April 20, 1997: Lazio Reggiana 6-1
- Simon Basten
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Igor finally makes his mark
Protti scores a hat trick as Lazio demolish Reggiana
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had arrived third with an excellent final rush. A lot of players had left the club during the summer transfer window: Aron Winter (Inter), Alen Boksic (Juventus), Marco Di Vaio (loan to Bari), Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea) and Cristiano Bergodi (Padova). Coming in were defender Mark Fish (Orlando Pirates) who had played really well in the African Nations Cup, midfielders Roberto Baronio (Brescia), a rising star, Paul Okon (Club Bruges), Pavel Nedved (Sparta Prague) and forwards Renato Buso (Napoli) and last year’s top scorer, together with Beppe Signori, Igor Protti (Bari). Manager Zdeněk Zeman had been confirmed.
The first game of the season was the first round of the Coppa Italia. The Biancocelesti won at Avellino. In the UEFA Cup, Lazio were paired with Lens in the first round. There was history with the French club. In 1977 Lazio had won the first leg 2-0 at the Olimpico but in the return match after 90 minutes Lens were 2-0 up. In extra time the Biancocelesti collapsed and Lens scored four more goals. This time Lazio managed to win 1-0 away with a goal from José Chamot and then drew 1-1 at home. In the round of 32 the Biancocelesti had to face Tenerife and had won 1-0 at home but then collapsed 5-3 in the Canary Islands.
In campionato, Lazio did not have a good start. After eight games they were 14th, just a couple of points above the relegation zone. But the situation improved and five games later they were only two points away from third place. In January Lazio beat Milan 3-0 and everybody thought they had recovered. But two home defeats in the next two games meant a further debacle. President Sergio Cragnotti sacked Zeman and called Dino Zoff to solve the season. Zoff was President of the club at the time, but he left the presidency and put his tracksuit back on.
Zeman was heartbroken. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Tenerife. Lazio had scored the opening goal, then fell behind twice but managed to come back only to melt away and lose 5-3. The Czech was the great culprit. Signori stated at the end of the game “Scoring three away goals, no team in the world would have been kicked out”. Diego Fuser was even more drastic: “This time it’s not the player’s fault, the blame must be sought elsewhere. As for the tactical attitude, ask the coach. It is useless to bring players who do not follow him in training. Those who do not listen must stay at home”. The Zeman bubble had burst.
After being fired Zeman said: “Without Lazio I’m a destroyed man, I have never done so badly. I’m disappointed but not with myself. I’ve always given everything I had to Lazio. I must have made a few mistakes: the main one was that I wasn’t convincing enough”.
Under Zoff the situation improved and the Biancocelesti were currently 6th on course for a UEFA Cup qualification.
The match: Sunday, April 20, 1997, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Reggiana started well and pressed Lazio in their own half in the first ten minutes. But then the Biancocelesti took over. Beppe Signori thanks to Roberto Rambaudi had a chance to score but was fouled from behind by Gianluca Cherubini. Penalty which Beppe-gol scored in the 12th minute with his usual no run up.
Five more minutes and it was 2-0. This time Pavel Nedved fortuitously found himself the ball in the box and beat Marco Ballotta.
Another 300 seconds and it was 3-0. Signori beat the offside trap and from the left byline waited for the upcoming Igor Protti who had a simple tap in to score his second of the season. And ten minutes later it was four. Protti, with a lot less weight on his shoulders, from outside the box tried a shot which beat the Reggiana keeper for the fourth time.
Another error in the off-side trap on a Diego Fuser header put Protti alone in front of Ballotta. Lob over the keeper and it was a hat trick for Igor. Five goals in forty minutes.
In the 42nd minute the Lazio defence fell asleep and Igor Simutenkov was able to beat Luca Marchegiani to make the score only slightly less humiliating.
In the second half Protti had a chance with a shot well saved by Ballotta and Signori failed to score despite a one-on-one with the Reggiana keeper. The sixth goal however did arrive thanks to a Nedved shot from outside the box which Ballotta could do nothing about.
The referee at this point decided that he too wanted to join in the fun and awarded a ridiculous penalty to the visitors. Damiano Longhi in front of Marchegiani tried a shot which the Lazio goalkeeper did well to save, the ball reached Massimo Minetti. José Antonio Chamot was in the way of his attempted tap in. He parried his private parts and that is exactly where the ball went. Salvatore Racalbuto gave a penalty and showed the Argentinian a red card. Ridiculous penalty and even more comical sending off. Simutenkov stepped up to take the spot kick but Marchegiani saved.
