The battle of the Olimpico
Lazio manage to draw the derby even if reduced to nine men thanks to a goal by Ruben Sosa
Also on this day: April 6, 2014, Lazio Sampdoria 2-0. Lazio beat Sampdoria and continue to have European hopes. Player of the day: Joseph Minala
The season so far
Lazio, tired of Mr. 0-0, Giuseppe Materazzi, were becoming ambitious and as a consequence needed a manager who could lead them to a European Cup participation. Dino Zoff, who had just been dropped by Juventus despite winning both the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia, was the chosen man.
A change in mentality was needed to accompany the new manager so in came Karl-Heinz Riedle, German centre-forward who had just won the world cup, Armando Madonna, Sergio Domini and Roberto Bacci among others. Lazio said goodbye to Paolo Di Canio and Amarildo.
Among the many pre-season friendlies, Lazio won the Trofeo Ciudad de La LÃnea, a prestigious tournament played in Spain, beating Real Madrid on penalties in the final. This was supposed to be the start of a triumphant journey. But the team seemed to follow the path of their previous manager rather than have a winning mentality. In the first half of the season the Biancocelesti drew 13 times in 17 games!!!! Almost on the verge of ridiculousness.
Lazio were also kicked out of Coppa Italia early, losing to Serie B team Modena.
The problem was that Domini and Madonna were not playing up to their previous standards. The former was considered to be an excellent playmaker and he did show a lot of promise in his previous club Cesena. But with Lazio it was a completely different story. He had the amazing ability of sending long passes in the only places on the pitch without Lazio players. Madonna should have taken Di Canio's place. With Atalanta he was very highly considered but did not settle down with Lazio and was more of a liability than an asset.
It took Zoff the whole of the first half of the season to substitute Madonna on a permanent basis with Roberto Bacci and a few games more to put in Pedro Troglio in place of Domini. Things were improving, less draws and a few more wins. Lazio even beat Juventus 1-0.
The week before the derby, however, Lazio played miserably and drew at home 1-1 with a Cesena team that already had a foot and half in Serie B.
What could fans expect from the game against their eternal rivals?
The match: Saturday, April 6, 1991, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
A very spectacular and rather violent derby was played unusually on a Saturday due to the fact that Roma had to play the UEFA Cup semi-final a few days later.
In the first half Lazio had the best chances. In the 2nd minute a Troglio header was saved by Giovanni Cervone. Four minutes later, corner for Lazio. Troglio crossed the ball in the box, Angelo Gregucci’s header beat Cervone but not Fabrizio Di Mauro who cleared.
In the 7th minute Roma responded. Di Mauro, thanks to a great pass by Amedeo Carboni, found himself in front of Valerio Fiori but the Lazio goalkeeper saved. In the 32nd minute Ruben Sosa’s free kick was miraculously saved again by the Roma goalkeeper. Troglio took the subsequent corner, ball to Gabriele Pin, another great Cervone save.
In the second half, in the 8th minute Carboni flew down Lazio’s left flank followed by Roberto Bacci who, when in the box, attempted a tackle from behind. Carboni went down. Penalty (controversial, it looked like Bacci first got the ball). Rudi Voeller put Roma ahead.
Tempers flared. A minute later, Claudio Sclosa, in an attempt to stop a Roma counter attack, fouled Thomas Berthold rather harshly. Second yellow card and Lazio down to ten men. Ruggero Rizzitelli, tried a vendetta against Gregucci with a very dirty foul but the referee just showed a yellow. In the 58th minute Roberto Soldà tried to stop another Berthold counter attack, but his leg was way too high. At this point Stefano Desideri decided to take justice in his own hands and elbowed the Lazio defender. They were both sent off. Lazio down to nine players now, Roma had ten. Lazio needed a miracle to draw this game.
In the 74th minute box-to-box by Aldair who in front of Fiori tried to dribble him and then shoot, but Cristiano Bergodi cleared. Two minutes later, Pin from outside the box passed to Bergodi on the right. The Lazio defender crossed in the middle, Pin headed the ball towards the top left-hand corner, Cervone again denied Lazio the goal.
