August 11, 1990: Cádiz Lazio 2-3
- Dag Jenkins
- Aug 11
- 9 min read
Lazio earn match against Real Madrid
By defeating Cádiz the Biancocelesti reward themselves with a shot at the mighty Merengues
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had finished a decent 9th in their second year back in Serie A. The highlights had been beating Milan 1-0 away and eventual champions Napoli 3-0 at home. Top scorer was Amarildo with 9 goals (8 in A, with Ruben Sosa).
This year manager Giuseppe Materazzi had been replaced by living legend Dino Zoff, who had perhaps a little unfairly been released by Juventus.
The summer market had brought a few novelties to the squad. In defence Lazio welcomed Roberto Bacci (Mantova) while in midfield Sergio Domini had been added (Cesena). It was in attack however that the main changes occurred; Armando Madonna was signed (Atalanta) and more excitingly, German striker Karl-Heinz Riedle was to wear the Lazio jersey (Werder Bremen).
The main sacrifice, for economic reasons, was local lad and derby hero Paolo Di Canio (Juventus). Forward Amarildo (Cesena) and three defenders, Paolo Beruatto (Mantova), Marco Monti (Atalanta) and Massimo Piscedda (Avellino) had also left.
This was only Lazio's third pre-season game and first serious one. The previous two had been Bienne 12-0 and Trossingen 7-0. For today there was also a trophy involved, not a major one but it was still a step up from the games against amateurs and there was the prospect of a game against Real Madrid should they beat the Andalusians.
Cadiz had finished 15th in the Primera Division (top flight), first under David Vidal and then, from March, Englishman Colin Addison. The "Limoneros" had also reached the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey but lost to Real Madrid 0-4 on aggregate. Top scorer was Argentine Mario Husillos with 6 league goals.
This season the head coach was Argentine Héctor Viera. The league would start on September 2 away at Real Burgos.
The match: Saturday, August 11, 1990, Estadio Municipal, La Línea de la Concepción
There were obviously more Cadiz fans (the distance between old Gadir and today's venue is 115 kilometres) but there were a good number of Lazio fans too.
The reward would be a game with Real Madrid and Lazio fielded their strongest side possible.
Lazio took the initiative from the word go and pushed forward.
The first really dangerous opportunity however was for the Panaderos in the 19th minute when Valerio Fiori misjudged a Raúl Procopio cross but fortunately for him Pepe Mejas' header went wide.
In the 21st minute Lazio hit the post with a Ruben Sosa header. The "Limoneros" responded with a woodwork of their own when in the 24th minute José Manuel Mejas hit the crossbar with a long range effort.
The last twenty minutes of the half were all Lazio. In the 37th minute Karl-Heinz Riedle was pushed from behind and shot wide. A possible penalty but even the local press would later say the referee was blatantly Pro-Cadiz. Just before the break the Spanish keeper made three saves in quick succession, first on Riedle, then on Armando Madonna on the rebound and finally on the German striker again a couple of minutes later. Half time Cadiz 0 Lazio 0.
An entertaining game so far but strangely still goalless.
For the second half the Limoneros replaced midfielder José Quevedo with José Fernandez and forward José González with Paquito Aragon. Lazio remained unchanged.
Riedle went close again almost immediately, set up by Madonna and in the 51st minute Fiori was forced to save a Fernandez strike into corner.
Lazio continued to be on top and scored in the 57th minute with a superb goal. Raffaele Sergio crossed for Rubén Sosa who acrobatically latched onto it and volleyed it into the top hand corner with his left foot, 0-1.
Lazio doubled their lead six minutes later. In the 63rd minute Sergio was again the provider as he crossed for Gabriele Pin who volleyed in on the far post and beat Jozsef Szendrei, 0-2.
Cadiz reacted and Fiori had to be reactive on a close range Husillos effort. In the 69th minute the Limoneros pulled one back when Ángel Oliva poked home after Fiori had saved but not blocked a Mario Husillos shot, 1-2.
Zoff at this point took off Sergio Domini and threw on Andrea Icardi.
