August 24, 1983: Lazio Perugia 2-0, Coppa Italia
- Simon Basten
- Aug 24
- 6 min read
Laudrup looks promising
The Dane showcases his skills in the Lazio Coppa Italia win over Perugia
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous year, thanks to the old guard – Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia and Vincenzo D’Amico – Lazio were able to secure promotion three years from the harsh and unjust relegation due to the first Calcio Scommesse betting scandal.
During the summer Giorgio Chinaglia, the 1974 Lazio scudetto hero, took over the club. Chinaglia had left the Biancocelesti to play for New York Cosmos in the mid-1970s and his return was all Biancocelesti fans' dream. Claiming to have large sums of money to invest, Long John was welcomed like a Messiah, the one who would take Lazio back to the highest levels.
He confirmed Giancarlo Morrone as manager, and brought in some of his former teammates: Nello Governato as sporting director, Felice Pulici as general manager and Renato Ziaco, the famous team doctor of the 1974 team, back in his former role.
Despite the promises, the summer signings had not been great. The big names were young Danish forward Michael Laudrup, on loan from Juventus, and Brazilian International Joao Batista. These two were the first foreign players signed after the reopening of the borders. Other signings included: Daniele Filisetti (Atalanta), Massimo Piscedda (back from loan-Sanremese), Angelo Cupini (Cavese), Rinaldo Piraccini (Pistoiese), Claudio Vinazzani (Napoli), Mauro Della Martira (free transfer), Mario Piga (Perugia).
Leaving Lazio were Maurizio Moscatelli (Cavese), Ernesto Calisti (loan-Cavese), Carlo Perrone and Paolo Pochesci (both to Ascoli), Marco Saltarelli (Monza), Roberto Badiani (Vigor Senigallia), Maurizio Montesi (retired), Roberto Tavola (end of loan - Juventus), Claudio Ambu (Monza), Stefano Chiodi (Prato) and Leonardo Surro (Siena).
The first official games were for the Coppa Italia. They were grouped with Perugia, Catanzaro, Taranto, Bari and Juventus. Lazio had played the first game in Calabria and had drawn 0-0. Today against Perugia was the second match.
The match: Wednesday, August 24, 1983, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Manager Giancarlo Morrone really wanted to win this game so he decided to put in Bruno Giordano and Michael Laudrup plus Vincenzo D’Amico. This enabled him to place Joāo Batista in front of the defensive line, where the Brazilian liked to play. But there was a lot of confusion on the pitch with Batista far from a decent form and D’Amico, who was supposed to be the assist man, was only able to be effective in the 4th minute when his cross from the left was intercepted by the keeper.
Giordano really wanted to score but in the 6th minute Nicola Di Leo blocked his shot and in the 19th a one-two with Laudrup was intercepted by Corrado Benedetti while two minutes later Di Leo again managed to save another Bruno-gol shot into corner. In the 24th minute a mishit cross from the Lazio centre-forward took on a strange trajectory and came off the top of the crossbar. In the 26th minute Perugia had a massive chance to score but Moreno Morbiducci after a Enrico Piccioni cross completely missed the ball from a favourable position. In the 35th minute Lazio scored. Massimo Cacciatori gave the ball to D’Amico just outside their penalty box. An extremely fast counter attack orchestrated by Angelo Cupini and Giordano, allowed Enrico Vella to be all alone in front of the goalkeeper and he did not miss.
Perugia collapsed and the Biancocelesti in the second half made it two. In the 47th minute, on a Giordano cross, Laudrup passed to D’Amico who made no mistake.
The Biancocelesti on the wings of enthusiasm took over and scored their third with Laudrup but it was disallowed due to a previous foul. D’Amico also had a chance on a perfect Laudrup assist, but his shot hit the woodwork.
A good win for Lazio. Laudrup showed class, Batista still needed to settle in.
