August 1, 1998: Lazio -St Patrick's Athletic 4-1
- Dag Jenkins
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Dejan shines in Dublin
New Serb signing lights up afternoon as Lazio ease past Irish champions
The season so far
Lazio had finished 7th in the league but had challenged for the Scudetto until early April before losing to Juventus and then concentrating on the cups. Lazio did well both in the UEFA Cup in which they reached the final but lost 0-3 to Inter in Paris and did even better in the domestic cup.
Lazio had won silverware after 24 years, triumphing in the Coppa Italia against Milan 3-2 on aggregate. The Biancocelesti had lost the first leg in Milan 0-1 and had been 0-1 down in Rome too but then scored three goals in ten minutes to win 3-1 and give some generations the new sweet taste of success.
Lazio had confirmed manager Sven Goran Eriksson and brought in some interesting players, including defenders Fernando Couto and Sinisa Mihajlovic, midfielders Sergio Conceição Iván De La Peña, and Dejan Stankovic and forward Marcelo Salas.
Today's game was part of Lazio's pre-season training and was officially part of the Carlsberg trophy.
Only a day earlier Lazio had played Leeds United in Dublin and lost on penalties after a 1-1 draw. They therefore missed out on a clash with Liverpool in the final, instead they played St Patrick's Athletic for 3rd and 4th places.
The Biancocelesti's main priority was to be match fit for the Supercoppa final against Juventus on August 29. Serie A would then start on September 13.
Today's opposition were Irish Champions. St Patricks Athletic had just won their 6th league title. The club founded in 1929 had also won 2 Irish Cups and played their home games at Richmond Park which holds 5,340 spectators.
Today's venue was the more grand Lansdowne Road stadium which also hosted the Republic of Ireland football games and Ireland rugby games (the only sport where the Eire and Northern Ireland play together).
Lazio were favourites but the SuperSaints had given Liverpool a good game a day earlier.
The match: Saturday, August 1 1998, Lansdowne Road, Dublin
A crowd of 20,000 showed up at Lansdowne Road (famous for the train line passing under the West Stand to the adjacent station).
Lazio were missing defenders Alessandro Nesta, Fernando Couto and Beppe Pancaro, midfielders Sergio Conceição and Matías Almeyda plus forwards Alen Boksic and Marcelo Salas (mainly players who had taken part in the 1998 World Cup).
Lazio made a few changes from the previous day, goalkeeper Marco Ballotta came in for Luca Marchegiani, midfielder Dario Marcolin started and youngster Rosario Aquino replaced Roberto Mancini.
Lazio made their superior level count after only nine minutes. Ivan de la Peña set up Dejan Stankovic who from just inside the box beat Wood with a left-footed strike, 1-0.
Lazio had complete control, played at a decent pace and easily found shooting possibilities.
In the 17th minute Lazio got their second. Stankovic fed Paolo Negro who crossed for Pavel Nedved and the Czech scored with his right foot, 2-0.
Lazio then slowed down but still controlled the tempo and reached halftime in cruise mode.
Both sides made several changes for the second half. For Lazio Stefano Lombardi, Guerino Gottardi, Giorgio Venturin and Alessandro Iannuzzi came on for Beppe Favalli, Roberto Rambaudi, Marcolin and Aquino.
Lazio continued to dominate and in the 51st minute made it three. Stankovic was involved again as he beat four opponents and fed Gottardi whose low cross was finished off by Iannuzzi, 3-0.
In the 59th minute Stankovic was replaced by Roberto Baronio. The Serb had an excellent game and showed he already a first XI candidate.
In the same minute the Pat's pulled one back when big Gilzean rose up and headed past Marco Ballotta, 3-1.
The three goal cushion was restored in the 66th minute. Iannuzi tried his luck, the keeper could not hold onto the ball and in came Venturin who tapped the ball in, 4-1.
In the last quarter De la Peña took centre stage keeping ball possession and several times even going for solo efforts to score.
A good training game for Lazio. The main stars were still missing but the team especially in the first half had played with fluidity, pace and precision. Positive signs came from Stankovic and De la Peña who had been the stand out players.
In the final Liverpool then beat Leeds United 2-0 (Berger, Owen).
Who played for Lazio
Ballotta, Negro, G.Lopez, Mihajlovic, Favalli (46' Lombardi), Rambaudi (46' Gottardi), Stankovic (59' Baronio), Marcolin (46' Venturin), De la Peña, Nedved, Aquino (46' Iannuzzi)
Substitutes: Marchegiani, Domizzi
Manager: Eriksson
Who played for St Patrick's Athletic
Wood (71' McKenna), Clarke, Lynch, Hankins, Doyle, Deverenx (46' Gilzean), Osam (46' Crolly), Russell, Gormley (46' Lone), Braithwaite (85' O' Connor), Molloy
Substitutes: Mc Guiness, Byrne
Manager: Dolan
Referee: Perry
Goals: 9' Stankovic, 17' Nedved, 51' Iannuzzi, 59' Gilzean, 66' Venturin
What happened next
A few weeks later Lazio beat Juventus 2-1 in the Supercoppa to lift the trophy for the first time.
In the late summer Lazio would add forward Christian Vieri to the squad (from Atlético Madrid). Unfortunately he was then out until January with an injury.
They were then unlucky in Serie A narrowly missing out on the league title by one point but triumphed in the last ever Cup Winners Cup by beating Mallorca 2-1 in Birmingham (Vieri, Nedved).
Sadly youngster Aquino would pass away at 20 years of age in a car crash.
St Patrick's Athletic would win the Irish League again. Since 1998 the Dubliners have won two more leagues, 1999 and 2013. The Saints have also since won another 3 Irish Cups, 4 League Cups and a Super Cup.
Lansdowne Road, built in 1872, was demolished in 2007. The national football and rugby games are now played at the Aviva Stadium.
Let's talk about Rosario Aquino
Rosario Aquino was born in Torre del Greco, on February 3, 1980.
Lazio signed him in 1998 from Ischia. He was a forward and considered a possible future star and had already been called up for Italy Serie C U20s).
At Lazio he joined the Primavera squad but was soon added to the first team squad.
In the summer of 1998 he went on tour with the first team and played 4 games and scored 2 goals (including Leeds United) plus a friendly against Fiorentina in September.
He was in the squad that won the Supercoppa 2-1 against Juventus on August 29.
At the end of the summer he joined Livorno on a joint ownership deal. Livorno were in Serie C1 and he played 8 league games and the Amaranto finished 12th . In 1999-2000 he stayed on in Tuscany and played 13 games with 1 goal (Montevarchi). He played alongside former Lazio, Igor Protti.
Aquino's career and life were then tragically cut short as on March 25 he died in a car crash.
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