Lazio through to Champions League quarter finals
A fantastic Mihajlovic free kick gives Lazio the qualification to the Champions League quarter finals
Also on this day: March 22, 1964, Juventus Lazio 0-3. Lazio demolish Juventus in Turin with three goals in the first half. Player of the day: Carlo Galli
The season so far
We will be writing again about the scudetto season of 1999-00 very shortly so this time round we will concentrate on Lazio’s Champions League campaign.
The 1999-00 Champions League saw Lazio participate for the very first time. In the 1974-75 season Lazio should have played the European Cup but had been disqualified following the brawl with Ipswich Town players in the UEFA Cup earlier the previous season.
Lazio were grouped with Bayer Leverkusen, Dynamo Kiev and Maribor and their first match was away against the Germans where the Biancocelesti managed to clinch a draw thanks to a Sinisa Mihajlovic free kick.
The second game was at home against the Ukranians and Lazio managed to turn the match around and win, despite being 1-0 down following a ridiculous penalty awarded to Dynamo Kiev, with goals from Paolo Negro and Marcelo Salas.
The double game against Maribor saw Lazio win 4-0 both at home (with goals from Simone Inzaghi, Sergio Conceição and a Salas double) and away (Mihajlovic, Dejan Stankovic and Inzaghi double). First place was secured with a 1-1 draw at home against Leverkusen (Pavel Nedved goal) and a win away at Kiev for 1-0 (Ramiz Mamedov og).
The second part of the Champions League was another group phase, this time against Chelsea, Olympique Marseille and Feyenoord.
The first game was away in France and Lazio won comfortably 2-0 with goals from Stankovic and Conceição. The next game was at home against the Londoners and finished with an “over friendly” goalless draw.
The match at home to Feyenoord was supposed to be the easiest one but was dramatically underestimated by Sven Goran Eriksson who decided to rest slightly too many key players. Lazio went ahead in the first half with Juan Sebastian Veron, but a Jon Tomasson double put Lazio’s hopes of qualification to the quarterfinals in dangerous threat. After three games, Feyenoord were first with 6 points, Chelsea and Lazio second on four, OM on 3.
A win in Holland was vital but Lazio played terribly and could not do better than a 0-0. Chelsea beat Olympique and now had seven points just like the Dutch, Lazio were trailing on five.
Lazio destroyed OM 5-1 with four goals from Inzaghi and one from Alen Boksic in the next game, but Chelsea won in Rotterdam and were now on 10 points, with Lazio second on 8, Feyenoord on 7.
Lazio had to win at Stamford Bridge to clinch the qualification first (the top two teams went through) and the top spot as a bonus so they could avoid having to play the quarter final against Barcelona, Manchester United or Bayern.
The match: Wednesday, March 22, 2000, Stamford Bridge Stadium, London
A very entertaining match in London. Chelsea were already qualified for the quarterfinals but needed a draw to maintain first place, Lazio needed to win. A draw would mean that the Biancocelesti would have to hope that Feyenoord did not win in Marseilles.
Lazio started the game well and had a number of chances in the first half. In the 3rd minute Nedved crossed from the left, Inzaghi’s scissor kick was saved by Ed de Goeij. The Chelsea goalkeeper had to repeat himself four minutes later on a Veron shot from outside the box. In the 9th minute Gianfranco Zola’s shot was saved into corner by Luca Marchegiani.
In the 29th minute Inzaghi was unable to convert a tap in following a Mihajlovic free kick saved by de Goeij and in the 41st minute the Lazio forward headed the ball wide after a perfect Nedved cross.
Chelsea scored in the 44th minute. Mihajlovic headed the ball towards the goal line, Didier Dechamps anticipated Nedved, ball to Gustavo Poyet who had all the time to advance and shoot. Impossible for Marchegiani to save the shot and 1-0 for the Londoners.
In the second half Eriksson sent in Boksic who had a chance after two minutes, but his shot went wide. Seven minutes later Lazio equalised. Inzaghi stole a ball on the right and passed it to Boksic, the Croat saw Diego Simeone just outside the box on the right and passed it to him. Simeone to Nedved on the left who went into the box, reached the goal line and crossed. Inzaghi anticipated Marcel Desailly and tapped the ball in.
A draw may not be enough and Lazio went for the kill. Free kick on the left in the 66th minute. Mihajlovic on the ball. Everybody was expecting a cross from that position, but the Serb aimed for the top corner on the other side over the goalkeeper. He did just that, ball from the left into the top right hand corner, 2-1 for Lazio.
