Chiesa silences the Marakana
Thanks to a goal 13 minutes to the end, Chiesa secures the UEFA Cup third round
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The season so far
The previous season had not been a positive one. Lazio had started under Dino Zoff but after three games changed manager and President Sergio Cragnotti chose Alberto Zaccheroni. The new coach, however, never managed to set the sail straight. Struggling to find a minimum of game organisation, the team just did not have the continuity necessary to reach the top positions. In the end they did manage a UEFA Cup qualification thanks to a win in the last game against Inter which shattered the Neroazzurri’s hopes of winning the scudetto.
For this season there was the return of Roberto Mancini, this time as manager. There were high hopes among the Lazio fans but Cragnotti was having considerable financial difficulties and someone had to be sold. The first player who everybody had their eyes on was obviously Alessandro Nesta. Cragnotti hoped that Milan, Inter and Juventus would battle to the end to get the greatest defender of all time and that the price would be really high. Instead there was a secret pact between them to get the player for a much lower price than his real value. All three clubs waited until the very last moments of the transfer window to force Lazio to accept a low price. Milan won and Cragnotti was forced to agree to a mere €31 million. At this point a second player had to go and that was Hernan Crespo who was sold to Inter in exchange of €36 million and Bernardo Corradi.
Other signings had been Massimo Oddo and Christian Manfredini from Chievo, Enrico Chiesa on a free transfer, and Juan Pablo Sorin, on loan from Cruzeiro. Leaving Lazio were Ivan de La Pena to Espanyol and Gaizka Mendieta on loan to Barcelona plus Karel Poborsky who had decided not to renew his contract.
In the first five games of the campionato Lazio had started badly losing at home to Chievo Verona but had then won away to Torino and Atalanta and drawn at home to Milan. They were currently fifth but were playing well.
In the first round of the UEFA Cup Lazio had demolished Skoda Xanthi 4-0 at home and then drew the second leg 0-0. In the second round they had to face Red Star Belgrade. In the first leg at home the Biancocelesti had won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Stefano Fiore. Would this single goal be enough?
The match: Thursday, November 14, 2002, Red Star Stadium, Belgrade
A very difficult game for Lazio at the stadium known as the Marakana. Red Star attacked right from the word go, backed by a full capacity crowd. After just six minutes, Luca Marchegiani, substituting Angelo Peruzzi out injured, got kicked on the hand but heroically stayed on for the rest of the first half. The Lazio defence held tight and waited for the storm to blow over. Japp Stam and Fernando Couto restricted the Belgrade team to shots from outside the box, but these were sometimes very dangerous. In the 12th minute Branko Boskovic from the left unleashed a 20-metre shot that hit the woodwork and came back into play but there were no forwards ready for the tap in. In the 36th minute again Boskovic ran through the Lazio defence and shot. Marchegiani saved and then had to parry Dragan Mrdja’s follow up shot into corner. Two minutes later another Marchegiani save, this time blocking Ivan Gvozdenovic’s shot. And Lazio? The only attempt was towards the end of the first half when Lucas Castroman over kicked a cross that then turned out to be very dangerous but Ivan Randjelovic managed to save into corner.
In the second half in came Emanuele Concetti for Marchegiani. Red Star continued to attack but shots from Gvozdenovic and Boskovic went wide. Mancini substituted Christian Manfredini with Claudio Lopez to try and move the game away from the Biancoceleste’s half. The plan worked as Red Star reduced their forays, but in the 70th minute Lazio fell behind.Free kick from the left, Gvozdenovic crossed, Boskovic beat Fernando Couto and headed the ball in. All square now.
At this point Lazio took control of the match. In the 77th minute free kick for the Biancocelesti. Enrico Chiesa kicked towards the goal, Randjelovic saved on the front post. But the referee had seen too much pushing and shoving and made Chiesa repeat the free kick. The Laziale duly did so , this time aiming for the far post, the shot went under the wall, Couto and Castroman dummied and the ball finished in the back of the net. 1-1, game over, Lazio through to the third round.
A tough match in very difficult circumstances.
