Rocchi eases Lazio's worries
After an awful first half Lazio stir and overturn Bologna with a Rocchi winner
Also on this day: April 17, 1988, Arezzo Lazio 0-1. A goal by Savino gave Lazio precious points for Serie A return. Player of the day Giuseppe Galderisi
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had finished 6th and won the Coppa Italia. This year however everything had changed. In the midst of a financial crisis new owner Claudio Lotito had cut costs, agreed a long term deal with state debt collectors and set up a new look team.
For a start Roberto Mancini had left for Inter. A lot of the star players also said goodbye; Jaap Stam (Milan), Stefano Fiore and Bernardo Corradi (Valencia), Sinisa Mihajlovic and Giuseppe Favalli (Inter), Demetrio Albertini (Atalanta), Claudio Lopez (América -México), Guerino Gottardi (retired) and in the winter session Simone Inzaghi (Sampdoria- loan).
Arriving at Lazio were players of a "slightly" different calibre, many unknown. Lotito became famous for signing nine players on one day. Some are best forgotten but the players worth mentioning were; defender Sebastiano Siviglia (Parma), midfielders Antonio and Emanuele Filippini (Palermo), forward Tommaso Rocchi (Empoli) and in January striker Fabio Bazzani (Sampdoria). One particularly welcome return for the fans was Paolo Di Canio after 15 years away. A move to appease the fans faced with difficult times ahead.
The new manager was former player Domenico Caso, assisted by club legend Cristiano Bergodi.
The season started with a 3-0 defeat by Milan in the Supercoppa final. In the league Lazio earned 7 points in the first 3 games but then started struggling. After 16 matches Caso was sacked and replaced by Giuseppe Papadopulo. His first match was a 3-1 derby triumph with Di Canio scoring again 16 years later. Lazio then won in Florence but then took only a point from the next five games. Luckily wins against Atalanta, Chievo and Parma had lifted the clouds. More defeats followed but a 3-1 win against Livorno a week before today's match seemed to have put any relegation threats behind them, pushing the Biancocelesti up from 14th to 10th place. Mind you, they still had to be careful.
In Europe Lazio had got through the preliminary round in the Uefa Cup beating Metalurh Donetsk with a double 3-0. In the group stage however they were eliminated after three draws (Villarreal, Partizan Belgrade and Egaleo) and one defeat (Middlesbrough).
Bologna were having a decent season. Their manager was the charismatic Roman Carlo Mazzone and they were in 9th position. They had been 7th but a week earlier lost 1-0 at home to Inter. So far the "Felsinei" had won 9 (including Milan away and Roma ) , drawn 11 and lost 10 (including Lazio 2-1). The Rossoblu, like Lazio, felt relatively safe but still had to look over their shoulders.
Bologna had two future Lazio players in their squad: Mourad Meghni and Igli Tare, who is still at Lazio as Sporting Director.
The match: Sunday, April 17, 2005, Stadio Dall'Ara, Bologna
Today was an important match for both sides not to get dragged back down into the relegation battle.
Lazio had a nightmare start but somehow came out unscathed, for now. In the 5th minute Siviglia hit his own crossbar with a header and then Ciro Capuano hit the post on the rebound. Bologna were on top and soon took the lead albeit following a non-existent freekick. Luciano Zauri's tackle on Tare was on the ball fair and square but the referee gave a free kick from the edge of the box. Claudio Bellucci touched the ball to Federico Giunti whose shot went through the wall and beat Angelo Peruzzi. Bologna 1 Lazio 0 and well deserved.
Bologna continued to dominate and almost doubled their lead with Carlo Nervo while Lazio’s only chance came in the 42nd minute with a Massimo Oddo free kick just wide. A lame and poor Lazio trudged off at halftime trailing 1-0.
During half time Papadopulo must have said something convincing because the team that came back on was transformed. Then Antonio Filippini replaced Fabio Liverani in midfield and Oddo positioned himself further back. Lazio changed tactically but above all in spirit.
