What happened in Serie B 1962-63

The previous season had seen Genoa, Napoli and Modena promoted up to Serie A. Lazio arrived fourth and the main culprit was a referee.

Lazio vs Napoli on March 4 was a big match, if Lazio won an immediate return to Serie A would then be downhill. In the 76th minute the referee, Iginio Rigato, gave a free kick to Lazio. Gianni Seghedoni with a splendid shot put the ball in the back of the net. The Lazio players and fans celebrated; the Napoli players despaired. Rigato laughed. “It’s not a goal, the ball went out”. There was a hole in the net and he claimed the ball went right through it. Lazio protested but there was nothing the players could do.

Lazio missed promotion by one point. Napoli were promoted by one point. If that goal had been given …

This season Lazio were obviously among the favourites along with Verona who had also missed out by one point the previous year. Coming down from Serie A were Padova, Lecco and Udinese so one could consider them also to be strong contenders for promotion even if Serie B is unpredictable and anything can happen.

September

Padova and Messina immediately took the lead while Lazio had a slow start with three draws. Still very early stages.

Padova 5, Messina 5, Cagliari 4, Pro Patria 4, Brescia 4, Lecco 4, Cosenza 4, Lucchese 3, Verona 3, Alessandria 3, Bari 3, Lazio 3, Monza 3, Foggia 3, Triestina 2, Sambenedettese 2, Parma 2, Udinese 1, Catanzaro 1, Como 1

October

Foggia were surprise leaders by the end of October and in the last game of the month they crushed Udinese 7-2 away from home. It does not happen very often in Serie B to see a match with 9 goals!!! Lazio after four consecutive draws sacked manager Carlo Facchini and chose Juan Carlos Lorenzo to guide the team. They managed to win three on the trot and were now fourth.

Foggia 11, Messina 10, Cosenza 10, Lazio 9, Pro Patria 9, Cagliari 8, Bari 8, Verona 8, Alessandria 8, Lecco 8, Padova 8, Brescia 8, Lucchese 7, Monza 6, Catanzaro 5, Sambenedettese 5, Triestina 4, Parma 4, Udinese 3, Como 1

November

Messina took the lead after Foggia were thoroughly beaten by Lazio. They were now followed by an array of teams and everything was still possible.

Messina 17, Brescia 15, Foggia 15, Lazio 14, Lecco 14, Bari 13, Padova 13, Cosenza 13, Cagliari 12, Pro Patria 12, Verona 11, Lucchese 10, Triestina 9, Catanzaro 9, Monza 9, Alessandria 8, Udinese 7, Sambenedettese 7, Parma 7, Como 5

December

Messina consolidated their first place by beating Lazio and were followed at a distance by Brescia. The Biancocelesti also lost at home to Verona and fell back a little. Below, Sambenedettese, Como and Alessandria needed to start picking up more points if they wanted to avoid relegation

Messina 23, Brescia 20, Bari 19, Padova 18, Foggia 18, Verona 17, Lazio 17, Lecco 16, Pro Patria 16, Cosenza 16, Cagliari 15, Catanzaro 14, Monza 13, Triestina 13, Udinese 12, Lucchese 12, Parma 12, Alessandria 10, Como 10, Sambenedettese 9

January

Messina consolidated their lead, with ten teams in just four points behind them. Alessandria left the relegation zone, substituted by Lucchese.

Messina 28, Brescia 24, Padova 23, Foggia 23, Lecco 23, Bari 22, Verona 22, Lazio 22, Pro Patria 21, Cosenza 21, Cagliari 20, Monza 18, Udinese 17, Catanzaro 17, Triestina 16, Alessandria 14, Parma 14, Lucchese 12, Sambenedettese 12, Como 11

February

Messina were unstoppable and now their lead was +6. Lazio moved up a little and were just one point behind Brescia, second. The gap between the bottom three and safety increased to three. There was still time, but not a lot.

Messina 34, Brescia 28, Bari 27, Verona 27, Lazio 27, Foggia 27, Lecco 26, Padova 26, Cosenza 25, Cagliari 24, Pro Patria 24, Monza 23, Triestina 22, Udinese 19, Alessandria 19, Catanzaro 19, Parma 18, Lucchese 15, Como 15, Sambenedettese 15

March

Messina lost at Monza and their lead was reduced. Lazio moved into third place. Eleven games left.

