March 28, 1998: Udinese Lazio 0-2
- Simon Basten
- Mar 28
- 7 min read
Lazio way too good for Udinese
Mancini and Fuser score as Lazio keep Juve and Inter in sight
Also on this day:
The season so far
President Sergio Cragnotti was certainly not happy with what had happened the previous season. Zdenek Zeman was sacked half way through and Dino Zoff had picked up the pieces and led Lazio to a UEFA Cup qualification.
Cragnotti had chosen Sven Goran Eriksson as manager. Sven had been working for Sampdoria for the last five years and had established a strong relationship with Roberto Mancini. Mancini had not renewed his contract with Sampdoria so Cragnotti convinced him to come to Lazio. It was a major change in philosophy: if Lazio had ambitions, they needed to think ambitiously.
A few other players, that were to become the backbone of the best Lazio ever, arrived in the 1997 summer transfer window: Giuseppe Pancaro, Marco Ballotta and Matias Almeyda. Vladimir Jugovic and the return of Alen Boksic were the other major signings.
In December Lazio lost Beppe Signori. The Lazio hero of the past years was not pleased with the new course. After initially being in the starting line-ups, Eriksson started putting him on the bench, preferring Mancini, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Boksic. The last straw took place in Vienna in the UEFA Cup tie against Rapid. Signori had been warming up for a while ready to take Mancini’s place on the field. The plan changed when Mancini got sent off. The problem was that nobody warned Signori to stop warming up. Beppe-goal was offended and asked to leave the club. Lazio sold him to Sampdoria in December. A real pity.
The change in Lazio between Zeman's mentality and Eriksson's was a bit slow at the beginning. Lazio were not playing all that well, even though they beat Roma 3-1 and had drawn in Milan both against Inter and Milan. However since the controversial loss against Juventus in early December they had won 11 league games and drawn four with no losses, as well as reaching the final of the Coppa Italia and the semi-final of the UEFA Cup. They were third just two points from leaders Juventus. The previous Sunday they had squandered an opportunity to reach first place by drawing 0-0 at home against Piacenza.
The match: Saturday, March 28, 1998, Stadio Friuli, Udine
Lazio started strongly and in the 18th minute Roberto Mancini was fouled in the box by Valerio Bertotto. Penalty for the Biancocelesti, Vladimir Jugovic, a specialist, took the spot kick but Luigi Turci managed to save. A few seconds later Pavel Nedved hit the woodwork with a shot from 25 metres. The game looked to be jinxed.
Shortly after Alessandro Calori tried a shot from outside the penalty area slightly to the right, Luca Marchegiani parried.
In the 32nd minute Lazio scored. Nedved from the by-line on the left sent a ball across the box, Diego Fuser crossed back into the middle and Mancini volleyed it past Turci.
In the second half Lazio closed the match. In the 56th minute Alessandro Nesta took a free kick and sent the ball towards the Udinese penalty area, Alen Boksic headed for Mancini, back heel for Fuser, 2-0.
The game was practically over. There were some opportunities for both sides with Nedved, Oliver Bierhoff and Guerino Gottardi but Lazio were in total command and tried to save some energy. Lazio proved to be way superior to Udinese.
Who played for Udinese
Turci, Bertotto, Calori, Pierini, Helveg, Giannichedda, Walem (46' Statuto), Bachini, Poggi (62' Locatelli), Bierhoff, Amoroso (81' Jorgensen)
Substitutes: Frezzolini, Zanchi, Pineda, Navas
Manager: Zaccheroni
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Chamot, Nesta, Negro, Favalli, Fuser, Venturin, Jugovic, Nedved, Boksic (75’ Casiraghi), Mancini (82’ Gottardi)
Manager: Eriksson
Referee: Treossi
Goals: 32’ Mancini, 56’ Fuser
What happened next
Lazio were able to go 16 games in Serie A without losing, from Juventus-Lazio 2-1 to Lazio-Juventus 0-1. In between Lazio were simply brilliant, beating Milan, Inter and Roma. Unstoppable, one could really see the change in mentality. On the eve of the game against Juventus, Lazio were only two points behind the Bianconeri and were dreaming of winning the scudetto. However, the Mother of all games proved to be fatal. Lazio gave all they had but Angelo Peruzzi saved everything and referee Pierluigi Collina did the rest. He sent Nedved off perhaps too harshly and did not award a clear penalty to Lazio.
