August 4, 2013: Panathinaikos Lazio 0-0
- Simon Basten
- Aug 4
- 7 min read
No Klose no party
Lazio struggle and still have work to do if they want to be in decent form for the Supercoppa
Also on this day: August 4, 1991: Hamburger SV Lazio 0-1. A Capocchiano goal gives Lazio a prestigious victory in Germany
The season so far
Optimism was high at the start of the 2013-14 season thanks to the great victory in Coppa Italia against Roma on May 26, 2013. The celebrations lasted the whole summer and fans were over the moon.
The summer transfer window was not exactly eye opening, but two important signings were made: Lucas Biglia, Argentinian midfielder from Anderlecht, and Felipe Anderson, Brazilian forward who Lazio believed could be one of the best players the Biancocelesti had ever signed, and Diego Novaretti, defender.
So far, the Biancocelesti had done their two-week training session at Auronzo di Cadore, near Belluno, from July 10 to 24 playing four friendlies. From August 5-9 they moved to Fiuggi, near Frosinone. In their most recent preseason friendly they had beaten Nice.
The match: Sunday, August 4, 2013, Apostolos Nikoladis Stadium, Athens
Not a good game for Lazio against a modest opponent. No Miro Klose and as a consequence no goals. Vladimir Petkovic tried the double playmaker again with Cristian Ledesma and Lucas Biglia at midfield but unlike the previous game in Nice it did not work so well. Things went a lot better with the entrance of Hernanes and Alvaro Gonzalez when the team went back to their classic 4-5-1 formation.
Lazio only managed to gain the upper hand in the match towards the end of the first half and the beginning of the second with chances for Sergio Floccari, unable to head the ball in from a very favourable position, Senad Lulic, André Dias and Hernanes.
At the back, Dias and Giuseppe Biava still needed to find their form and if it was not for Federico Marchetti the Biancocelesti would have probably lost the game.
The Greeks were certainly in better shape but the need to sell their best players for financial reasons meant that the quality was not all that great. They had an enormous chance after just six minutes when Zeca took advantage of a bad pass back to the keeper from Abdoulay Konko and found himself in front of Marchetti. He dribbled past the Lazio number one but instead of shooting tried an improbable pass and the opportunity vanished. In the second half Dias saved a goal on the line and Athanasios Ntinas hit the crossbar.
In the second half the game had to be stopped for a few minutes after Marchetti was targeted by objects thrown by the home fans.
Lazio still had work to do if they wanted to be in decent form for the Supercoppa against Juventus in two weeks’ time.
Who played for Panathinaikos
Kapino (73' Koteodis), Marinakis, Koutroubis (46' Triantafilopoulos), Schildenfeld, N. Gonzalez, Mendes, Bajrami, Zeka, Abeid, Ntinas (73' Donis), Karelis (58' Berg)
Manager: Anastasiou
Who played for Lazio
Marchetti (69’ Bizzarri), Konko (69’ Cavanda), Biava, Dias, Radu, Biglia, Ledesma (56’ Gonzalez), Candreva (46’ Hernanes), Ederson (84’ Rozzi), Lulic (89’ Vinicius), Floccari (89’ Keita)
Manager: Petkovic
Referee: Pappas
What happened next
The real focus of the summer transfers was the missed deal to sign the Turkish forward Burak Yilmaz from Galatasaray. Lazio had already tried in 2012 but the negotiations collapsed at the last minute because the Turkish club wanted a very high percentage on the future sale of the player. The talks re-opened in 2013 and all was agreed. Yilmaz was in Rome waiting to sign the contract. But at the last minute of the last hour of the mercato, his agent asked for a €2 million commission to be paid on the signing of the contract and not spread over its length, as done normally. President Claudio Lotito refused to be blackmailed and the deal fell through.
The fans were furious. The anti-Lotito sentiment, which had faded after the historic win against Roma, came back with all of its venom. It would mar the entire season.
In the final days of the transfer session Etrit Berisha, goalkeeper, and Brayan Perea, forward, were signed.
