August 1, 1999: Ajax Lazio 2-3

Dag Jenkins
Aug 1, 2023
9 min read

Updated: Aug 1

Boksic show as Lazio win prestigious Amsterdam tournament

Lazio defeat Ajax and promise to be on course for a good season

Also on this day: August 1, 2014: Sporting Lisbon Lazio 2-2. Lazio struggle but battle to draw and then lose trophy on penalties

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had come agonisingly close to winning the title. They were only overtaken by eventual champions Milan in the penultimate game of the season and in controversial circumstances. Lazio were held to a 1-1 draw in Florence with some extremely dubious refereeing decisions by Treossi, including the denial of a clear penalty on Salas.

This season there had been some important changes to the squad. Three more Argentinians were signed; defender Nestor Sensini (Parma), midfielders Diego "El Cholo" Simeone (Inter) and Juan Sebastian Veron "La Brujita" (Parma). Another midfielder Dario Marcolin was back from a loan spell (Blackburn) and striker Simone Inzaghi was added (Piacenza). In the summer big Swedish forward Kennet Andersson had arrived from Bologna.

Lazio had also lost an important player in striker Christian Vieri who was sold to Inter for a then world record transfer fee of 90 billion Lire (approx 45 million Euros). Spanish midfielder Ivan de la Peña had gone to Olympique Marseille after a disappointing spell at Lazio and Roberto Baronio went to Reggina on loan.

Lazio had already been on a Swedish tour where they had won two (Elfsborg 4-1 and Helsingborgs 2-1) and drawn one (IFK Göteborg 1-1). In the first match of this tournament in Holland the Biancocelesti had defeated Atletico Madrid 3-1. The only bad news had been the injury to Sergio Conceição, who would be out for about a month.

Lazio were not at full force yet as Roberto Mancini, Beppe Pancaro and Sinisa Mihajlovic were injured while Matias Almeyda, Marcelo Salas and Diego Simeone were not match fit yet.

Ajax had finished a disappointing 6th the previous season but won the Dutch Cup, first under Danish Morten Olsen and then, from November, Jan Wouters.

This season Wouters had stayed on. The "Godenzonen" (The Sons of God) had lost Danny Blind (retired), Jari Litmanen (Barcelona), Edwin Van der Sar and Sunday Oliseh (both to Juventus).

To balance these departures the "Joden" (The Jews) had signed Brian Laudrup (FC København), Nikos Machlas (Vitesse- Golden Boot 1998), Cristian Chivu (Universitatea Craiova) plus former Lazio Aron Winter had returned (Inter). In the first match of this tournament Ajax had lost 1-4 to Brazilians Santos.

The match: Sunday, August 1, 1999, Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam

A crowd of 30,000 turned up for this summer friendly. Lazio were keen to avenge a 0-5 defeat to Ajax three years earlier but more importantly to play international opposition before their Europe Supercup clash with Manchester United on August 27.

Lazio started strongly, with Alen Boksic in particular showing he had already hit form. After 15 minutes they were ahead, a cross by Beppe Favalli was headed in by Boksic. Ajax 0 Lazio 1.

Lazio dominated the first half hour. The Biancocelesti were first denied what looked like a clear penalty on Pavel Nedved and then awarded one in the 20th minute for a foul on Simone Inzaghi. It was Boksic once again who was the protagonist, putting Inzaghi one-on-one with the keeper who then pulled him down. The specialist Sinisa Mihajlovic put it away to double Lazio’s lead. Ajax 0 Lazio 2.

At this point Lazio relaxed and the hosts came back into the game. The "Joden" were unwilling to slump to another heavy defeat after the 1-4 against Santos. They pulled one back in the 39th minute when Aron Winter teed up Richard Knopper whose cracking left footer made it 1-2. A minute later the Dutch had a Shota Arveladze goal disallowed for offside. Ajax also started to try several shots from the long range but Luca Marchegiani was alert.

Half time Ajax 1 Lazio 2. The Romans had played very well for 30 minutes but then pulled back too much. One problem was that Sebastian Veron was playing too deep, in an area of the field usually presided by Mihajlovic.

The second half started with a dazzling move by Boksic. The "Alien" sent the defenders crazy with a never-ending series of twists and turns and then put a perfect pass to Nedved who hit the post.

