Umberto Lombardini was born in Rome on October 12 1920.
He joined Lazio at the age of 9 and played in all the youth teams. He debuted in Serie A on December 15, 1940, in Bergamo in the match lost against Atalanta. He made 10 appearances in the 1940-41 with three goals. He was Silvio Piola’s reserve.
In the game against Napoli on February 9, there was a penalty for Lazio and Lombardini was asked to take it. He was not sure he could score since the Napoli goalkeeper was his former teammate Giacomo Blason. But he did. As he walked up to the spot kick, he said to the keeper “I’ll kick on the right”. That is exactly what he did and scored.
In 1941 he was loaned to Ala Littoria and in the following year to Alba Roma. In 1943 he came back to Lazio and played in the Rome War Championship. The Biancocelesti won the tournament and Lombardini was top scorer with 21 goals.
In 1944 he played for Ala Italiana but was back with the Biancocelesti once Serie A recommenced. In 1947-48 he made just nine appearances due to the arrival of Romano Penzo. In 1949 he signed for Tivoli and then played the rest of his career in minor leagues.
Once he stopped active football he began to work for Lazio and did so until the 1980s.
He was a very powerful centre-forward, nicknamed “bomba” (bomb). Some say he was even more powerful than Silvio Piola.
He made 77 appearances with 36 goals for Lazio. He died in Rome on October 16 1986.
Season | Total | Serie A | National Serie A-B Centre-South Champ. | Post Centre-South Champ. | Roman War Championship | Torneo a quattro di Roma |
1940-41 | 10 (3) | 10 (3) | ||||
1943-44 | 18 (23) | 16 (21) | 2 (2) | |||
1945-46 | 24 (3) | 18 (3) | 6 | |||
1946-47 | 17 (7) | 17 (7) | ||||
1947-48 | 9 | 9 | ||||
Total | 78 (36) | 36 (10) | 18 (3) | 6 | 16 (21) | 2 (2) |
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