Lazio were too strong for Chelsea, but as we fans know, the Biancocelesti like to make things difficult for themselves. Fernando Couto got a second yellow card with seven minutes to go and Chelsea charged forward. In the 87th minute Dan Petrescu had a massive chance, his shot from inside the penalty box on the right beat Marchegiani but not Negro who was able to clear the ball on the line.
Lazio won a dramatic game and went through to the quarterfinals.
Who played for Chelsea
De Goeij, Ferrer, Desailly, Leboeuf (62' Hogh), Babayaro (74' Harley), Petrescu, Di Matteo (74' Morris), Deschamps, Poyet, Flo, Zola.
Substitutes: Cudicini, Sutton, Ambrosetti, Thome
Manager: Vialli
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Fernando Couto, Mihajlovic, Pancaro, Simeone, Almeyda, Veron, Stankovic (46’ Boksic), Nedved, S. Inzaghi (68’ Salas, 87’ Gottardi)
Manager: Eriksson
Referee: Melo Pereira
Goals: 44’ Poyet, 54’ Inzaghi, 66 Mihajlovic
What happened next
In the quarterfinals Lazio played against Valencia. Everybody thought that it could be an easy match, but Lazio collapsed in Spain. Without Marchegiani and Alessandro Nesta, Lazio went 2-0 down after 4 minutes, re-opened the game thanks to another Inzaghi goal half way through the first half, but Valencia scored another two goals and with ten minutes to go were leading 4-1. Salas scored in the dying minutes to give Lazio a chance of qualification but another defensive blunder with just a few seconds to go, gave Valencia a three goal lead.
Fans were hopeful Lazio could recover at the Olimpico, but the Biancocelesti only scored one goal with Veron and went out of the Champions League. A real pity.
Lazio in Champions League 1999-00
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
14 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 26 |
Top appearances
Player | Appearances |
Mihajlovic | 12 |
Nedved | 12 |
Inzaghi | 11 |
Pancaro | 11 |
Simeone | 11 |
Stankovic | 11 |
Veron | 11 |
Top goal scorers
Player | Goals |
Inzaghi | 9 |
Salas | 4 |
Mihajlovic | 2 |
Stankovic | 2 |
Veron | 2 |
Conceicao | 2 |
Let's talk about Sinisa Mihajlovic
Sinisa Mihajlovic was born in Vukovar in former Yugoslavia on February 20, 1969, he started his footballing career in the youth teams of Borovo where he grew up. He was particularly well known for his ability on free kicks. In 1986 he signed for Vojvodina where he played for two years before the big move to Red Star Belgrade.
Red Star had been keeping an eye on him for years and had failed to sign him when he was a teenager. Now at 21, Sinisa joined a club that had a number of interesting players such as Dejan Savicevic, Robert Prosinečki, Vladimir Jugovic and Darko Pancev. In his first season he won the European Cup and scored two decisive goals in the semi final against Bayern Munich. In his second year he won the Intercontinental Cup in the final against Colo Colo.
In the summer of 1992, he was about to go to Juventus but new Roma manager Vujadin Boskov convinced him to join the Giallorossi. It was not a good year for Roma, Mihajlovic was forced to play left back and did not play as well as he could. Boskov left after a season and in came Carletto Mazzone who continued to play Sinisa as left back. Another bad year.
An unhappy Mihajlovic was glad to join Sampdoria in 1994. Under manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, he started playing in central defence. Eriksson wanted to exploit Sinisa’s ability to build and organise play from the back. His long and precise passes to the forwards, especially to Roberto Mancini, from his own half were a trademark that Sampdoria often used. Furthermore, Sinisa was great at free kicks and corners, other tools that Sampdoria used in abundance. He played for 4 seasons in Genoa, 128 total appearances and 15 goals.
After a year at Lazio, Eriksson and Mancini asked President Sergio Cragnotti to sign Mihajlovic, and Sinisa from being a great player turned into a legendary one. Pairing up with Alessandro Nesta at the centre of Lazio’s defence, allowed him a freedom of movement that became lethal at times. Goals and assists from spot kicks were trademarks of Eriksson’s Lazio. Every time there was a free kick or a corner, there was a scoring opportunity, which got even better with the arrival of Juan Sebastian Veron in 1999.
In his six years at Lazio, Sinisa played 193 games (126 in Serie A, 22 in Coppa Italia, 27 in Champions League, 9 in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, 6 in the UEFA Cup, two in the Super Coppa finals and one UEFA Super Cup) and scored 33 goals (20 in Serie A, 6 in Coppa Italia, 6 in Champions League and one in the Super Coppa).