The game was fast, competitive and entertaining with end-to-end moves. Kennet Andersson had come on for Inzaghi in the 46th minute and almost scored immediately. Then in the 59th minute Lazio scored on a counter attack. A glorious long ball by Mihajlovic was run onto by Kennet Andersson who beat Grim again. Ajax 1 Lazio 3.

The fact that Boksic had gone off (56th minute, replaced by defender Fernando Couto) meant that for the last half hour Lazio were a bit squashed back in their own half with Andersson too isolated up front.

In the 71st minute the "Spearmen" pulled one back with Knopper. Ajax 2 Lazio 3. The Dutch forward almost got a hat-trick a minute later but his shot hit the crossbar.

The last fifteen minutes saw the home side push for an equaliser but in the end it was Lazio who came closest to scoring. Fernando Couto had an outrageous back heel effort cleared off the line (or maybe even over - this being pre-goal line technology).

The game ended 3-2 for Lazio. A deserved win for the Biancocelesti who had been the superior team for most of the match. Positive indications had come especially in attack where Boksic had been devastating and had paired up well with Inzaghi. There were still more than three weeks to the game with the Red Devils of Manchester and to the beginning of Serie A but Lazio seemed to be on the right track.

Lazio won the Amsterdam tournament with 12 points ahead of Santos 9, Ajax 3 and Atletico Madrid 2.

Who played for Ajax

Grim, Mokoena (79' Kanu), Van Halst (89' De Cler), Verlaat, Piquė, Gronkjaer (46' Bobson), Winter, Knopper, Witschge, Wamberto, Arveladze (79' Culina)

Substitutes: Menzo, Lanzaat

Manager: Wouters

Who played for Lazio

Marchegiani, Negro, Nesta, Mihajlovic, Favalli (56' Gottardi), Lombardo, Stankovic (46' Sensini), Veron, Nedved, S. Inzaghi (46' Andersson), Boksic (56' Couto)

Substitutes: Ballotta, Pinzi, Di Fiordo

Manager: Eriksson

Referee: Wegereef

Goals: 15' Boksic, 20' Mihajlovic (pen), 39' Knopper, 59' Andersson, 71' Knopper

What happened next

Lazio had an epic season. They won the European Super Cup 1-0 against Manchester United, in Monte Carlo on August 27, with a goal by Marcelo Salas.

The Biancocelesti then won the Scudetto on a dramatic last day of the season. Lazio had to wait an hour after their match finished to wait for Juventus' game to finish, it had been interrupted due to rain, and so to finally win the league again, 26 years after the heroes of 1974.

A few days later Lazio won the Coppa Italia too, drawing the second leg 0-0 away to Inter (first leg 2-1).

In the Champions League they were defeated in the quarterfinals, 3-5 by "high" flying Valencia.

So, all in all a triumphant season for Lazio, the best in their history.

Ajax finished 5th in the Eredivisie. They lost the Dutch Supercup to Feyenoord 2-3 on August 8. On March 22 they replaced manager Jan Wouters with Hans Westerhof. They reached the last 16 of the Dutch Cup (Roda JC 0-1) and the last 32 of the UEFA Cup (Mallorca 0-3 on aggregate). So definitely not a season to go down in the history books by Ajax's high standards.

Let's talk about Kennet Andersson

Bernt Kennet Andersson was born in Eskilstuna, Sweden, on October 6, 1967.

He started his football with local club Eskilstuna in the Swedish Third Division. In four seasons he played 76 league games with 20 goals.

In 1989 he moved to IFK Göteborg in the Allsvenskan (top tier). In three seasons he played 63 league games with 29 goals. The "BlåVitt" (The Blue and Whites) won the league (1990, 1991) and the Swedish Cup (1991). In 1990-91 he was the top scorer in the Allsvenskan with 13 goals.

In 1991 he joined Mechelen in the Belgian top tier. In two seasons he played 33 games with 8 goals for "Malinwa". Halfway through the second season, in January 1993, he returned to Sweden to play for IFK Norrkőping. He played 13 league games with 8 goals for "Peking".

In 1993 he moved to France and joined Lille in Ligue 1. He played 32 league games with 11 goals. "Les Dogues" (The Mastiffs) finished 15th.