2013-14 had not started too well anyway as Lazio were thrashed in the Supercoppa by Juventus 4-0 with three goals in four minutes. The defence had been one of the strong points of the team, now it was a liability. At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were ninth, miles away from everything.
Lazio had also been kicked out of the Coppa Italia in the quarter-finals by Napoli and the Europa League adventure saw Lazio go through to the knockout phase but they had then been eliminated by Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad.
Manager Vladimir Petković was unable to steer the Lazio ship in the right direction. Not only. He signed a contract to be the new head coach of the Swiss national team at the end of his deal with Lazio in 2014. Lotito took this opportunity to sack him before Christmas and call back Edy Reja to try to get Lazio back on course.
The change seemed to solve things. Lazio were back and in the first six games under Reja came 12 points which included beating Inter and drawing against Roma.
There was further chaos at fan level when Lotito was forced to sell Hernanes in the winter transfer window. The Brazilian had refused to renew his contract which was to expire in 2015. Inter had decided to exercise the buyout clause and he left for Milan. It was a last second move, and the club did not have the time to invest the money in a decent replacement. The fans were even more furious.
Lazio stayed on the verge of a European qualification for most of the season but two decisive draws, both 3-3, against Torino and Verona put an end to any hopes.
Too many celebrations and too many players not performing as well as they should made any type of comeback impossible. The anti-Lotito climate certainly did not help matters.
Antonio Candreva was the player with most appearances (44) and with the most goals (12).
Let’s talk about Senad Lulic
Senad Lulic’s goal in the Coppa Italia derby made him a legend. But even without that goal he must be considered one of the best players ever to wear the Lazio jersey. A spectacular left winger, Lulic played in all positions on the left flank, attack, midfield, defence, but was also the dominator of the whole left wing in a 3-5-2 formation. He could shoot, cross, defend and scored some great goals in his ten years with Lazio. He always played on the left even if he was right footed.
Our legend was born in Mostar in Bosnia on January 18, 1986. His football career began in the youth teams of Coira in Switzerland in 1988 and debuted professionally in the 2003-04 season in the third tier of the Swiss League. In the summer of 2006 he signed for Bellinzona in the Challenge League where he stayed for two seasons. In his second year he helped the club get promoted to the Super League and participated in the Swiss Cup final.
In 2008 he signed for Grasshoppers where he played for two years before moving to Young Boys in 2010-11.
In 2011 he moved to Rome to play for Lazio. He stayed for ten years, playing under Edy Reja, Valdimir Petković, Stefano Pioli and Simone Inzaghi, winning the Coppa Italia twice (2013 and 2019) and the Supercoppa twice (2017, 2019). He appeared in 371 games (282 in Serie A, 28 in Coppa Italia, 4 in Champions League, 54 in Europa League and three Super Coppa finals) scoring 34 goals (28 in Serie A, 3 in Coppa Italia, 2 in Europa League and one in Supercoppa).
His name will be forever remembered for his goal in the Coppa Italia final against Roma, but one must also point out the crucial goal in the Supercoppa of 2019 (Juve 1- Lazio 3). He is fifth in all time appearances behind Stefan Radu, Giuseppe Favalli, Giuseppe Wilson and Paolo Negro. He is second in International appearances for Lazio behind Paolo Negro and joint tenth in appearances in the Italian Cups.
He was part of the teams that reached third place in 2014-15, fourth places in 2011-12 and 2019-20. Just before the outbreak of COVID he suffered a severe injury to left ankle which kept him out of the game for a year. When he came back, he was obviously not the same classy player, but he did show glimpses of his former self. However, since it was his last year of contract and due to his age, the club decided not to renew. He looked for a team for a year but then called it quits in May 2022.
He played 57 times for Bosnia and Herzegovina (4 goals) and participated in the World Cup of 2014, the country’s first major competition.
The numbers speak for themselves. Senad Lulic is part of our Lazio heritage.
Lazio Career
Sources
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