Lazio went on the attack again but three minutes later were caught on the break by Francisco Aragon who then teed up Husillos for an easy finish, 2-2.
Lazio made their second substitution in the 74th minute when Madonna went off and Alessandro Bertoni came on. Two minutes earlier the Andalusians had taken off José Barla and put on Ortega Marcelo.
Lazio had savoured a clash with the mighty Merengues and continued to push. They were rewarded eight minutes from time when Roberto Soldà blasted in a low and angled freekick from the edge of the box, 2-3.
The Spaniards were unable to threaten again and Lazio controlled the last minutes to set up a prestigious encounter with "Los blancos" from the Spanish capital. The final of the "Trofeo Città di de la Linea" would be the very next day.
Who played for Cadiz
Szendrei, Raul, Carmelo, Linares, Cortijo, Oliva, Quevedo (46' Fernandez), Husillos, Barla (72' Marcelo), Gonzalez (46' Aragon)
Manager: Viera
Who played for Lazio
Fiori, Bergodi, Sergio, Pin, Gregucci, Soldà, Madonna (74' Bertoni), Sclosa, Riedle, Domini (70' Icardi), Sosa
Substitutes: Orsi, Lampugnani, Nardecchia, Saurini
Manager: Zoff
Referee: Yuste Gonzalez
Goals: 57' Sosa, 63' Pin, 69' Oliva, 73' Husillos, 82' Soldà
What happened next
Lazio then won the tournament. The following evening Lazio drew 1-1 with the Merengues after extra-time (99' Riedle, 120' Hugo Sanchez) and then prevailed in the penalty shoot-out 6-4. A satisfaction for Lazio and their long-suffering fans.
In Serie A Lazio drew their first two matches 0-0, Torino away and Parma at home, then lost 1-0 at Lecce followed by a 1-1 home draw with Milan (the "Diavolo" equalised in the dying minutes). So not a great start for Lazio but their first win came in the 5th fixture, 3-1 at home to Bologna.
It was a season of many draws, few wins and few defeats. Lazio drew both derbies 1-1 coming from behind and their best win of the season was defeating Juventus 1-0 in Rome with a Riedle winner. They finished 11th after 8 wins, 19 draws and 7 defeats. So, despite the change of managers Lazio could not rid themselves of their addiction to draws. One problem was that neither Domini nor Madonna lived up to expectations
In the Coppa Italia they were eliminated immediately by Serie B opposition Modena 1-3 on aggregate. Top scorer was Rubén Sosa with 12 goals (11 in league) while Riedle got 9 (all in A).
The 1990-91 Scudetto was won by Sampdoria for their first historic title. At the other end Bologna went down with Lecce, Pisa and Cesena.
Cadiz finished 18th in the league (one point above relegated Castellón) and went to a playoff against Malaga which they won on penalties and so stayed up. In April Viera was sacked and replaced by Ramón Blanco. The "Panaderos" best results were a shock 4-0 thrashing of eventual champions Barcelona and defeating Real Madrid 1-0 at home. In the domestic cup they went out in the Round of 16 (Sevilla 0-6 on aggregate).
Let's talk about Gabriele Pin
Gabriele Pin was born in Vittorio Veneto (Treviso), on September 10, 1962.
He spent his formative career at Juventus. From 13 years of age to 17 he was with the Bianconeri youth sector.
In 1979 he joined the first team squad and made his debut in 1980 in the last game of the season against Fiorentina. The following year he did not get any games so he was then sent out to get experience.
In 1981/82 he played for Sanremese in C1 making 22 appearances and scoring 1 goal. In 1982/83 he was at Forli in C1, again playing 22 times but scoring 5 goals.
Between 1983 and 1985 he was at Parma. The first year the Gialloblu were promoted to Serie B but the next they were immediately relegated back to the third tier. Over the two seasons Pin played 67 league games with 7 goals, plus 9 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal.