He won a scudetto, the Coppa Italia twice, an Italian SuperCoppa, a UEFA Cup Winners Cup and a UEFA Super Cup.
His stay at Lazio was at times difficult. He was booed by the fans for a while and got an 8-match ban for having spat at Adrian Mutu (the Romanian has never been a friend of Lazio’s and is well known to be as pleasant as sand in your underpants). He however won the fans back and became immensely popular, fans rising to their feet every time he took a corner. Lazio fans will also never forget that he scored Lazio’s first goal in Champions League (vs Bayern Leverkusen on September 14 1999), scored a hat trick on free kick (vs Sampdoria on December 13 1998) and a memorable winning goal at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea on March 22 2000.
He was strong, had a great sense of position and was able to read the game like no other. What he lacked in defensive abilities, he made up for by being a playmaker who built Lazio’s game from the back. Often journalists used to ask him “who is better at free kicks, you or Roberto Carlos?” “He was good, very good, but I was better” he would always reply.
With the crumbling of Cragnotti’s financial empire, Mihajlovic left Lazio and joined Mancini at Inter. President Claudio Lotito had asked him to stay but Lazio could not afford to keep him. He played two years at Inter, though his contribution in the last season was minimal, after which he quit football.
He played 63 times for his country with ten goals, 4 times for Yugoslavia before the civil war, 58 times for the Yugoslavian Federation and once for Serbia. He participated in the World Cup of 1998 and Euro 2000.
He started his managerial career as assistant coach to Mancini at Inter where he won two scudetti and a Super Coppa. He then went on to be head coach at Bologna in 2008 replacing Daniele Arrigoni. He was sacked in April 2009. In December 2009 he was called to Catania and was able to keep them in Serie A the first year and get the club’s point record in the second.
He was chosen by Fiorentina in 2010. His first year was not a good one but he was confirmed, only to be sacked in November 2011. In 2012 he was the new head coach of Serbia but he failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and came back to Italy to manage Sampdoria. He stayed for two years before joining Milan in 2015. With Milan he did not do too badly and reached the final of the Coppa Italia but then following a string of bad results, he was sacked in April 2016.
In 2016 he managed Torino, doing very well in the first half of the season and not so well in the second half but was confirmed for the 2017-18 season only to be sacked in January. In July 2018 he became manager at Sporting Lisbon but was fired after just 9 days.
In January 2019 he substituted Pippo Inzaghi at Bologna and guided the club to safety. After being confirmed as manager he announced that he had leukaemia but he continued to manage the team. Bologna never reached exceptional heights but always had a safe journey in Serie A. After a bad start to the 2022-23 season and the return of the illness, the Bologna management decided to give the reins of the squad to Thiago Motta.
Sinisa died in Rome on December 15, 2022. A very sad day for all Lazio fans.
“A great Laziale, a warrior on the pitch and in life. His courage on the field was second only to what he showed in facing this serious illness”, said Claudio Lotito in a statement. “This warrior with a great heart will remain in the history of Lazio not only for having been Italian Champion, but for the message of hope in facing difficulty that he represented up until his last moments”.
Mihajlovic always remained a Lazio fan as he often stated in interviews. The last time he came to play Lazio as Bologna manager in August 2022, after the 2-1 defeat he was asked how upset he was and he replied that as a Lazio fan he was never as upset as losing against other teams.
Sinisa is now guiding Lazio’s defence in heaven alongside Giuseppe Wilson and under the guidance of Tommaso Maestrelli. Giorgio Chinaglia and Silvio Piola will be sure to benefit.
Appearances for Lazio
Season | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Cup Winners Cup | UEFA Cup | UEFA Super Cup | Super Coppa |
1998-99 | 44 | 30 | 4 | - | 9 | - | - | 1 |
1999-00 | 46 | 26 | 7 | 12 | - | - | 1 | - |
2000-01 | 29 | 18 | 2 | 8 | - | - | - | 1 |
2001-02 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
2002-03 | 28 | 21 | 1 | - | - | 6 | - | - |
2003-04 | 36 | 25 | 6 | 5 | - | - | - | - |
Total | 193 | 126 | 22 | 29 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
Goals for Lazio
Season | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Super Coppa |
1998-99 | 9 | 8 | 1 | - | - |
1999-00 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | - |
2000-01 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2002-03 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
2003-04 | 2 | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Total | 33 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
Sources
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