Annihilation!!!
The Biancocelesti demolish Torino 4-0 away thanks to Rocchi, Oddo and Mauri
Also on this day: September 30, 1984: Lazio Inter 1-1. Juan Carlo Lorenzo returns and Lazio finally get their first point. Player of the day: Massimo Storgato
The season so far
Despite a UEFA Cup qualification at the end of the previous season, Lazio were unable to play due to the infamous referee scandal known as Calciopoli. They had also been docked 11 points for this season but the club was trying to get that deficit reduced. The sentencing would arrive in October.
In the summer Lazio said goodbye to Fabio Liverani, Ousmane Dabo and Paolo Di Canio who had not renewed their contracts. The new arrivals were Cristian Ledesma (Lecce), Pasquale Foggia (Milan on loan), Massimo Mutarelli (free transfer), Stephen Makinwa (Palermo), Modibo Diakité (Pescara) and Tommaso Berni (Ternana, loan).
The first games of the season had been in Coppa Italia. In the first round Lazio beat Rende 4-0, in the second they had drawn at Monza 1-1 but had won on penalties, in the third they had lost to Messina 4-3 in extra time.
In the first two games of Serie A the Biancocelesti had been unlucky. They had lost to Milan away in the first game but they had played well, and they had also lost to Palermo at home in the second. This match had seen the Palermo goalkeeper saving everything, even the impossible. They then had won the next two.
The match: Saturday, September 30, 2006, Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin
The first half hour of the game was terribly boring. Torino tried to get hold of the match but were never dangerous, Lazio were just waiting for the right moment to pounce. In the 29th minute Gianluca Comotto found the gap in the Biancoceleste defence but Alessandro Rosina’s shot went wide. A minute later, Tommaso Rocchi was sent on the counter attack one against three, he reached the edge of the box on the right but his shot was slightly off target. In the 42nd minute a Roberto Stellone header off a Rosina cross was too high.
In the second half Lazio’s attack was like a hot knife through butter. In the 48th minute Stefano Mauri flew down the left wing on the counter attack and once inside the box crossed towards the centre for Goran Pandev. The North Macedonian had a little bit of work to do to avoid Comotto and failed. The ball was cleared but in came Gaby Mudingayi from outside the box. He ran towards the right and crossed in the middle again for Rocchi who promptly shot. Christian Abbiati tried to parry but the ball went into the goal. 1-0 for Lazio.
Soon after, Rocchi crossed from the left and Mauri headed the ball but the crossbar denied the Biancoceleste goal. In the 55th minute again Rocchi on the left moved inside the box and was tripped by Marco Di Loreto. Massimo Oddo took the spot kick, Abbiati almost saved it but Torino 0 Lazio 2.
Pandev had a chance shortly after when Rocchi this time went racing down the right wing, but his shot was wide. In the 67th minute corner for Lazio, the ball was cleared by the Torino defence but it reached Oddo on the right outside the box. Big whack, ball deflected by the Torino defence, and the Biancocelesti were three up.
Four minutes later, a long ball to Rocchi on the right in the box. The Lazio centre forward took a shot at goal, Abbiati saved with his foot, ball on the left, in came Mauri who volleyed it in.
A wonderful win in Turin and a great game from the Biancocelesti.
Who played for Torino
Abbiati, Comotto, Di Loreto, Franceschini, Balestri, Barone, Gallo (77' Ardito), De Ascentis, Rosina (57' Muzzi), Fiore (74' Ferrarese), Stellone
Substitutes: Taibi, Pancaro, Cioffi, Abbruscato
Manager: Zaccheroni
Who played for Lazio
Ballotta, Oddo, Stendardo, Siviglia, Zauri, Manfredini, Mudingayi (72’ Baronio), Ledesma, Mauri (80’ Belleri), Pandev, Rocchi (74’ Tare)
Manager: D. Rossi
Referee: Pieri
Goals: 48’ Rocchi, 55 Oddo (pen), 67’ Oddo, 71’ Mauri.
What happened next
The initial deficit of 11 points was reduced to 3 points in October, eight more points in the table all in one go. Lazio moved up from 18th place to 13th. Everybody felt much better and by the end of the first half of the season the Biancocelesti were 4th.
In the winter transfer window, the club sold captain Massimo Oddo to Milan and loaned Pasquale Foggia to Reggina. In came Chilean midfielder Luis Jimenez on loan from Ternana.
Between mid-February and mid-April Lazio won eight consecutive games taking them from fifth place to third with an 8-point lead over fourth. This meant that not only did Lazio have a good chance to play in Europe the following season, but it could even be in the Champions League. The Biancocelesti managed to qualify for the preliminary round of the top tier European football with two matches to go despite losing 4-3 against Inter. Lazio finished third ahead of Milan and behind Inter and Roma. They certainly took advantage of Milan’s 8-point deficit due to Calciopoli and Juventus having previously been relegated to Serie B, but for such a young, inexperienced team such as Lazio in 2006-07 this was an incredible feat.
Lazio ended up with 18 wins, 11 draws and 9 losses. Rocchi was the leading scorer with 16 goals and also one of the three who played most together with Pandev and Luciano Zauri (36 appearances).
