Game 38, Serie B
Sunday, June 15, 1986
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio Brescia 4-2
Lazio bid farewell to fans with a good win and hope for a brighter future
After a decent start (4 wins, a draw and a defeat in the first 6 games) things were not going well. The team suffered from the uncertainty at club level and had a very mediocre season. Lazio had a decent record at home with 9 wins, 7 draws and 2 defeats but awful away with only 1 win, 7 draws and 11 defeats. That solitary away win had come a week earlier, 3-2 at Catanzaro, and had been vital to get Lazio out of a worrying situation, in the middle of the relegation battle.
So a disappointed Lazio, but also relieved after being unexpectedly dragged down into the survival scrap and coming out unscathed. Today was all about saying goodbye to the fans with a win, in the hope of better times to come.
This year Brescia had won promotion to Serie A with 2nd place behind Ascoli.
Two teams without any particular motivation, but Brescia with a fuller belly and Lazio with the home crowd to maybe tip the scales.
The match
A warm, sunny June day did not attract more than 25,000 for what was basically a friendly.
Lazio started strongly and attacked continuously. They had three chances in the first quarter of an hour and then scored in the 18th minute. A rare goal by Claudio Vinazzani who at the edge of the box seemed to stumble but then regained his balance and beat Luigi Belletta with a low diagonal left foot. Lazio 1 Brescia 0.
Brescia looked as if they had come to Rome to see the Pope rather than play a game of football and ten minutes later Lazio doubled their lead. Fortunato Torrisi made a good run down the left and put in a perfect cross which Oliviero Garlini headed in. Lazio 2 Brescia 0.
Brescia showed no reaction and Lazio cruised to halftime two nil up.
For the second half Brescia brought on Luca Bressan for Tiziano Ascagni while Tulio Gritti had already been replaced by Gianpiero Piovani just before the break. Lazio decided to bring on the inventiveness of Vincenzo D'Amico in the 52nd minute in place of Domenico Caso.
In the 62nd minute Lazio made it three. A forty-metre long ball by Torrisi was well brought down by Fabio Poli who then took it forward a few steps and hammered it under the crossbar. Great goal and 3-0.
Brescia at this point woke up, maybe reminding themselves they were a Serie A side now. In the 68th minute they pulled one back. D'Amico was dispossessed, probably unfairly, outside his own area and the ball was then put through to Giorgio De Giorgis who inside the left hand side of the box beat Mario Ielpo. 3-1.
Lazio still seemed in control until a freakish own goal reopened the match. In the 84th minute Massimo Piscedda, in an attempt to clear, miskicked and sent a lob spinning over the incredulous Ielpo. 3-2.
Any chance of a Brescia comeback was swept away four minutes later. Oscar "Flipper" Damiani went down the right wing and put a low assist into the middle for the incoming D'Amico. Vincenzino beat the keeper coming off his line to make it 4-2. This was his last goal in his last match for the Biancocelesti.
A classic end of season game with nothing at stake but a feel-good win for Lazio after the disappointment of not going up and then the scare of actually maybe going down. Lazio paraded around the athletics track to thank and bid farewell to their fans. Next year the Serie A fight would surely go better. Things could only improve or so everyone thought ... the reality would be far different. Lazio’s history is full of twists and turns and yet more black clouds were already hovering over the Madonnina statue on the Monte Mario hill.
Who played for Lazio
Ielpo, G.Corti, G. Carillo, Galbiati, Piscedda, Magnocavallo, Torrisi (81' Damiani), Vinazzani, Poli, Caso (52' D'Amico), Garlini
Substitutes: Carlini, Toti
Manager: Simoni
Who played for Brescia
Belletta, Chiodini, G.Giorgi, Bonometti, Paolinelli, Gentilini, De Giorgis, Zoratto, Gritti (44' Piovani), Gobbo, Ascagni (46' Bressan)
Manager: Pasinato
Referee: Bruschini
Goals: 18' Vinazzani, 28' Garlini, 62' Poli, 68' De Giorgis, 84' Piscedda (o.g), 88' D'Amico
Sources
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