Lucidio Sentimenti is one of the most famous goalkeepers in Italian football and consequently a legendary figure in Lazio history.
The Sentimenti’s were nine brothers, all of them played football but “only” five of them professionally. Three of the brothers played for Lazio: Vittorio (III), Lucidio (IV) and Primo (V). Ennio (I) was the only one of the brothers that had nothing to do with the Biancocelesti since Arnaldo (II) became manger of Lazio’s youth teams between 1953 and 1957.
Why is there a roman numeral at the end of their surnames? At that time players with the same surname were given a Roman number to distinguish them all. Therefore you had five Sentimenti’s.
Lucidio was born at Bomporto (Modena) on July, 1920 and started his professional career with Modena in 1938. He just wanted to play football, anywhere on the field, and he even played in attack for a while until manager Umberto Caligaris put him in goal. Sentimenti IV played in Emilia Romagna for four years and helped Modena stay in Serie A for three of those years.
Lucidio was not only a goalkeeper, but he occasionally took penalties. His brother Arnaldo in the 1941-42 season had saved nine consecutive penalties playing for Napoli. There was a penalty during Napoli Modena and Lucidio went to take it. He scored, ending Arnaldo’s record. Arnaldo took it very badly and did not speak to his brother for two years!!!
In 1942 Sentimenti IV moved to Juventus, who was looking for a quality goalkeeper, joining his brother Vittorio. He stayed until 1949 playing four seasons in Serie A plus the strange 1945-1946 Campionato which was divided into two groups, North and Centre-South, just like the Championships prior to 1929 when the single Serie A was introduced. In that season he even played right winger for a few matches due to injury, and scored four goals.
In 1949 Juventus thought that he was no longer as competitive as he had been and sold him to Lazio together with Vittorio. Lazio was looking to substitute Uber Gradella and Sentimenti IV was a perfect replacement. He became a team leader and in the first three years Lazio came fourth. The team played some good football and was admired in all of Italy.
Lucidio played for Lazio until 1954 when he moved to Vicenza. He played with the Biancorossi until 1957 and helped them get a promotion in Serie A in 1954-55. In 1957 he moved to Turin to play in IV Division Cenisia. He stayed there until 1960 with the exception of a brief return in 1959 for a handful of games for Torino.
He was not particularly tall (only 1.70) but had a great sense of position and what he lacked in height he made up for with his athleticism. He was also a very modern goalkeeper and often used his feet to save goals. His only fault was that he was sometimes a little over confident that some shots were going over the crossbar or wide, and sometimes they did not. Lazio supporters at one point convinced the management to have an optician thoroughly check his eyesight.
He played 9 times for the Nazionale over eight years and was part of the squad that participated in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. He played the first game against Sweden (Italy lost 3-2). In 1947 Italy played a friendly against Hungary in Turin. There were ten players from the Great Torino plus Sentimenti IV. Italy won 3-2.
After he quit football he became a manger and was in charge of Juventus’ youth teams for a while in the early 1970s.
He died in Turin on November 28, 2014.
He played 170 games for Lazio and scored three goals, all on penalty.
Lazio has had a tradition of legendary goalkeeps. Lucidio Sentimenti IV is certainly one of them.
Appearances and goals for Lazio in Serie A
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Mitropa Cup |
1949-50 | 37 | 37 | - |
1950-51 | 40 | 38 | 2 |
1951-52 | 38 (1) | 38 (1) | - |
1952-53 | 32 (2) | 32 (2) | - |
1953-54 | 25 | 25 | - |
Total | 172 (3) | 170 | 2 |
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