Lazio set up Greek holiday
With four unanswered goals Lazio look with confidence to return leg
The season so far
This was Lazio's first season without homegrown and possibly best defender in the world Alessandro Nesta. Due to financial difficulties Lazio had been forced to sell their captain to Milan. To make matters worse Milan and Juventus had secretly agreed to keep their bids low, so Lazio were also forced to sell Hernán Crespo to Inter.
Fortunately, Lazio had a new manager. The disappointing Alberto Zaccheroni had been replaced by former player and scudetto winner Roberto Mancini.
Mancini found quite a different squad from the one he had left as a player only two years earlier. No more Pavel Nedved, Juan Sebastian Veron, Marcelo Salas, Alen Boksic and obviously Nesta.
From the previous season Lazio had also let go of midfielders Ivan de la Peña (Espanyol), Gaizka Mendieta (Barcelona - loan) and Karel Poborský (Sparta Prague).
Joining Mancini’s Lazio were defender Massimo Oddo (Verona), forwards Enrico Chiesa (Fiorentina) and Bernardo Corradi (Inter). In the autumn session midfielder Nikola Lazetić had been added (Como - on loan).
Lazio had already played one game in Serie A but had lost 2-3 at home to Chievo Verona. It was supposed to be the second fixture but the first had been postponed to November as the Serie A clubs had not yet reached an agreement on TV contracts.
This evening was the first UEFA Cup game of the season.
Skoda Xanthi had finished 5th the previous season and reached the semi-finals of the Greek Cup. The club from North-East Greece, only formed in 1964, thus qualified for the UEFA Cup.
Lazio were obviously clear favourites in this tie.
The match: Thursday, September 19, 2002, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The mid-week evening game against semi unknown opposition did not pull in a big crowd, about 15,000.
Lazio were without Fabio Liverani, Beppe Pancaro and Bernardo Corradi and by choice left Jaap Stam, Diego Simeone and Giuliano Giannichedda on the bench.
The defence had been disastrous in the recent league debut home defeat and Juan Pablo Sorin seemed to be the one to pay.
Lazio predictably attacked from the start and pegged the Greeks back in their own half. The Biancocelesti could have been three or four up but Simone Inzaghi missed several chances to break the deadlock.
In the 32nd minute it was Ismaila Ba who almost stole the show. A brilliant volley, reminiscent of Marco Van Basten's in the European Championships final against USSR in 1988, hit the post to Angelo Peruzzi's right.
Lazio attacked more and just before halftime finally made the breakthrough. In the 45th minute Stefano Fiore did well down the right and from the by-line crossed, Inzaghi was out of position but Christian Manfredini was there with a weak header which went in courtesy of a goalkeeper howler. Lazio 1 Xanthi 0.
Lazio had struggled to break the Greeks down, not helped by Inzaghi's evening so far.
Lazio scored again early in the second half. In the 51st minute Inzaghi decided to be the assist man with a through ball to Claudio Lopez who burst past the keeper on the left and put a low shot in the far corner. Lazio 2 Xanthi 0.
Mancini then started to think about the away league game to Torino and took off the best player of the evening, Stefano Fiore and put on Lucas Castromán. The Greeks too made changes, Athanasios Prittas for Jurgen Leitner in the 60th and Sokratis Petrou for Dimitrios Zografakis in the 64th.
In the 67th minute Lazio scored again. César crossed from the left by-line and Inzaghi, unmarked in the middle, headed in confirming his improvement in the second half. Lazio 3 Xanthi 0.
In the 69th minute Inzaghi picked up a loose ball on the by-line and, with surprising skills, skipped past a defender and pulled the ball back to César who blasted a left foot past the keeper and two defenders on the line. Lazio 4 Xanthi 0.
More changes followed for both sides with Enrico Chiesa making his debut but the game had said what it had to say. Lazio were satisfied with the four-goal lead and Xanthi were worried about conceding more. There was only time for a disallowed Castroman goal for a push on a defender. Four goals should be enough to enjoy a relaxing Greek holiday anyway.
A comforting win for Lazio with a clean sheet after the shock defeat and awful defensive display against Chievo.
