2 in the Cup of the Alps) scoring 55 goals (15 in Serie A, 34 in Serie B, 4 in Coppa Italia and 2 in the Cup of the Alps).
In 1971 he signed for Foggia in Serie B and played a couple of years. In 1973 he moved to Avellino but a year later he suffered a very bad injury and was forced to retire.
Once he stopped he immediately started a very successful career as manager of Lazio youth teams.
In 1983 he was called to manage the A team for the last five games of the Serie B championship. Lazio had seen the return of Bruno Giordano and Lionello Manfredonia and under manager Roberto Clagluna had done very well in the first half of the season. But then the Biancocelesti went into a long psychological and technical crisis. They had difficulties in scoring because they were not creating chances. Clagluna could not figure out a solution. In April Lazio dismally drew 0-0 three times and lost at home against Pistoiese and away to Varese.
The match against Reggiana on May 8 was fundamental, Serie A was slipping away. Lazio scored three times with Giordano but were unable to secure victory. Clagluna had to go in order to create a spark that could help Lazio get over the line. Giancarlo Morrone was called in to help create that spark. In the next match however things precipitated even further and Lazio lost 5-1 to Milan. But then two home wins and two away draws gave Lazio the necessary points and it was Serie A again after three years.
There was a change in Presidency and Giorgio Chinaglia purchased the club. He confirmed Morrone as manager. There was great hope, but, with very few exceptions, Lazio were disappointing. In the first 12 games the Biancocelesti won three times (including beating Inter 3-0), drew twice and lost all the remaining matches. Morrone was fired, and replaced by Paolo Carosi, another former Lazio player.
Morrone returned to the Primavera team and won the national title in 1986-87 but with the arrival of the Calleri brothers he decided his time at Lazio was over. From 1987 he managed the Napoli Primavera team for four years and then went on teaching football in a number of Serie C clubs.
El Gaucho was a fantastic football player. Magnificent dribbler, he had a powerful shot and great vision. The chronicles indicate that his best game was against Mantova in 1963 when he was marked by Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, one of the most ruthless defenders the world has ever seen. That match he drove the German nuts, pure magic. He never made it to the Italian National team and that was a pity. As manager he was a great teacher of football, always up to date with what was happening.
Lazio career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia | Mitropa Cup | Fairs Cup | Anglo Italian Cup | Cup of the Alps |
1960-61 | 21 (7) | 17 (4) | - | 3 (2) | - | - | - | 1 (1) |
1961-62 | 35 (15) | - | 33 (14) | 2 (1) | - | - | - | - |
1962-63 | 33 (10) | - | 32 (10) | 1 | - | - | - | - |
1963-64 | 33 (5) | 32 (5) | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
1966-67 | 38 (4) | 33 (4) | - | 2 | 3 | - | - | - |
1967-68 | 29 (4) | - | 27 (4) | 2 | - | - | - | - |
1968-69 | 28 (6) | - | 27 (6) | 1 | - | - | - | - |
1969-70 | 31 (2) | 23 (2) | - | 3 | 2 | - | 3 | - |
1970-71 | 21 (2) | 15 | - | 3 (1) | - | 2 | - | 1 (1) |
Total | 269 (55) | 120 (15) | 119 (34) | 18 (4) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 (2) |
Sources
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