Messina 39, Brescia 35, Lazio 34, Bari 33, Verona 31, Lecco 30, Foggia 30, Cagliari 29, Padova 29, Cosenza 29, Monza 28, Pro Patria 26, Triestina 24, Udinese 23, Catanzaro 23, Parma 22, Alessandria 21, Como 19, Sambenedettese 19, Lucchese 16

April

Lazio won an important game in Brescia and with Messina losing two matches this month, the Biancocelesti reached second place and were just three points from the Sicilians. Below, Como Alessandria and Sambenedettese reduced the gap and dragged Parma right into the battle to avoid relegation. Lucchese practically in Serie C.

Messina 43, Lazio 40, Bari 38, Brescia 38, Verona 35, Cagliari 34, Foggia 33, Padova 33, Lecco 32, Monza 31, Cosenza 31, Pro Patria 30, Catanzaro 29, Udinese 28, Triestina 28, Parma 26, Como 24, Alessandria 24, Sambenedettese 24, Lucchese 19

May

Lazio crushed Messina 5-1 but lost at Verona and Cagliari, allowing Bari to move up. No problem for the Sicilians since they still had a 5-point lead over fourth place with three games left. Serie A was well within their reach. Below, seven teams in four points with still two places for Serie C.

Messina 47, Lazio 44, Bari 44, Brescia 42, Lecco 39, Foggia 38, Cagliari 37, Verona 37, Padova 37, Pro Patria 35, Monza 34, Triestina 33, Udinese 32, Cosenza 32, Catanzaro 32, Parma 31, Alessandria 30, Sambenedettese 29, Como 28, Lucchese 19

June

Only 3 games to go.

Messina clinched promotion two games early thanks to a draw at Bari and the fact that Brescia were unable to beat Udinese. With two games left Lazio had a three-point lead over the Rondinelle and Bari two. In the penultimate match Lazio collapsed in Puglia and Bari reached second place. Lazio’s advantage over Brescia had been reduced to just one point. But in the last game of the season Brescia lost at home to Padova hence Lazio and Bari were also promoted.

Below with two games to the end it was practically all over in the battle to avoid relegation. Sambenedettese and Como lost, Alessandria won. 90 minutes later it was all over with one match to go.

Final Table: Messina 50, Bari 48, Lazio 48, Brescia 45, Foggia 43, Lecco 42, Verona 41, Padova 40, Pro Patria 38, Monza 38, Cagliari 38, Catanzaro 37, Parma 35, Udinese 34, Alessandria 34, Cosenza 34, Triestina 33, Como 31, Sambenedettese 30, Lucchese 21

What happened in Serie A

At the end of the first half of the season, Juventus were top with 25 points followed by Inter on 24 and Bologna on 23. The Neroazzurri in the second half overtook the Bianconeri and with 5 games to the end of the campionato they had a three-point lead with Bologna third, five points behind. Then 90 minutes later the lead went to +4 as Inter beat Bologna and Juve drew with Modena. But in the 31st fixture there would be Juventus vs Inter, the last chance for the Bianconeri to go for the title. But they lost and Inter went to +6 and secured the title with two games to go despite losing in Rome. Milan in the last game overtook Bologna and were third.

The Rossoneri had an exceptional season in the European Cup. They eliminated Union Luxembourg in the preliminary round, Ipswich Town in the first round, Galatasaray in the quarter finals and Dundee in the semis. They faced Benfica of the marvellous Eusebio at Wembley in the final and despite falling behind in the first half, a Jose Altafini brace gave them the cup, the first victory by an Italian team.

As a consequence, both Milanese teams would play in the European Cup for the next season.

Top scorers were Pedro Manfredini (Roma) and Harald Nielsen (Bologna) with 19 goals.

In the Cup Winners Cup, Napoli were eliminated in the quarter finals by OFK Beograd in a playoff after the Neapolitans had lost away 2-0 and won at home 3-1 (there was no away goals rule at that time).

In the Intercities Fairs Cup, Sampdoria were eliminated by Ferencvaros in the second round, Roma by Valencia in the semi-finals.

The Coppa Italia was interesting since most of the big teams were eliminated during the course of the competition. Hence the semi-finals were Torino-Verona and Atalanta-Bari. The Granata and Bergamaschi won their match and met on June 2 1963 at San Siro in Milan. Atalanta beat Torino 3-1 thanks to a hat-trick by Angelo Domenghini.

So, Atalanta would play the following season’s Cup Winners Cup, Juventus and Roma the Intercity Fairs Cup.