The loss deflated the Lazio world. Lazio drew the next match and lost the next five. What happened? Lazio had played under continuous pressure and had reached the finals of both the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup. Too many games and too few players. The team just collapsed both physically and mentally.
In Coppa Italia, after eliminating Roma in the quarterfinals, they beat Juventus in the semis and faced Milan in the final. Having lost the first leg 1-0 in the last minute, Lazio had to win the return match by two goals and hope that Milan did not get an away goal. But when the Rossoneri scored with Demetrio Albertini at the beginning of the second half, Lazio needed to score 3 goals to win. They did so with the most amazing ten minutes in their history and brought home the Coppa Italia. Lazio had not won anything since the 1974 scudetto.
In the UEFA Cup, Lazio had the better of Auxerre in the quarterfinals and Christian Vieri’s Atletico Madrid in the semis. The final against Inter was exactly a week after the win in Coppa Italia. Lazio fell behind in the early stages of the game but this time they did not have the energy to come back. They lost their first European final 3-0.
A marvellous season for Lazio, the best since 1974. Mancini was the player with the most games played (51), Boksic and Nedved the top goal scorers with 15.
Let's talk about Alessandro Calori
Sunday, May 14, 2000. At half time, Lazio were winning at home against Reggina and Juventus were drawing in Perugia. In this particular moment it was a tie for the scudetto which would have led to a playoff. But in Perugia the heavens opened and the rain poured down flooding the pitch. It took Pierluigi Collina more than an hour to get the players back onto the pitch and start the second half. Meanwhile the Biancocelesti had finished their 3-0 demolition of the Calabrians.
In the 50th minute a free kick for Perugia on the left not too far from the halfway line. Milan Rapajc crossed the ball into the box, Antonio Conte cleared but the ball fell to Alessandro Calori. The big defender had a chance to make history, even if not for his own club, and he did not miss. His volley went into the back of the net. Perugia 1 Juventus 0. Lazio won their second scudetto. Calori, despite never having played for the Biancocelesti, became a hero.
Calori was born on August 29, 1966 in Arezzo. He began playing football for his home town club but debuted professionally with Montevarchi in Serie C2 where he stayed for four years with 78 appearances and three goals. In 1987-88 the club were promoted to Serie C1.
In 1989 he moved to Pisa in Serie B. That year he made 38 appearances contributing to the promotion to Serie A. He played in the top tier with them and in 1991 moved to Udine. With Udinese he played for 8 seasons, with one relegation (1993-94) and two promotions to Serie A (1991-92 and 1994-95). He played 286 games with 11 goals.
In 1999 he signed for Perugia and, as mentioned above, was fundamental for Lazio’s scudetto. He stayed until October 2000 when he moved to Brescia. In two seasons he made 63 appearances before moving to Venezia in Serie B where he played his last two years of active football.
Once he stopped playing he became a manager. His career has been mainly with Serie B and C teams starting with Triestina in 2005 (Serie B, sacked in September), Sambenedettese (Serie C1, sacked in October), Avellino from March 2008 (B, relegated) and Portogruaro from February 2009 to summer 2010 (Lega Pro 1st Division, former C1) where he led the team to a promotion to Serie B in 2010. He then coached Padova in the 2010-11 season in Serie B (sacked), Brescia from December 2011 to summer 2013, followed by Novara from November to February in the 2013-14 season, Brescia again in the second half of the next season.
His last two experiences as first team manager were with Trapani in Serie B from December 2016 to summer 2018 (relegated then third in Serie C, eliminated in the playoffs) and Ternana in C where he stayed just a month in 2019.
In June 2021 he took over the Lazio Primavera team for four games but the Biancocelesti lost the playout against Bologna and were relegated to the second tier Primavera league. He stayed on, reached the playoffs but Lazio were eliminated by Brescia in the first round.
Alessandro Calori was a solid defender, tall, strong and had a good career. He will always be in the Lazio fans’ hearts.
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