Miracles can happen. With ten minutes to go, Giovanni Piacentini on Lazio’s left but inside the Roma half, headed the ball to Sebastiano Nela, who was too slow to react. In came Raffaele Sergio who won the ball, took a few steps forward and sent a high cross into the penalty box. Ruben Sosa anticipated the Roma defenders and, with a left foot volley, put the ball in the back of the net.
Roma launched themselves forward and in the 81st minute an Aldair free kick was well saved by Fiori into corner. In the dying minutes, Voeller to Nela who inside the box on the left had a shot again saved by the Lazio keeper. At this point the ref called it a day.
Another derby ending 1-1, the second in the row (there would many more to come). Not sure if Gianni Agnelli and Henry Kissinger present in the stadium enjoyed the game, but it was a typical Rome derby with controversy and dirty fouls.
Who played for Roma
Cervone, Berthold, Carboni, Gerolin, Aldair, Nela, Desideri, Di Mauro, Voller, Salsano (46' Piacentini), Rizzitelli (58' Muzzi).
Substitutes: Zinetti, Comi, D.Rossi.
Manager: Bianchi.
Who played for Lazio
Fiori, Bergodi, Sergio, Pin, Gregucci, Soldà , Bacci, Troglio (73’ Bertoni), Riedle, Sclosa, Ruben Sosa
Manager: Zoff
Referee: Pairetto
Goals: 53’ Voeller (pen), 80’ Ruben Sosa
What happened next
Lazio hopes of a UEFA Cup qualification ended with a loss in Milan against Inter in the penultimate game. Lazio drew 19 times in the 1990-91 season, this sole fact was enough to see that a lot more had to be done to the squad to be able to have any type of ambition. Zoff was also to blame. It took him too long to change Domini and Madonna.
Fiori and Sergio were the players with the most appearances (36) and Ruben Sosa the leading goal scorer (12).
Lazio 1990-91
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 34 | 8 | 19 | 7 | 33 |
Coppa Italia | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 36 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 34 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Fiori | 36 | 34 | 2 |
Sergio | 36 | 34 | 2 |
Riedle | 35 | 33 | 2 |
Ruben Sosa | 35 | 33 | 2 |
Bergodi | 34 | 33 | 1 |
Pin | 34 | 32 | 2 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Ruben Sosa | 12 | 11 | 1 |
Riedle | 9 | 9 | - |
Pin | 2 | 2 | - |
Gregucci | 2 | 2 | - |
Madonna | 2 | 2 | - |
F. Marchegiani | 2 | 2 | - |
Let's talk about Raffaele Sergio
Raffaele Sergio was born in Cava de’ Tirreni (near Salerno) on August 27, 1966. He was a left back with a strong propensity to attack. Fast and skilful, he was a very good crosser of the ball.
Sergio started playing for the youth teams of his home town and debuted professionally in C1 in the 1984-85 season. He then played for Benevento and Mantova (two seasons each) before signing for Lazio.
In the 1989-90 season he was one of Lazio’s best players. With Sergio on the left and Di Canio on the right, Lazio had two men on the wings that could create numerical superiority and give the Biancocelesti’s centre-forward, Brazilian Amarildo, a high number of crosses for his speciality, the header.
In the next two seasons under Zoff, the splendid attacking left back fans had learnt to appreciate, disappeared. He became timid and attacked less. In 1992 Lazio sold him to Torino.
In Turin he did not do too badly and even won a Coppa Italia in 1992-93. In 1994 he signed for Ancona in Serie B and the following year came back to the top tier and played for Udinese for two seasons. He signed for Napoli in 1997-98 but the club was relegated to Serie B. He played just a couple of games in Serie B the next year and ended his career in 1999-00 with Benevento in C1.
After he quit football he became a manager and coached lower level teams.
He played 94 times for Lazio (90 in Serie A and 4 in Coppa Italia) and scored just one goal against Foggia on January 5, 1992.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
1989-90 | 31 | 31 | - |
1990-91 | 36 | 34 | 2 |
1991-92 | 27 (1) | 25 (1) | 2 |
Total | 94 (1) | 90 (1) | 4 |
Sources