Nothing more to add about the game except the return of Gigi Casiraghi after two months of injury. Good game, good win, but Chamot will not be playing the next match, against Roma...
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Chamot, Grandoni, Favalli, Rambaudi (61' Buso), Fuser, Venturin, Nedved, Protti (77' Casiraghi), Signori (71' Fish)
Substitutes: Orsi, Baronio, Gottardi, Piovanelli
Manager: Zoff
Who played for Reggiana
Ballotta, Parente, Cherubini (84' Carr), F.Galli, Beiersdorfer (71' Grun), Grossi (51' Sabau), Longhi, Mazzola, Tonetto, Minetti, Simutenkov
Substitutes: Gandini, Caini, Hatz, De Napoli
Manager: Oddo
Referee: Racalbuto
Goals: 12 Signori (pen), 16’ Nedved, 22’ Protti, 32’ Protti, 37’ Protti, 42’ Simutenkov, 66’ Nedved
What happened next
In the 16 games under Zoff Lazio lost just twice, hence the team was not that bad. They managed to reach 4th place and a place in the following year’s UEFA Cup. A miracle.
Marchegiani was the player with most appearances (40) and Signori top goal scorer with 15 goals.
Let’s talk about Igor Protti
He was born in Rimini on September 24, 1967 and started his footballing career in the youth teams of his hometown. He debuted professionally at 16 playing in C1. When he turned 18 he signed for Livorno still in C1 and stayed there for three years. He played quite a lot of games (83) but only started scoring regularly in his third year with 14 goals in all competitions. In 1988-89 he was loaned to Virescit Bergamo and had another positive season scoring 10 goals. In 1989 he signed for Messina in Serie B and scored 31 goals in three years.
His next step was an important one, he signed for Bari. They were in Serie B but after two years the Apulia side was promoted to Serie A. In his first three years he did not score much (22 goals in 79 league games) but in 1995-‘96 he finally exploded scoring 24 goals in Serie A, top scorer together with Beppe Signori.
Lazio President Sergio Cragnotti dreamed of putting these two players together, thinking that it would rain goals under manager Zdenek Zeman, so Protti joined Lazio, helped also by the fact that despite all of his goals Bari had been relegated to Serie B. Unfortunately, it was not a good year for the Biancocelesti and half way through Zeman was replaced by Dino Zoff. He did score seven goals, including a last second goal against Roma in a derby with Lazio behind, but it was difficult to find the right equilibrium up front with Signori and Pierluigi Casiraghi. With the arrival of Sven-Goran Eriksson in 1997, as well as the return of Alen Boksic plus the signing of Roberto Mancini, Protti was loaned to Napoli in Serie A to get some playing time. It was a terrible year for the Neapolitan team who arrived bottom with just 14 points. He returned briefly to Lazio but with the addition of Marcelo Salas he found very little space so he was loaned out again, this time to Reggiana in Serie B. Alas another relegation.
In 1999-00 he returned to Livorno in Serie C1. The year after he was top scorer in Serie C1, a feat he repeated in 2001-02 and the Amaranto were promoted to Serie B, returning to the second tier after 31 years. In 2002-03 he was top scorer in Serie B. In 2003-04, Livorno arrived third and were promoted to Serie A, 54 years after the last time they had played in the top tier. He scored 24 goals that season. He stayed one more year and Livorno managed to avoid relegation. He scored six league goals and at the end of the season decided to retire.
After he stopped playing he continued to work in football, first with Tuttocuoio (San Miniato-Pisa) and then back at Livorno as club manager. When the club went bust, he worked for the new Livorno team until 2022-23.
In June 2025 he announced he had cancer. He made a visibly emotional appearance at the Livorno Stadium for Livorno vs Ternana in August.
Protti was an incredible goal scorer. Not particularly tall, 1.71 metres, but he could be lethal in the penalty box. He scored 248 goals in his career and it was a pity that he arrived at Lazio in the wrong year.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
1996-97 | 34 (7) | 27 (7) | 3 | 4 |
Jul-Oct 1998 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - |
Total | 37 (7) | 29 (7) | 4 | 4 |
Sources
Comments