Who played for Lazio
Peruzzi, Oddo, F. Couto (75' Negro), Mihajlovic, César, Fiore (60' Castroman), D. Baggio, Stankovic, Manfredini, S. Inzaghi, C. Lopez (70' Chiesa)
Substitutes: Marchegiani, Stam, Simeone, Giannichedda
Manager: Mancini
Who played for Xanthi
Bucek, Kordnouris, Papadimitriou, Sfakianakis, Vallas, Zaprapoulos, Leitner (60' Prittas), Ouakili, Zografakis (64' Petrou), Ba (72' Geladaris), Labriokos
Substitutes: Tsakonakis, Kehagias, Andrè Luiz, Friesenbichler
Manager: Karageorgiou
Referee: Siric (Croatia)
Goals: 45' Manfredini, 51' C. Lopez, 67' S. Inzaghi, 69' César
What happened next
Despite the trauma of losing their captain Lazio had a good season. At one stage in December, they were even top of the table. They played excellent, entertaining football and finished 4th (Champions League preliminary qualification, then won against Benfica). The highlight was beating Juventus 2-1 away while both derbies were draws.
The Biancocelesti reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. In the return leg Lazio drew 0-0 in Greece. The Biancocelesti then eliminated Red Star Belgrade 2-1, Sturm Graz 3-2, Legia Warsaw 5-4 and Beşiktaş 3-1 but were ultimately defeated by eventual winners Mourinho’s Porto 1-4 on aggregate. Lazio also reached the semi-final of Coppa Italia but were defeated by Roma 1-3 on aggregate. Top scorer was Claudio López with 17 goals (15 in league) while Bernardo Corradi got 10 league goals.
Xanthi finished 9th in the Alpha Ethniki Greek league.
Lazio 2002-03
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 34 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 57 |
Coppa Italia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
UEFA Cup | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
Total | 52 | 24 | 20 | 8 | 82 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
Lopez | 47 | 34 | 4 | 9 |
Fiore | 46 | 33 | 5 | 8 |
Stankovic | 38 | 29 | 2 | 7 |
Cesar | 36 | 26 | 1 | 9 |
Corradi | 36 | 32 | 4 | - |
Peruzzi | 36 | 30 | - | 6 |
Top Five Goal Scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
Lopez | 17 | 15 | - | 2 |
Corradi | 10 | 10 | - | - |
Fiore | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
S. Inzaghi | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
Simeone | 7 | 7 | - | - |
Chiesa | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Let’s talk about Simone Inzaghi
Simone Inzaghi was born in Piacenza, on April 5, 1976.
He started his career in his hometown where he went through the youth sector. In 1994 he was loaned to nearby Carpi in Serie C1 where he played 15 games with 3 goals. In 1995 he was loaned to Novara in Serie C2 and played 30 games with 5 goals, the "Azzurri" won the league. In 1996 he was loaned to Lumezzane in C2 where he played 26 games with 6 goals and "Lume" also won the league.
Having gained some experience in the lower divisions he returned to Piacenza in Serie A in 1997 but, after one game in Coppa Italia, he was then again loaned this time to Brescello in C1, where he played 23 games with10 goals.
In 1998 he was considered ready to play full-time for Piacenza in Serie A. He had a good season for the "Il Piace". He played 30 league games and scored an impressive 15 goals (including one against Lazio). The manager was former Lazio Giuseppe Materazzi and the "Lupi" came 13th.
The following year he signed for Lazio. It was the beginning of a long love affair. He stayed a first spell of six years playing 153 games with 53 goals (League 27, Coppa Italia 6, Champions League 15, UEFA Cup 5). He won a Scudetto (2000), 2 Coppe Italia (2000, 2004), an Italian Supercoppa (2000) and a European Super Cup (1999).
In the Scudetto year he played 22 league games and scored 7 goals (Cagliari, Torino, Lecce, Milan, Inter, Venezia and Reggina). His goal against Inter was particularly important as it re-opened a match where Lazio were 2-0 down with 7 minutes to go and eventually drew. He also opened the scoring in the last decisive game against Reggina. Another goal to remember is his goal in a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea and of course his four in the same match in a 5-1 drubbing of Marseille.
In his first six years he played under managers: Sven Goran Eriksson, Zoff, Zaccheroni, Roberto Mancini, Mimmo Caso and Giuseppe Papadopulo. He played alongside great strikers such as Alen Boksic, Vieri, Mancini, Marcelo Salas, Crespo, Bernardo Corradi. As a consequence, he was not always first choice but usually got a fair number of games.
In the 2004-05 season Lazio were struggling under Caso and then Papadopulo, and Inzaghi was loaned to Sampdoria for six months. The Blucerchiati had a good season under Walter Novellino and came 5th but Inzaghi only played 5 league games and 2 in Coppa Italia with no goals.