Lazio 2006-07
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 59 |
Coppa Italia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
Total | 41 | 19 | 12 | 1 | 67 |
Top Five Appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Pandev | 39 | 36 | 3 |
Rocchi | 39 | 36 | 3 |
Zauri | 39 | 36 | 3 |
Ledesma | 36 | 33 | 3 |
Siviglia | 34 | 32 | 2 |
Top Five Goal Scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Rocchi | 19 | 16 | 3 |
Pandev | 14 | 11 | 3 |
Mauri | 6 | 6 | - |
Oddo | 5 | 5 | - |
Siviglia | 3 | 3 | - |
Makinwa | 3 | 3 | - |
Stendardo | 3 | 3 | - |
Let's talk about Massimo Oddo
Massimo Oddo is probably one of the best right backs Lazio has ever had. He was good at defending, excellent crosser of the ball, great at free kicks and lethal on penalties. Oddo was one of the few Lazio players to become World Champion while still wearing the Biancoceleste jersey.
He was born in Città Sant’Angelo near Pescara on June 19, 1976. He started his career in the youth teams of his local club, Renato Curi, to then play for the Milan primavera in 1993. After two years he was loaned to a number of teams in Serie C1: Fiorenzuola (1995-96), Monza (1996), Prato (1996-97), Lecco (1997-98). He was back at Monza in 1998-99, again on loan, but this time in Serie B. A year later he signed for Napoli appearing in 45 games with one goal, still in the second tier.
In 2000 he moved to Verona in Serie A and debuted on September 30 against Bari. He did very well in his two years in Veneto and attracted the attention of Lazio and Roberto Mancini.
He joined the Biancocelesti in 2002 and stayed for four and a half years with 172 appearances and 17 goals. With Lazio he won a Coppa Italia in 2003-04 and when Fabio Liverani left in 2005, he became captain.
His dream was to go back to AC Milan and in January 2007 Lazio sold him in exchange for €7.75 million plus Pasquale Foggia. On May 23 he played the final of the Champions League which saw Milan beat Liverpool 2-1. Milan then went on to win the Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, the former Intercontinental Cup.
In August 2008 he joined Bayern Munich on loan with an option to buy but he went back to Milan a year later. In 2010-11 the Rossoneri won the scudetto and in August the Super Coppa but Oddo did not play. Later in the month he signed for Lecce on loan and played his last year in active football.
Oddo has 34 caps with Italy with one goal. On the eve of the 2006 World Cup, it looked as if he was going to be the first choice right back for Italy. But for the first few games Cristian Zaccardo was chosen instead (a strange coincidence was that just before the World Cup, Zaccardo changed agent and chose Italy Manager Marcello Lippi’s son as his new representative) and then Gianluca Zambrotta was moved to right back and Fabio Grosso came in as left back. Oddo however came on as substitute in the quarterfinal game against Ukraine. Italy won the World Cup and Oddo, together with Angelo Peruzzi, were Lazio’s World Champions. Interestingly enough Oddo played 10 out 12 Euro 2008 games after that Italian win …
After he quit active football Oddo became a manager and in May 2015 took over from Marco Baroni at Pescara. Massimo’s father had also been manager of Pescara from 1994 to 1996 and this was the first time in Italian football that father and son had managed the same team. He reached the final of the promotion playoff but Serie A was not meant to be at least that year. In 2016 however, by beating Novara in the final, Pescara were promoted to Serie A. He was sacked in February 2017 with Pescara last.
In November 2017 he replaced Luigi Delneri as head coach of Udinese, He initially did well with a run of five consecutive wins. But between February and April, the Bianconeri lost 11 consecutive times and Oddo was fired.
In October 2018 he was chosen as manager for Crotone in Serie B, but the job lasted only until December. In 2019 he became head coach at Perugia but was replaced in January. He returned in July but could not avoid relegation. He then returned to Pescara but was sacked in November 2020.
Unemployed, at least as a manager, he started doing punditry for Canale 5 and Amazon Prime. In February 2022 he was chosen as head coach at Padova in Serie C taking the club to the playoff for promotion, unfortunately lost to Palermo. At the end of the season, he returned to Amazon Prime. In February 2023 he substituted Daniele De Rossi as manager for Spal who were in serious trouble in Serie B. He however could do much to avoid relegation.
Massimo Oddo was a really good player and probably among the best right backs of his generation. As a manager he certainly has not been lucky so far, but he is good, he only needs a decent team to coach. At Lazio he is always remembered with affection. “With Milan I won everything, but the tie with Lazio is much stronger. I was one of the last players of the Cragnotti era. I played with players such as Nesta, Crespo, Stam, Favalli, Stankovic. Then we found ourselves fighting to avoid relegation, regained status and the year I left Lazio went into Champions League. I feel that qualification as mine since I contributed six goals and numerous assists, but more than numbers I was part of the great Lazio, the downsized Lazio and the revival of the team”, he said in a recent interview.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | UEFA Cup | Super Coppa |
2002-03 | 31 | 19 | 5 | - | 7 | - |
2003-04 | 44 (1) | 31 (1) | 7 | 6 | - | - |
2004-05 | 42 (4) | 35 (4) | 1 | - | 5 | 1 |
2005-06 | 38 (7) | 35 (7) | 3 | - | - | - |
2006-Jan 2007 | 17 (5) | 15 (5) | 2 | - | - | - |
Total | 172 (17) | 135 (17) | 18 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
Sources
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