The Biancocelesti’s new approach bore its fruits immediately. In the 54th minute Tare gave away a free kick about 35 metres out, Roberto Muzzi put the ball in the box where Giuliano Giannichedda was fouled by Alessandro Gamberini. A clear penalty which Oddo slotted in for the equaliser, 1-1.
At this point Lazio took control and Bologna had difficulty even getting out of their own half. Lazio pushed forward and took the lead in the 74th minute. Giannichedda went on a good run and put Rocchi through on goal, the Venetian striker first beat Suarez before going round Pagliuca and scoring from a difficult angle. 1-2 and an unimaginable score after Lazio's first half performance.
Lazio were on a high and had several more chances. Gianluca Pagliuca saved on Rocchi, Antonio Filippini and was then saved by the post on Ousmane Dabo shot.
Bologna after doing virtually nothing for 45 minutes then almost drew level in injury time. With 5 seconds remaining of the 6 minutes given, a Giacomo Cipriani header was miraculously palmed off the line by a magical "Cinghialone" (Big Wild Boar") Peruzzi. His teammates congratulated him as if he had scored a goal and in a sense he had since he saved the result anyway. So a game of two halves ended Bologna 1 Lazio 2.
Lazio overtook the Rossoblu in the table and went up to 40 points leaving their opponents behind them on 39. Neither were safe yet but a giant step forward for Lazio.
Who played for Bologna
Pagliuca, Juarez, Gamberini, Torrisi, Nervo (78' Binotto), Giunti (46' Loviso), L. Colucci, Capuano, Meghni (76' Cipriani), Bellucci, Tare
Substitutes: Ferron, Nastase, Legrottaglie, Sussi,
Manager: Mazzone
Who played for Lazio
Peruzzi, Siviglia, F. Couto, Zauri, Oddo (78' Cesar), Giannichedda, Dabo, E. Filippini, Liverani (46' A. Filippini), Rocchi, Muzzi (59' Bazzani)
Substitutes: Casazza, Talamonti, Manfredini, Di Canio
Manager: Papadopulo
Referee: Tagliavento
Goals: 15' Giunti, 54' Oddo (pen), 74' Rocchi
What happened next
A week later Lazio got an away point at Cagliari (91st minute Siviglia equaliser) but would not win another game. Three consecutive defeats put them in trouble again (Juventus and Udinese at home and Lecce away) but then three draws ultimately got them to safety (Roma, Fiorentina, Palermo).
A difficult first season in the Lotito era but in the circumstances the priority was staying in Serie A. Things could only get better. Lazio ended up 13th, after 11 wins, 11 draws and 16 defeats. Top scorer was Rocchi with 17 goals (13 in Serie A).
Things went far worse for Bologna. After today's game they only earned four more points in the last seven games. They came in 18th on the same points as Parma and Fiorentina so had to go to a home and away play-off against Parma. Bologna won the away leg in Parma 1-0 (Tare) but were then beaten 2-0 at home. So the Rossoblu were surprisingly condemned to the "purgatory" of Serie B. Top scorer was Bellucci with 10 league goals.
The Scudetto was won by Juventus but their title would then be taken away for corruption scandals. The two teams joining Bologna on the unenviable trek down a division were Atalanta and Brescia.
Lazio 2004-05
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 48 |
Coppa Italia | 2 | 1 | - | 1 | 4 |
UEFA Cup | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
Super Coppa | 1 | - | - | 1 | - |
Total | 47 | 14 | 14 | 19 | 63 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup | Super Coppa |
Oddo | 42 | 35 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
A. Filippini | 41 | 36 | 2 | 3 | - |
Rocchi | 41 | 35 | 1 | 5 | - |
Dabo | 37 | 29 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
Giannichedda | 37 | 32 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
Rocchi | 17 | 13 | 2 | 2 |
Di Canio | 7 | 6 | - | 1 |
Muzzi | 6 | 3 | - | 3 |
Oddo | 4 | 4 | - | - |
A. Filippini | 4 | 2 | 2 | - |
4 | 3 | - | 1 | |
Cesar | 4 | 3 | - | 1 |
Let’s talk about Fabio Bazzani
Fabio Bazzani was born in Bologna, on October 20, 1976.