In 2005-06 he was back at Lazio for his second spell. In two years under Delio Rossi he played 14 games with 1 goal (in Coppa Italia versus Cittadella). Lazio had a good season coming 6th but were then docked 30 points for the betting scandal and so missed out on Europe.
The following season was excellent and Lazio came 3rd qualifying for the Champions League. Inzaghi however was not involved as in 2007-08 he went to Atalanta on loan for a season. He played 19 league games with no goals under Luigi Del Neri.
In 2008-09 he was back at Lazio for his third and last spell, as a player anyway. He stayed another two seasons. In the first, under Delio Rossi, he played 9 league games with 1 goal (Lecce) and 1 game in Coppa Italia. Lazio won the Coppa Italia beating Sampdoria on penalties in the final. In his second and last year, first under Davide Ballardini and then Edy Reja, Inzaghi only played 3 league games. Lazio again won silverware, this time the Italian Supercoppa, beating Mourinho's "triplete" Inter 2-1 in Beijing.
At this point at 34 and struggling with back problems Inzaghi retired.
At international level he played 4 games with the U18's and 3 full Italian caps. In one he even played alongside his brother Filippo (against Spain).
He retired as a player but soon opened another chapter as a manager. He went into the Lazio youth sector and did well winning two U19's Coppa Italia and a Supercoppa. In 2015-16 he was promoted to the first team for the last seven matches following Stefano Pioli's sacking.
The following year the new manager was supposed to be charismatic Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa but the "El Loco", living up to his reputation, resigned even before arriving. Plan B came into action and it was Simone Inzaghi.
He stayed five years with two 5th places, 8th, 4th and 6th. In 2020 with 4th place he got Lazio back in the Champions League after a 13-year absence. That year, without the Covid-19 interruption, many pundits think Lazio would have won the Scudetto. In his time in Rome he did however win 3 trophies; a Coppa Italia (2019 vs Atalanta) and two Supercoppe (2017, 2019 both vs Juventus). He is the only person to have won both domestic cups as a player and manager. He also has the longest unbeaten run at Lazio, 21 games. On the down side he received criticism for his inability to read games and make corrective changes in negative situations. His departure from Lazio was also far from transparent. He gave the impression he was staying on and had even planned the transfer market with Igli Tare before he suddenly jetted off to Inter at the last moment. He was obviously playing at two tables all along.
So, in 2021 he made his sudden and controversial move to Inter. He is in his fourth year there and so far, has won the Coppa Italia twice, the Supercoppa three times and in 2023-24 finally a Scudetto. In 2023 Inter also reached the final of Champions League but despite playing well lost 0-1 to Manchester City.
As a player Inzaghi was a striker. He is 1.83 for 80 kilos but he was not a strong or physical player. He was not a talent but like his brother Pippo, he was a goal scorer. He had good positioning and was quick over short distances, enough to pounce on loose balls or beat the offside trap. He did not have any particularly strong points but as I said he scored goals and that is certainly not a defect.
Personally, I was never a big fan of Inzaghi, the player, as when I went through the abilities of a striker; header, dribbling, shot, strength etc, he did not seem to possess any, apart from opportunism. For me he was most useful in procuring free kicks for Sinisa Mihajlovic to curl in. But it's a personal opinion and to be fair you don't score 55 goals for a team at top level without some skills even if it's just opportunism. He is also Lazio’s second top scorer in Europe with 20 goals (only behind Immobile).
As a manager he has been successful. He favours the 3-5-2 formation which can transform into a 5-3-2 when not in possession. He is known for his versatility, passion and familiar tactics. They served him well at Lazio in his five years and he is continuing positively at Inter.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | UEFA Cup | UEFA Super Cup |
1999-00 | 40 (19) | 22 (7) | 6 (3) | 11 (9) | - | 1 |
2000-01 | 23 (7) | 13 (4) | 1 | 9 (3) | - | - |
2001-02 | 28 (6) | 20 (5) | 2 (1) | 6 | - | - |
2002-03 | 29 (9) | 18 (4) | 3 (1) | - | 8 (4) | - |
2003-04 | 33 (10) | 24 (6) | 4 (1) | 5 (3) | - | - |
2004-Jan 2005 | 16 (2) | 12 (1) | 1 | - | 3 (1) | - |
2005-06 | 9 (1) | 7 | 2 (1) | - | - | - |
2006-07 | 5 | 5 | - | - | - | - |
2008-09 | 10 (1) | 9 (1) | 1 | - | - | - |
2009-10 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
Total | 196 (55) | 133 (28) | 20 (7) | 31 (15) | 11 (5) | 1 |
Sources
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