The following year he stayed in France but moved to Caen in Normandy. He played 31 league games and scored 9 goals. The Vikings were relegated to Ligue 2.

In 1995 Andersson started his Italian adventure when he joined Bari in Serie A. In Apulia he was coached by two former Lazio managers, first Giuseppe Materazzi (1-12) and then Eugenio Fascetti (13-34). The "Galletti" (The Cockerels) were relegated in 15th place after 8 wins, 8 draws (including Lazio 3-3 at home) and 18 defeats (including Lazio 3-4 in Rome). Andersson played 33 League games and scored 12 goals (Cagliari, Atalanta, Cremonese, Udinese x2, Torino, Lazio, Cagliari, Fiorentina, Parma, Udinese x2).

In 1996 he stayed in Serie A and joined Bologna. In his first year he was coached by Renzo Ulivieri and Bologna finished 7th and also reached the semi-final of Coppa Italia. Andersson played 29 League games with 8 goals (Reggiana, Lazio, Verona, Fiorentina, Reggiana x2, Piacenza, Cagliari) plus 3 goals in Coppa Italia (Torino, Cremonese x2). He played mainly alongside Igor Kolyvanov.

In his second year in Bologna the "Felsinei" came 8th (Intertoto) and he played alongside Kolyvanov again but also Roberto Baggio. Andersson made 32 League appearances with 12 goals (Atalanta, Napoli x2, Fiorentina, Udinese, Piacenza x2, Vicenza x2, Sampdoria x3) plus 1 game in Coppa Italia.

In his third year in Emilia, Ulivieri was replaced by Carlo Mazzone. The Rossoblu finished 9th but qualified for the UEFA Cup after beating Inter in a playoff. They also had good runs in the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup (they had qualified winning the Intertoto Cup) reaching the semi-finals in both competitions. Andersson played 25 league games with 6 goals (Piacenza x2, Bari, Venezia, Roma, Vicenza). He also scored against Inter in the playoff and a goal in Intertoto (Sampdoria). He played alongside Kolyvanov and former Lazio Beppe Signori.

In the summer of 1999 he joined Lazio on loan. He found fellow Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson as coach but things did not work out. He played a few summer friendlies and scored against Ajax but then by November had only played two league games. Lazio had Simone Inzaghi, Marcelo Salas and Alen Boksic up front plus Roberto Mancini and sometimes even played 4-5-1, so the big Swede got little playing time. In November he returned to Bologna.

In "La Grassa" (for its cuisine) he continued to do well. Under Francesco Guidolin (had taken over from Sergio Buso after 7 games) he played 28 league games with 7 goals (Inter x2, Cagliari, Lazio, Venezia, Fiorentina). Bologna finished 12th. He played alongside Signori again.

In the summer of 2000 he left Italy for Turkey. He joined Fenerbahçe and stayed two seasons. In the first,"Fener" won the league and Andersson played 27 league games with 10 goals. In his second, Galatasaray won the league and Andersson played 29 league games with 5 goals.

He then took a break and returned to play in 2005 but with Gårda in the Swedish sixth tier. He played 18 games with 14 goals.

At international level he won 83 caps for Sweden and scored 31 goals. He played in the 1992 European Championships where Sweden reached the semi-finals (he scored 1 goal). He then played the 1994 World Cup where he scored 5 goals (including Brazil) and Sweden came 3rd. He also took part in Euro 2000 where he played 3 games and one as captain (vs Turkey).

Since 2018 Andersson has been involved with IFK Göteborg. Initially, he was on the Board of Directors but now he is Sports Director.

Andersson was a striker. At 1.93 metres and 92 kilos, his main asset was his aerial play. The majority of his goals came from headers but his feet were not bad either. He scored goals but his attacking partners often flourished playing alongside him. He could hold the ball well, using his size to hold off defenders, making him a good partner to play off for more agile and mobile strikers. In Italy Protti was top scorer at Bari and Kolyvanov and Signori scored plenty of goals at Bologna. The great Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro (World Champion 2006) described Andersson as the most difficult attacker he faced in all his career.

It was a pity his time at Lazio was not a success. He won a European Supercup (Manchester United 1-0) but did not really fit in with Lazio's style.