In 1985 he was called back "home" to Juventus. He was not first choice but played 21 Serie A games (1 goal against Bari), 7 in Coppa Italia (1 goal against Casertana), and 4 in Europe (1 goal against Jeunesse d'Esch). Juventus won both the scudetto and the Intercontinental Cup against Argentinos Juniors.
In 1986 he started his Roman adventure joining Lazio in Serie B. In his first year he was part of the team that avoided relegation after starting the season with a 9-point deduction. Pin played 40 matches under manager Eugenio Fascetti (including the play outs against Campobasso and Taranto) and scored 2 goals (Modena and Cagliari) plus another 5 in Coppa Italia (talk about midfield Stakhanovite...).
The following year Lazio won promotion to Serie A, Pin playing 36 league games and scoring 2 goals (Sambenedettese and Triestina) and another 5 games in Coppa Italia.
So, in 1988/89 Lazio were back in Serie A and they kept on their reliable midfield dynamo. Pin made 27 league appearances and scored 2 goals (Verona and Torino) and 9 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal (Atalanta).
In 1989/90 he again played regularly with 31 league appearances but also had his most prolific year with 6 goals (Udinese, Napoli, 2 Cesena, Bologna and Inter) plus 2 games in Coppa Italia.
In 1990/91 he was almost ever present with 32 league appearances and 2 goals (a brace against Torino) plus another 2 games in Coppa Italia.
The 1991/92 season would be his last in Rome but he was consistent as usual and played 32 Serie A games and scored 1 goal (Genoa) plus 4 more games in Coppa Italia. At the end of the season with the imminent arrivals of Paul Gascoigne, Aron Winter, Diego Fuser and Dario Marcolin, all in midfield, for Pin it was time to move on.
At Lazio over six years Pin played 225 games with 16 goals and had been captain for three seasons.
Pin moved on but also back, joining Parma again in 1992. In Emilia he played his usual reliable, solid football for four seasons. He made another 98 Serie A appearances (2 goals - Fiorentina and Atalanta), 21 in Coppa Italia and 33 in Europe. Parma had great teams in those years (Asprilla, Brolin, Melli, Osio, Zola, Buffon, Stoichkov, Cannavaro just to mention a few) and Pin won a Cup Winners Cup (1993), a European Supercup (1993) and a UEFA Cup (1995).
In 1996/97 he moved up the road in Emilia to Piacenza in Serie A. Pin played 21 league games (plus 1 in Coppa Italia) contributing to the "Poppies" survival after a play-off against Cagliari in Naples (3-1).
At this point at 35 years of age Pin called it a day and retired. He had been the midfield playmaker in 552 professional games and scored 35 goals. He had an excellent club career playing for prestigious clubs and winning silverware.
He then moved into a coaching career. Firstly, at Parma in their youth sector and then as assistant to Arrigo Sacchi, Renzo Ulivieri and Cesare Prandelli. It was with Prandelli that Pin struck up a special rapport and was to be his assistant for countless teams; Parma, Roma (very briefly due to Prandelli's wife's health problems), Fiorentina, Galatasaray, Valencia, Al-Nasr, Genoa, Fiorentina again, plus of course the Italian national team (2010-2014- Runners up at Euro 2012).
In June 2021 Pin accepted the job at Esteghlal (Iran) as assistant to Farhad Majidi. He is currently assistant coach at Al-Ittihad Kalba in the United Arab Emirates.
As a player Pin was a central midfielder. He could play in the heart of midfield or in front of the defence. He was an extremely dynamic player, had an excellent sense of position and astute tactical geometry. He was a perfect link between defence and attack. He was clean and technically precise with the knack of always making himself available for his team mates whether it was for defending or constructing an attacking move, always seemingly to have the time to make the right decision. He was a reliable player rarely missing games through injury or suspension. He was the type of player most people would put first or pretty high up on their list when picking a team.
What about Pin and Lazio? He was with the Biancocelesti for 6 years, captain for 3, played 225 games, scored 16 goals, was part of the heroic -9 team, won promotion, played in the Di Canio winning derby… I think it's fair to say Gabriele Pin has his name in a prominent position in the Lazio history books.
Lazio Career
Sources
Comments