Who played for Lazio
Cacciatori, Spinozzi, Vinazzani, Manfredonia, Batista, Piscedda, D’Amico, Vella, Giordano, Laudrup, Cupini
Manager: Morrone
Who played for Perugia
Di Leo, Ottoni, C. Benedetti (51' Montani), Piccioni (51' Perugini), Frosio, Caneo, M. Mancini, Valigi, G. Pagliari, Mauti (65' Ermini), Morbiducci
Substitutes: Della Corna, Aimo
Manager: Vitali
Referee: Barbaresco
Goals: 35’ Vella, 47’ D’Amico
What happened next
The Biancocelesti then surprisingly lost at Taranto 1-0 and were unable to go beyond a goalless draw at Bari. This meant that they then had to beat Juventus to go through to the next round. They played well, scored thanks to an own goal in the second half but Juve equalised immediately and the match finished 1-1.
In Serie A there was great hope but, with very few exceptions, Lazio were disappointing. In the first 12 games Lazio won three times, drew twice and lost all the remaining matches. Morrone was fired in December and replaced by Paolo Carosi, another former Lazio player.
After a controversial draw at home against Udinese, things went from bad to worse. Giordano broke his leg at Ascoli, following a ruthless tackle by Antonio Bogoni (who was not even booked). Lazio fell into despair, losing the Ascoli match as well as the next one at home against Pisa.
Lazio only had nine points after the first half of the season. Carosi realised that he had to do something so he put his faith in his more experienced players. Life without possibly one of the best centre forwards in Europe would not be easy and there was no backup plan. At this point D’Amico and Manfredonia took matters in their own hands and stepped up to lead the team.
Lazio started earning points. In the first six games of the second half of the season they beat Genoa and Sampdoria at home and drew against Verona, Inter away (thanks to a Walter Zenga howler) and drew a dramatic derby 2-2.
Just when things were looking brighter, Lazio faltered again. The last four games became fundamental. Fortunately Giordano came back in record time. The week before the unlucky defeat against Fiorentina, a rumour spread that Lazio’s star player might be on the bench and possibly play the final minutes. Ten thousand fans travelled to Florence (including us!) in the hope of seeing their captain play. He came on with 20 minutes to go and this was the best possible news for Lazio.
The following match against Napoli saw Giordano regain his place in the centre of the Lazio attack. It took him just 30 seconds to score and the Biancocelesti managed to win the game 3-2. There was still hope.
Lazio then lost at Udine and in the final two games of the season needed three points to stay in Serie A. A home win against Ascoli and an away draw against Pisa with a Giordano brace did the job.
“We will never suffer like this again”, said Chinaglia at the end of Pisa-Lazio. Alas, this was only the beginning of the suffering.
Let’s talk about Giampiero Vitali
Today we'll talk about Perugia's manager Giampiero Vitali, former Lazio player in the 1960s.
Giampiero Vitali, real name Giampietro, was born in Milan on August 1, 1940.
He began his footballing career with Fanfulla in Serie C where he played for three years before moving to Trieste. After two very good years with Triestina, he signed for Lazio.
He played for two years in the capital. The Biancocelesti were not particularly good but he was a strong defender and made 49 appearances with three goals.
In 1966 he signed for Fiorentina and a year later played for Brescia, both in Serie A. In 1968 he moved to Spal in Serie B and in 1969 he started a long career with Massese. In eight years, the club won a promotion to Serie B (1969-70) and he made 245 appearances with 25 goals. He was the captain and holds the club appearances record. He retired in 1977.
Once he stopped playing he immediately began a career as manager for Empoli. After a brief stint with Pisa (he was sacked despite leading the Serie C1 Group B), he coached Lucchese for another couple of years before returning to Empoli in 1981. The following year he led the Tuscans up to Serie B. This experience was followed by years with Perugia, Varese, Sambenedettese, Campobasso (where he lost the play off to remain in Serie B, beaten by Eugenio Fascetti’s Lazio), Parma (in place of Zdenek Zeman), Como, Empoli again, Taranto and Modena. These were followed by years with Palermo (twice), Pistoiese and Carrarese where he was also technical director. In 2000 he was in charge of the Italy Under 16s for the Tuscany, Umbria and Marche regions.
He was a good manager, specialising in teams in the second and third tiers, where he spent most of his career. At Lazio he left good memories, despite the fact that the team was in difficulty.
He died in Milan on May 20, 2001.
Lazio Playing Career
Sources
Comments