Complicated but victorious
Lazio manage to overcome difficulties and beat a good Udinese
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had surprisingly arrived fourth, so expectations were high for the 1950-51 season. A lot of money was spent on new players such as Leoncino Unzain, Primo Sentimenti V and Stefano Malacarne, so some of the old timers such as Romano Penzo, Sergio Piacentini, Renato Spurio, Ferenc Nyers and Leandro Remondini had to go. Manager Mario Sperone had been confirmed.
Lazio so far had played four games, drawing the first with Inter 3-3 despite the fact they were down 3-0, lost with Padova and then beat Pro Patria at home and Torino away.
The match: Sunday, October 8, 1950, Stadio Torino, Rome
The Biancocelesti immediately went on the attack and after three minutes they had already hit the woodwork even if it was an almost own goal by one of the Udinese players. But then, against the run of play, the Bianconeri went ahead. Emo Roffi on the left dribbled past a few players and crossed. The ball ended up on the other side to Giovanni Perissinotto who tried a shot, Lucidio Sentimenti IV saw the ball late but managed to parry, but he allowed a comfortable tap-in for Giuseppe Rinaldi.
Two minutes later Lazio equalised. Flavio Cecconi was the one who managed to find the gap amongst an array of legs in a massive scrummage. The Biancocelesti went on the assault and had a number of chances to score a winner: Aldo Puccinelli with a shot that went wide, Leoncino Unzain tried in the 18th minute but Marco Brandolin parried, Norbert Hofling on a cross from the Paraguayan passed the ball into the keepers’ hands from favourable position in the 23rd minute, a Cecconi missile saved by Zorzi on the line in the 30th minute.
In the 39th minute Brandolin gave Lazio a hand when on a high cross he missed the ball and allowed Enrique Flamini to head it in. A minute earlier Stelio Darin had hit the woodwork for the visitors.
Just when the first half was about to close, Udinese equalised. Darin tried a bicycle kick which was walled by a defender, Severino Feruglio crossed low from the right and Perissinotto was quick to put the ball in the back of the net.
In the 50th minute things went back into place. Flamini crossed for Hofling who stopped the ball with his chest and with a powerful volley beat Brandolin for the third time.
The game was over. Udinese had given all they had in the first half and ran out of gas. Lazio controlled the rest of the game with ease.
Good and difficult win for the Biancocelesti.
Who played for Lazio
Sentimenti IV, Antonazzi, Furiassi, Sentimenti III, Malacarne, Bimbi, Puccinelli, Flamini, Hofling, Cecconi, Unzain
Manager: Sperone
Who played for Udinese
Brandolin, Farina, Zorzi, Bergamasco, Feruglio, Snidero, Roffi, Perissinotto, Darin, Sorensen, Rinaldi
Manager: Testolina
Referee: Coralli
Goals: 12’ Rinaldi, 14’ Cecconi, 39’ Flamini, 45’ Perissinotto, 50’ Hofling
What happened next
The season was a positive one, following in the footsteps of the previous campionato. Lazio won both derbies and beat Milan. There were a few losses on the way, including a heavy one against Novara led by Silvio Piola, but overall a good performance. Some good scores as well: 5-0 against Atalanta, 4-0 against Padova.
At the end of the first half of the season they were fifth and by the end of the campionato they managed to reach fourth position. Another miracle for the Biancocelesti, their second 4th place in a row, obviously with much more limited financial possibilities compared to Milan, Inter and Juventus. The Giallorossi went down to Serie B, the first Roman team ever to be relegated.
The fourth place allowed Lazio to participate in the Zentropa Cup, an unofficial edition of the Mitropa Cup. The latter was a tournament that was initially devised in the 1920s with two teams from Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia competing in a knock out competition. The first tournament took place in 1927. In 1929 Italian teams took the place of the Yugoslav ones. In 1934 the tournament was expanded to four teams per nation. Switzerland joined in 1936 and 1937, Romania and Yugoslavia in 1937. Austria was withdrawn following the German annexation of 1938. The tournament was interrupted in 1940 due to the Second World War.
In 1951, in the light of other tournaments that were taking place such as the Latin Cup (between clubs from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal) and the Rio Cup (between European and Latin American teams), an attempt was made to resuscitate the Mitropa Cup. The Italian teams that were competing in the other two tournaments backed out so it was up to Lazio to defend the Italian colours. The other three teams were Rapid Wien, and Admira Wien (first and second in the Austrian league and very, very strong) and Dinamo Zagreb. Lazio were crushed 5-0 by Rapid and lost 2-0 against Dinamo. Rapid beat Admira in the final.
Sentimenti IV was the one who played most games during the 1950-51 season (40) and Norberto Hofling the top goal scorer (11).
Lazio 1950-51
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 64 |
Zentropa Cup | 2 | - | - | 2 | - |
Totale | 40 | 18 | 10 | 12 | 64 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Zentropa Cup |
Puccinelli | 40 | 38 | 2 |
Sentimenti IV | 40 | 38 | 2 |
Alzani | 38 | 36 | 2 |
Flamini | 35 | 33 | 2 |
Antonazzi | 33 | 31 | 2 |
Hofling | 33 | 33 | - |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Serie A |
Hofling | 11 |
Flamini | 10 |
Puccinelli | 9 |
Cecconi | 9 |
Sentimenti V | 7 |
Arce | 7 |
Let’s talk about Leoncino Unzain
There are a number of versions for Unzain’s name but despite the fact he was known in Italy as Leoncino, his complete name was Leongino Unzain Taboada. He was born in Guarambarè in Paraguay on May 16, 1925. He began to play football professionally for Nacional Asuncibè in 1948 and two years later he arrived in Rome to play for Lazio.
He was a fast and highly skilful winger and in Lazio he made 15 appearances with one goal.
He then left for France where he played the majority of his career, from 1951 to 1959. Five years with Toulon, and then Bordeaux, Béziers (briefly), Rouen and Grenoble. He ended his career with Spanish club Rayo Vallecano in 1961.
Unzain was part of the Paraguay national team that played in the World Cup of 1950. They drew with Sweden and lost to Italy. He played both games. In total he won 5 caps for Paraguay.
Once he stopped playing he moved to Spain with his Italian wife and became a mechanic. He died in Madrid on March 19, 1990.
Lazio Career
Season | Total Serie A apperances (goals) |
1950-51 | 15 (1) |
Sources
Yorumlar