No football but objective reached

Dag Jenkins
Jun 25, 2023
3 min read

Season 1988-89

Game 34, Serie A

Sunday, June 25, 1989

Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Duca, Ascoli

Ascoli-Lazio 0-0

A draw it had to be and a draw it was in a non-starter affair

So far Lazio had played 33 games. The Biancocelesti had won 5, drawn 18 and lost 10. They were on 15 points and in joint 13th place with Ascoli on 28 points, two above the relegation zone. Lazio had experienced difficulty in winning games as the 18 draws testify. Today however a draw was exactly what they needed.

Ascoli were currently in joint 13th place, on 28 points, just like Lazio.

So, this afternoon's game was between two sides who both needed a point to stay in Serie A… no-one was expecting a high scoring thriller… The head of the Federal Investigation office, a lawyer called Porceddu, was in the stands to check on proceedings.

The match

There is not a lot to say about the match. A cloudy day in Ascoli Piceno with occasional rays of sun saw just under 15,000 spectators present. A few thousand had come from Rome as the Marche town is only 215 kilometres from the capital.

Lazio were missing defender Angelo Gregucci and midfielder Andrea Icardi while Ascoli had no absences.

The game was a predictable non-starter. It was in both sides' interest not to rock the boat but they decided to not even put it in water.

The players trotted about with no intention of doing each other any harm. There was obviously some action but it was limited to one chance each. For Ascoli Bruno Giordano made sure his lob did not rise enough and fell into Valerio Fiori's arms. For Lazio, Ruben Sosa on his only attempt decided to use his weak foot and the ball innocuously reached Andrea Pazzagli. The first half had looked more like a stroll in the park or a picnic and unsurprisingly ended 0-0.

The only thing to note was the replacement of Claudio Sclosa with Antonio Acerbis after 22 minutes due to injury. A feat in itself seeing the pace of the game.

Meanwhile in Lecce, relegation rivals Torino were losing 0-1.

The first half was flat but looking back would then seem quite exciting compared to the second. Absolutely nothing of interest happened. There were a few substitutions, two for Ascoli, Giuseppe Carillo for Vincenzo Rodia in the 75th minute and Domenico Agostini for Walter Casagrande in the 83rd and one for Lazio, Nelson Gutierrez for Marco Monti in the 75th.

Apart from organising substitutions the benches were more concentrated on following the scores coming through from the other matches. Lecce went 2-0 up and the crowd woke up and celebrated but then future Lazio Diego Fuser pulled one back for Torino

In Ascoli the ball hovered backwards, forwards and particularly sideways in midfield with no goal action whatsoever. The main excitement came via the radio which announced Lecce's third goal against the Granata.

On the field the picnic would have been at the champagne stage had it not been for the investigators in the grandstand (mind you as neutrals they may well have been nodding off by now).

To cut a long story short the game ended 0-0!

Both sets of players and fans, who did not even ask for their money back, instead celebrated enthusiastically at having achieved their objective of staying in Serie A. Lazio and Ascoli both deserved to survive but maybe could have played today's game out with more dignity.

The anti-corruption investigators notebooks remained empty… It's just the way of the world.

Who played for Ascoli

Pazzagli, Destro, Rodia (75' Carillo), Dall'Oglio, Fontolan, Arslanovic, Cvetkovic, Aloisi, Giordano, Giovanelli, Casagrande (83' D'Agostini)

Substitutes: Bocchino, Benetti, Bongiorni

Manager: Bersellini

Who played for Lazio

Fiori, Monti (75' Gutierrez), Beruatto, Pin, Marino, Piscedda, Dezotti, Muro, Di Canio, Sclosa (22' Acerbis), Sosa