After youth sector experiences at Bologna and Spal, his first club was local Bo.Ca at amateur level. In 1996 he moved to Sandonà, his first professional team, and a year later joined Venezia but only got 2 games. In 1998 he went to Varese in C1 (29 games - 3 goals) then in 1999 Arezzo in C1 (31 games- 20 goals). He then returned to Venezia in Serie B (39 games- 5 goals). The "Winged Lions" won promotion to Serie A but Bazzani moved on. In 2001 he was loaned to Perugia so still in Serie A (29 games -10 goals).
In 2002 he arrived at a bigger club when he joined Sampdoria but back in Serie B. Here he was reunited with manager Walter Novellino who had coached him in Venice. He had a good two and a half seasons with the Blucerchiati playing 83 league games with 31 goals. In the first they won promotion back to Serie A. In the second he scored 13 league goals and was called up by the "Nazionale". In his third he was not performing as well and had some clashes with the manager.
In January 2005 he came to Lazio who needed some reinforcements in attack to avoid relegation. At Lazio he played 15 league games and scored 3 goals (Palermo, Atalanta, Palermo again). The two goals against Atalanta and Palermo were decisive in Lazio's successful battle against relegation. They brought Lazio three extra points without which they would have gone down as they finished two points above the drop zone.
After his brief stint in Rome Bazzani returned to Sampdoria. He patched things up with Novellino and played another two seasons but with 27 league games and 2 goals due to a serious injury.
In 2007 he joined Livorno but was immediately loaned to Brescia. He was not accepted by the left-wing Livorno supporters group who accused Bazzani of having opposing political views. The player has always denied these alleged opinions but as it was he was "forced" to leave the Amaranto of Leghorn.
At Brescia he played 25 games in Serie B and scored 1 goal. He then spent a year at Pescara in Lega Pro (14 games- 2 goals), a year with Spal in Lega Pro (13 appearances- 3 goals). That was his last "biggish" team as he spent the last five years of his career at Mezzolara (near Bologna) in Serie D (122 games- 50 goals).
So it is fair to say Lazio were his biggest club but the peak of his performances came at Perugia and especially Sampdoria.
At International level he earned 3 Italy caps. His debut was against Poland in 2003 and the other two were against Romania and Iceland, all in friendlies.
Since retiring in 2015 he has become a manager. He started where he finished playing, at Mezzolara. He then followed his former Perugia manager Serse Cosmi as his assistant at Ascoli, Venezia and Perugia. In 2021 he was manager of Corregese in Serie D. He currently is a technical collaborator with his hometown club, Bologna.
Bazzani was a strong centre-forward. At 1.86 metres tall and 82 kilos he was a strong presence in opponent areas. He was particularly good in the air and acrobacy was one of his strong points. He was not overly technical but made up for it with old style physicality. At one point of his career, in particular his first two at Sampdoria, it looked as if he would have a bright future. This was confirmed by his call up to the National team but he never really reached those heights again.
At Lazio he was a welcome addition, as he had impressed as an opponent. In Rome however he was a slight disappointment, in the sense he never looked as good as he had when faced as an opponent. As mentioned he scored two very important goals for Lazio's survival in his brief period and every bit counts in the larger picture of history.
Off the field he gained the limelight for marrying a television starlet, Alessia Merz. Other trivia is that he is a massive basketball fan, supporting Fortitudo Bologna. The capital of Emilia is known as " Basket City" and Bazzani even bears a tattoo on his arm to confirm his allegiance. At football level he supports Milan but unfortunately for him he never got to play for the "Devils".
Lazio career
Season | Total apperances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
2004-05 | 16 (3) | 15 (3) | 1 |