April 2, 1972: Palermo Lazio 0-0

Good draw for Chinaglialess Lazio

Without Chinaglia Lazio earn an important point

Also on this day:

April 2, 1939, Liguria Lazio 0-1. Lazio win in Genoa with a Vettraino goal.
April 2, 1922, Lazio Fortitudo 5-2. A Saraceni hat trick sweeps away Fortitudo. Other goals came from Furia and Bernardini.

The season so far

The disastrous 1970-71 season had culminated in a relegation to Serie B for the Biancocelesti. It was a devastating and unexpected fall for the club so President Umberto Lenzini, on a suggestion from sporting director Antonio Sbardella, chose a young manager called Tommaso Maestrelli who had done well in Serie C and Serie B with Reggina and Foggia.

The first problem the club had to face was the fact that Giorgio Chinaglia demanded to be sold. He refused to play in Serie B and was not entirely happy with the change of management. Maestrelli convinced him to stay.

Two fundamental future players joined Lazio in the summer transfer window. Luigi Martini, from Livorno, and Giancarlo Oddi returning from his loan spell at Massese. Lazio also signed goalkeeper Claudio Bandoni (Fiorentina) and midfielder Rino Gritti on loan from Lecco. Rino Marchesi, Nello Governato and Giancarlo Morrone left Lazio as free agents as well as Ferruccio Mazzola and Michelangelo Sulfaro on loan to Fiorentina.

In the November transfer window Lazio would then sign Carlo Facchin and Giambattista Moschino, returning after nine years, plus Alessandro Abbondanza on loan from Napoli with Pierpaolo Manservisi going in the opposite direction. Arrigo Dolso also left (on loan to Varese).

Lazio started the Serie B campaign slowly, losing the first two games away from home, but from the 6th match onwards things improved. At the end of the first half of the season the Biancocelesti were third, one point behind Palermo and Ternana and two points ahead of Reggiana and Perugia.

They were still third, three points behind today’s opponents, Palermo, and one more than Reggiana. Unfortunately, today Lazio were without Giorgio Chinaglia who had suffered an injury in the previous match. A heavy absence in a delicate game.

The match: Sunday, April 2, 1972, Stadio La Favorita, Palermo

Lazio started the game well with a good opportunity wasted by Giuseppe Massa, but then the home team stirred and took over the game. In the 12th minute Claudio Bandoni managed to parry a good Fabio Ferrario header but from then the teams were unable to create anything dangerous until the last ten minutes of the first half. Giuseppe Papadopulo managed to clear on a very dangerous cross from Gaetano Troja, then Sergio Girardi managed to anticipate Massa but only just.

In the second half Palermo put their foot on the accelerator after Franco Nanni had wasted a golden opportunity. In the 50th minute Bandoni was forced to save an Ignazio Arcoleo daisy cutter and soon after managed to anticipate Troja just before he was about to shoot. In the 61st minute Arcoleo hit the crossbar with a powerful volley. Lazio erected an impenetrable wall from then on and defensively put the game to sleep.

A good point in a difficult match.

Who played for Palermo

Girardi, Sgrazzutti, Pasetti, Reja, Landini I, Landri, F.Ferrario, Arcoleo, Troja (75' Arbitrio), Vanello, E. Ferrari

Substitute: Ferretti

Manager: De Grandi

Who played for Lazio

Bandoni, Facco, Papadopulo, Wilson, Polentes, Martini, Massa, Nanni (75’ Gritti), Abbondanza, Fortunato, Facchin

Substitute: Di Vincenzo

Manager: Maestrelli

Referee: Torelli

What happened next

With five games to the end of the season there were five teams fighting for promotion: Palermo and Ternana 44 points, Lazio 43, Como 42 and Reggiana 41. With two games to the end, the Biancocelesti had reached second place and a week later they topped the table together with Ternana, one point ahead of Palermo and two more than Como. All Lazio needed was a point at Bari and that is exactly what happened.

The Biancocelesti were able to secure promotion thanks to an excellent attack with Chinaglia, Massa and Abbondanza, and a very strong defence with goalkeeper Bandoni and Giuseppe Wilson. The midfield was not up to par and there was the need to find better players. They would come in the following season.

Wilson was the player with most appearances this season (48), Chinaglia the top goal scorer (26 goals).

Let's talk about Claudio Bandoni

Claudio Bandoni only stayed at Lazio for a season but the goalkeeper was one of the most important players in Tommaso Maestrelli's first promotion team to Serie A.

Bandoni was born in Ponte di Mariano near Lucca on August 5, 1939. He did his youth training at Altopascio and at 19 joined Inter. After a season spent on the bench and having played just a couple of times in Coppa Italia, he was sold to Parma and he became a regular player. He changed teams every year (Parma, Catanzaro, Venezia, Bari) until 1962 when he finally managed to play more than one season with a single club, this time at Palermo.

In 1964 he signed for Napoli. With the Partenopei he won a promotion to Serie A, an Alpine Cup, plus third and fourth places in Serie A. He said of his Napoli experience “we were having so much fun, that at a certain point we lacked that necessary killer instinct”. At the height of his career, Napoli sold him to Mantova in exchange for Dino Zoff. “The worst moment in my career”, he has often said. He had to share goalkeeping duties with Sergio Girardi and the team was relegated to Serie B.

In 1968 he moved to Florence. Fiorentina were looking for a back up keeper and he was perfect. He won a scudetto in his first year even though he played just one game and appeared in 14 games over the next two seasons.

In 1971 he signed for Lazio in Serie B. He was one of the protagonists and Lazio managed to win promotion to Serie A after only one year of purgatory. He played 43 games (36 in Serie B and 7 in Coppa Italia) before he was substituted by Felice Pulici.

In 1972-73 he was first choice keeper for Catanzaro and then from 1973 to 1975 reserve to future Lazio Massimo Cacciatori at Sampdoria. He ended his career in Serie C with Mantova again.

Interviewed by Lazio Style Radio in 2017 he spoke about his year with the Biancocelesti: “I have a very strong bond with Lazio and I still have contacts with my old team mates”.