Lazio celebrate in style
In the last match of the season at home, Lazio celebrate by beating Napoli 3-0 in Coppa Italia
Also on this day: June 28, 1931, Lazio Modena 2-0. Lazio close the season with a good win over Modena. Player of the day: Augusto Mattei II
The season so far
Having only recently spoken about Lazio’s 1971-72 season, we will concentrate on the Biancoceleste Coppa Italia campaign.
The 1971-72 Coppa Italia was divided into two phases. A first one, played between the end of August and mid September 1971, involved seven groups with five teams each. Whoever topped each group would go onto the second phase together with the past winner of the Coppa Italia (in this case Torino) to be played in June 1972.
In the first phase Lazio were grouped with Roma, Atalanta, Perugia and Ternana. It must be remembered that Lazio were in Serie B so the two Serie A teams, Roma and Atalanta, were the favourites.
In fact the first game of the season was the derby played on August 29. Despite their inferior level Lazio managed to win thanks to a Giorgio Chinaglia goal and great saves from Claudio Bandoni. The Biancocelesti had not won the derby for six years so there were wild celebrations. In the other match of the group Perugia beat Atalanta 1-0.
Lazio played Atalanta in Bergamo for game two. A difficult match with chances for both sides but in the end it turned out goalless. In the Umbrian derby, Ternana and Perugia drew 1-1 so for the moment the Biancoclesti and the Grifoni topped Group 6.
The third game saw the clash between the top two teams in Perugia. Lazio won 3-1 (Chinaglia double plus Pierpaolo Manservisi) and were now a solitary first. Roma and Ternana finished 0-0.
Lazio rested for game four. Roma beat Perugia 2-1 and Ternana-Atalanta finished 1-1. So, coming in for the final games, Lazio were first with 5 points, Perugia, Ternana and Roma on 3, Atalanta 2.
Despite only needing a draw to proceed to the second round, in their final match of group 6 Lazio beat Ternana 2-0 (Franco Nanni and Giuseppe Massa the scorers). The Biancocelesti were the only Serie B team to reach the second phase.
Second Phase
For the second phase, the eight qualified teams were divided into two groups with the winners qualifying for the final. Lazio were paired with Napoli, Fiorentina and Bologna.
In the first game Lazio beat Fiorentina 1-0 with a Nanni goal but in the next two matches the Biancocelesti lost 5-1 against Napoli (Carlo Facchin the scorer for Lazio) and 1-0 at home with Bologna. They drew away in Florence 1-1 (Nanni again on penalty) in the 4th game.
So with two games to go Napoli were on 6 points, Bologna 4, Fiorentina and Lazio 3. Chances to get to the final were slim, but the Biancocelesti had nothing to lose.
The match: Wednesday, June 28, 1972, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
This match was the last home game of the season and an opportunity to celebrate the return to Serie A. Lazio played with their red away jersey.
Napoli immediately went into trouble and in the 7th minute Dino Zoff was miraculous in saving a shot by Rino Gritti. In the 35th minute Gritti gave an excellent assist to Giorgio Chinaglia who beat the Napoli goalkeeper but for the referee it was offside. Nothing to worry about. Three minutes later a free kick for Lazio thirty metres from the Napoli goal for a foul on Vincenzo D’Amico. The Napoli defence thought it was a bit too far out to attempt a shot at goal and hence only placed a few men in the wall. Gritti sent a missile that beat Zoff. Lazio 1 Napoli 0.
Napoli, completely out of the game, did very little in the second half to equalise. They only managed a header from Piepaolo Manservisi. In the 60th minute Giancarlo Oddi passed the ball to Giuseppe Massa who in turn sent it to Gritti who flew towards the goal line. The Lazio forward looked up, saw D’Amico and passed him the ball. Lazio's Golden Boy scored his first professional goal to double Lazio’s lead.
In the 73rd minute there was a free kick for Lazio. Massa touched the ball for Chinaglia, big whack, 3-0 for the Biancoclesti.
In the other group match Fiorentina beat Bologna so now, with one game to go, Napoli were first on 6 points, Fiorentina and Lazio on 5, Bologna on 4.
Who played for Lazio
Bandoni, Facco, Oddi, Wilson, Polentes, Martini, Massa (78’ Abbondanza), Gritti (65’ Fortunato), Chinaglia, Nanni, D’Amico
Manager: Maestrelli
Who played for Napoli
Zoff, Pogliana, Vianello, Zurlini, Panzanato (65' Saccoccio), M.Perego, Manservisi, Juliano, Sormani, Improta, Macchi (76' Pincelli)).
Substitutes: Trevisan, Martella, Esposito.
Manager: Chiappella.
Referee: Branzoni
Goals: 38’ Gritti, 60’ D’Amico, 75’ Chinaglia
What happened next
Lazio were unable to beat Bologna in the final match, so Napoli qualified for the final. They were then beaten by Milan.
However an excellent run for Lazio, especially since one has to consider that they were a Serie B team. There was considerable room for optimism for the upcoming season. Pino Wilson was the player with most appearances in this year’s Coppa Italia (10) and Chinaglia the leading goal scorer (5).
Lazio Coppa Italia 1971-72
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Coppa Italia | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
Top five appearances
Player | Appearances |
Wilson | 10 |
Fortunato | 9 |
Nanni | 9 |
Facco | 8 |
Legnaro | 8 |
Martini | 8 |
Oddi | 8 |
Goal scorers
Player | Goals |
Chinaglia | 5 |
Nanni | 3 |
Gritti | 1 |
D'Amico | 1 |
Facchin | 1 |
Manservisi | 1 |
Let’s talk about Claudio Bandoni
Claudio Bandoni only stayed at Lazio for a season but the goalkeeper was one of the most important players in Tommaso Maestrelli's first promotion team to Serie A.
Bandoni was born in Ponte di Mariano near Lucca on August 5, 1939. He did his youth training at Altopascio and at 19 joined Inter. After a season spent on the bench and having played just a couple of times in Coppa Italia, he was sold to Parma and he became a regular player. He changed teams every year (Parma, Catanzaro, Venezia, Bari) until 1962 when he finally managed to play more than one year with a single club, this time at Palermo.
In 1964 he signed for Napoli. With the Partenopei he won a promotion to Serie A, an Alpine Cup, a third and fourth place in Serie A. He said of his Napoli experience “we were having so much fun, that at a certain point we lacked that necessary killer instinct”. At the height of his career, Napoli sold him to Mantova in exchange for Dino Zoff. “The worst moment in my career”, he has often said. He had to share goalkeeping duties with another player and the team was relegated to Serie B.
In 1968 he moved to Florence. Fiorentina were looking for a reserve and he was perfect. He won a scudetto in his first year even though he played just one game and appeared in 14 games in the next two seasons.
In 1971 he signed for Lazio in Serie B. He was one of the protagonists and Lazio managed to win promotion to Serie A after only one year of purgatory. He played 43 games (36 in Serie B and 7 in Coppa Italia) before he was substituted by Felice Pulici.
In 1972-73 he was first choice keeper for Catanzaro and then from 1973 to 1975 reserve to future Lazio Massimo Cacciatori at Sampdoria. He ended his career in Serie C with Mantova again.
Interviewed by Lazio Style Radio in 2017 he spoke about his year with the Biancocelesti: “I have a very strong bond with Lazio and I still have contacts with my old team mates”.
Lazio Career
Season | Appearances | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1971-72 | 43 | 36 | 7 |
Sources
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