Who played for Red Star Belgrade
Randjelovic, Dudic (85' Milovanovic), Vidic, Lalatovic, Markovic, Gvodzenovic, Mladenovic, Kovacevic, Boskovic, Pjanovic (70' Bogdanovic), Mrdja (62' Bogavac)
Substitutes: Stojkovic, Krivokapic, Jankovic, Lukovic
Manager: Filipovic.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani (46’ Concetti), Oddo, Stam, Fernando Couto, Favalli, Castroman, D. Baggio, Liverani, Sorin, Manfredini (55’ C. Lopez), Chiesa
Substitutes: Pancaro, Negro, Mihajlovic, Stankovic
Manager: Mancini
Referee: Rodriguez Santiago (Spain)
Goals: 70’ Boskovic, 77’ Chiesa
What happened next
In the third round of the UEFA Cup Lazio won the first leg away against Sturm Graz 3-1 making the return game almost pointless. In the fourth round they faced Wisla Krakow. The first leg at home was a topsy turvy game with Lazio up 1-0 and then 2-1 up, then 3-2 down following two penalties. Enrico Chiesa managed to salvage a draw. The return match should have taken place on February 27, but a frozen pitch meant that a postponement to March 5 was necessary. They then managed to win 2-1 in Krakow, beat Besiktas 3-1 on aggregate in the quarterfinals and had to face Porto in the semis. Unfortunately, they collapsed in the first leg 4-1 and were unable to score the necessary three goals at home to get to the final (0-0).
In the Coppa Italia, the Biancocelesti reached the semi-final but were knocked out by Roma.
In campionato Lazio did rather well. At one point, they were top of the table after recovering from a 0-2 deficit and winning 3-2 at Piacenza. But in the next match against Inter they only managed to draw 3-3 after being 3-0 up after the first half. Not to worry, Mancini’s boys then managed to win in Turin against Juventus. At the end of the first part of the season Lazio were joint second with Inter and just three points behind Juve.
But in February the Biancocelesti faded, and had a seven-match winless drought, taking away any chance of a scudetto. A Champions League qualification was hence the objective and that was reached with one game to the end with a 3-1 win over Brescia.
There was a change in the Presidency in early 2003. Some of Cragnotti’s companies went bust and the banks did not lend a hand. Lazio were also dragged into the crisis and the Presidency passed over to Ugo Longo who was a member of the Board of Directors. With the help of Luca Baraldi, the new presidency avoided bankruptcy. Just.
Let’s talk about: Enrico Chiesa
Enrico Chiesa was born in Genoa on December 29, 1970.
He started playing football in the youth teams of Pontedecima and at the age of 16 he moved to Sampdoria. He debuted in Serie A on April 16 1989 against Roma. In 1990 he was sent to Teramo in Serie C2 on loan and for the next season he was at Chieti in Serie C1. He returned to the Doria side of Genoa in 1992 and played the whole season in Serie A. Two more years on loan followed: first at Modena in Serie B where he did very well scoring 14 goals, and the next year at Cremona where again he scored 14 goals. In 1995 he was back with Sampdoria and scored 22 goals in 27 appearances alongside Roberto Mancini
At this point he became one of the most sought after players in the “mercato” of 1996. Parma won and he moved to Emilia Romagna and partnered with Hernan Crespo. He spent three years with the Gialloblu, 120 appearances and 55 goals, winning a Coppa Italia and a UEFA Cup in 1998-99.
In 1999 he signed for Fiorentina. Since the Viola had Gabriel Batistuta as centre-forward he was placed on the wing, a position he did not particularly like. This, plus a number of injuries meant that his goal tally was only 12 in 39 appearances. But with Batistuta sold to Roma, during the following season he returned to being the goal scoring machine that he was and scored 27 goals in all competitions. In the 2001-02 season after a promising start he suffered a bad knee injury in September and was out for the rest of the season. Fiorentina were relegated and then went bust and he was a free agent.
In 2002 he signed for Lazio. It was a difficult year for him, coming back from such a severe injury, so he could not perform as well as he did in previous years. In a 2014 interview he said “I’d like to make a premise. I have experienced many beautiful moments during my career and I am happy with what I have done, but perhaps arriving at Lazio after a serious injury is one of the biggest regrets I have. I was especially sorry for the fans, who probably expected from me what I had shown at Sampdoria, Parma and Fiorentina. I tried to give everything I could. We were a very strong team, so strong that at the end of the season we reached the Champions League and only went out in the semi-finals of both the UEFA Cup and the Coppa Italia”.
At Lazio, Chiesa made 29 appearances with 7 goals.
In 2003 he signed for Siena. He stayed in Tuscany for 5 years and in the first three he reached double figures as far as goals were concerned. In the last two years though he played less and less. In 2008 he signed for Figline in the fourth tier and helped them get promoted to the former Serie C1. At the end of the 2010 season he retired.
Chiesa has 17 caps for Italy with 7 goals. He played in Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup.
After retirement he became a manager. He started with the Sampdoria Under 17s in 2012 and in the next year he was promoted head coach of the Primavera where he stayed for two years.
Enrico Chiesa is father of Federico Chiesa who currently plays for Juventus.
Chiesa was an excellent goal scoring machine. Unfortunately, he arrived at Lazio late in his career and took time to get back to form after a year of inactivity due to injury. A pity.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
2002-03 | 29 (7) | 12 (2) | 6 (1) | 11 (4) |
Sources
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