The 1957-58 season had been really tough. There was literally no money and Lazio were in deep financial difficulty. Consequently, little could be done to improve the team and Ugo Pozzan was the only player to be signed. The club could have sold their best player Arne Selmosson, but managed to avoid it. Manager Jesse Carver moved to Inter so the Biancocelesti had a new manager: Milovan Ciric. The Asian flu swept through Lazio like a cold wind and many players were out of action. Goalkeeper Bob Lovati suffered a serious injury in the second game and came back in late October.
At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 13th, just three points above the relegation zone (two teams would go down to Serie B). Ciric was sacked in February and the team was handed to Dino Canestri, technical director, and Alfredo Monza, manager. Things started to improve, and the Biancocelesti beat Inter and Roma. But in the next 8 games Lazio got just three points so with one game to go the situation was dramatic. Genoa, Sampdoria, Lazio, Atalanta and Spal on 28 points, Verona last on 26. A 4-0 win in the last game against Verona allowed the Biancocelesti to avoid relegation.
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia was played in the solar year and for the first time since the end of World War II. The Serie A, as usual when there was a World Cup, had been anticipated by three weeks to allow the Nazionale to train before the competition. However, without Italy’s participation, there was a need to “invent” something for the Italians to think about, so, instead of launching the Coppa Italia in the 1958-59 season as initially planned, they decided to fill the June gap with the new cup.
All Serie A teams were invited, with the exception of Atalanta, involved in a case of possible corruption, and Verona, who had a playoff with Bari, plus the best 8 from Serie B and Serie C. The 32 teams were divided into 8 groups of four. The winners would play the quarterfinals in September and automatically qualify for the first knockout round in the next Coppa Italia.
Lazio started the cup with a number of changes. Fulvio Bernardini, former 1920s Lazio player, returned to manage the team. Only a couple of years earlier he had won a historic scudetto with Fiorentina so there were high hopes that the new boss could take Lazio to a higher level.
New players arrived and were immediately thrown in the team to play the Coppa Italia: Idilio Cei (goalkeeper from Foligno), Claudio Bizzari (forward, Fiorentina), Carlo Tagnin (midfielder, Alessandria), Maurilio Prini (forward, Fiorentina), Giacomo Del Gratta (defender, Zenit Modena) and Egidio Fumagalli (midfielder, Novese).
Lazio were in Group H together with Roma, Palermo and Napoli. Whoever came top proceeded to the quarterfinals.
In the first game Lazio demolished Palermo 5-1 with a Humberto Tozzi hat trick and goals from Renzo Burini and Alfredo Napoleoni. Game two saw the Biancocelesti beat Napoli 3-1 (Tozzi double plus Tagnin). Match three was the derby which saw Lazio win 3-2 away (another Tozzi brace and Bizzarri). In game four Lazio drew at Palermo 2-2 (Tozzi, Burini) and in the fifth the Biancocelesti thrashed Napoli 4-0 (Burini brace, Pozzan and Bizzarri) and secured top spot. The final game against Roma finished 1-1 (Tozzi the scorer).
Goodbye Selmosson
The club was penniless so the only way they could survive was to sell their top player. The top bidder was alas Roma and despite protests from fans and the fact that Moonbeam was not all that happy to change sides of the Tiber, the deal went through. However, thanks to the cash, Lazio were able to buy some interesting players and there was optimism for the start of the 1958-59 season. But first there was the Coppa Italia to finish.
Triumph in Coppa Italia
The quarterfinals, semis and final were played in single games in September with the team with the biggest stadium having the home advantage.
In the quarterfinals Lazio beat the only Serie B side to qualify, Marzotto Valdagno, 2-1 with goals from Fumagalli and Tozzi. In the other games, Bologna won against Milan away 4-2, Fiorentina beat Padova 2-1 and Juventus won at Genoa against Sampdoria 3-2 after extra time.
In the semis, Lazio had to play against Juventus, a very difficult game. The Bianconeri had a stellar attack with Giampiero Boniperti, John Charles and Omar Sivori and had just won the scudetto, but the Biancocelesti won 2-0, again with goals from Fumagalli and Tozzi. In the other semi-final Fiorentina beat Bologna 4-2.
The final was hence between Lazio and Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico. The Biancocelesti won their first historic silverware thanks to a Prini goal in the first half. A magical, long-awaited triumph for the oldest club of the capital.
Campionato
After the first half of the season Lazio were a dismal 12th. Awful defeats against Milan (5-0) and Juventus (6-1) plus a home loss in the derby and other poor performances watered down the enthusiasm generated by the win in the national cup. The reason behind such a poor performance was the lack of an attacking player like Selmosson that opened up defences and allowed the midfielders to score. Tozzi scored pretty regularly but it was not enough.
There were seven consecutive defeats between the end of December and beginning of February and basically just one point in nine games. Fortunately, the relegation zone always remained at a certain distance so Serie B was not a worry, but still things were not going well. Then five points in three games (4-0 victory against Spal, a draw in Naples and a home win against Bari) took Lazio back up to 10th place but in the next ten games there were just two wins (including Juventus, hence showing the potential was there) and four draws. The Biancocelesti finished 11th.
In the 1958-59 Coppa Italia the Biancocelesti had already qualified for the round of 16 where they comfortably beat Varese. In the quarterfinals however they lost at home to Inter and were eliminated.
What went wrong
Having won the first silverware in the club's history may have distracted the players and taken away their hunger. Bernardini was an important manager at the time, but he could not find a way to get the players back on track despite the fact that a few of them had won a scudetto with him in Florence. A lot more was expected but the financial difficulties certainly could not leave much room for optimism for the future.
Most total appearances: Humberto Tozzi 37
Most appearances Serie A: Tozzi 33
Top goal scorer overall: Tozzi 18
Top goal scorer Serie A: Tozzi 14