August 6, 1999: Cadiz Lazio 0-2
- Lazio Stories
- Aug 6
- 13 min read
Nervous win
Lazio win thanks to Mihajlovic and Inzaghi. A very nervous match
Also on this day: August 6, 2011: Lazio Universitatea Cluj 4-1. Excellent game with goals from Hernanes, Klose, Brocchi and Del Nero
The season so far
In the previous season Lazio had gone agonisingly close to winning the scudetto. With eight games to the end of the season they were leading with five points over Fiorentina and seven over Milan. But a single point in the next three games reduced the cushion over Milan to just one point. Lazio then won three consecutive games but so did Milan. In the penultimate match in Florence, the Biancocelesti were held to a draw and denied a clear penalty by a distracted referee. Milan won, overtook them, and maintained the lead in the last game.
In the summer transfer window, Lazio surprisingly sold their centre forward Christian Vieri to Inter in exchange for 90 billion lire (45 million euros) plus Diego Simeone. Other signings were Juan Sebastian Veron and Nestor Sensini from Parma, Simone Inzaghi from Piacenza and Kenneth Andersson from Bologna.
Lazio were in their pre-season training. They had been in Sardinia for a few days and had then moved to Sweden for a week. They had then played in the Netherlands and won the Amsterdam trophy beating Ajax and Atletico Madrid. Today they played in the Ramón de Carranza Trophy against the local team.
The match: Friday, August 6, 1999, Estadio Ramón de Carranza, Cadiz
Although Cadiz would be playing in the third Spanish tier for the 1999-00 season, Lazio could not underestimate the match, as Real Madrid had done some years earlier and been beaten. The Biancocelesti, without Alen Boksic but with Roberto Mancini, decided to exploit the superiore class of their players. The opposition’s only defence was to hack the opponents’ legs, feet and ankles as much as possible.
In the 20th minute the Biancocelesti scored. Sinisa Mihajlovic took a sly free kick, seemingly complaining about how near the wall was before taking a surprise shot that beat the Cadiz keeper. Ten minutes later all hell broke loose as Dani Ruiz decided to attempt to end Mancini’s career early. A massive brawl between the players followed, with pushes and an occasional punch which the referee took four minutes to settle. Three yellow cards later, the players calmed down.
Soon after Juan Sebastian Veron hit the crossbar and then Rojas was exceptional on a shot from the Argentinian.
In the second half Sven-Goran Eriksson took off Veron and Mihajlovic, and put in Beppe Pancaro, with Paolo Negro moving to the centre of defence, and Attilio Lombardo, allowing Dejan Stankovic to maneuvre at midfield. The Serb took control of the match and gave a splendid assist to Simone Inzaghi who hit the woodwork with a header. Cadiz also hit a post with a Jose Luis Loreto header off a Rafael Sastre cross. This was an incentive for the Biancocelesti to try to close the game and Kennet Andersson had a sitter after a Beppe Favalli cross but his header was too soft and easily saved by the keeper. Luca Marchegiani was called to work on a spectacular bicycle kick from Loreto before Lazio scored again. In the 80th minute Stankovic gave a good ball to Inzaghi who did not miss.
A difficult game for Lazio who the following day would be playing Betis Sevilla in the final.
Who played for Cadiz
Prats, Otero, Filipescu, Karhan, Rivas, Benjamin, Canas, Alexis, Denilson, Finidi, Oli
Substitutes: Bornes, Merino, Varela, Valerio, Ito, Galvez, Cuellar, Fernando
Manager: Griguol
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Nesta, Mihajlovic (46’ Pancaro), Favalli, Stankovic, Sensini, Veron (46’ Lombardo), Nedved, Mancini (63’ Andersson), Inzaghi
Manager: Eriksson
Referee: Marmolejo Martinez
Goals: 20’ Mihajlovic, 80’ Inzaghi
What happened next
In the final against Betis Sevilla, Lazio lost on penalties. They went up 2-0, missed a penalty with Mihajlovic, which would have put them 3-0 up, and then Betis came back to equalise.
The 1999-00 season opened with the victory against the mighty Manchester United in Monte Carlo for the UEFA Super Cup with a Marcelo Salas goal. Another European triumph after having won the final Cup Winners Cup the previous year in Birmingham against Real Mallorca.
In the Champions League Lazio were drawn with Bayer Leverkusen, Dynamo Kiev and NK Maribor and won their group thanks to four wins against the Ukrainians and Slovenians plus two draws against the Germans. The second part of the Champions League was another group phase, this time against Chelsea, Olympique Marseille and Feyenoord.
Qualification for the quarterfinal was put in peril by only getting one point against the Dutch, after beating the French twice. In the final game against Chelsea, after having drawn at home, Lazio had to win at Stamford Bridge to clinch the qualification in first place (the top two teams went through) as a bonus, so they could avoid having to play the quarter final against Barcelona, Manchester United or Bayern. They managed to do so, coming from behind in a spectacular game. In the quarterfinals Lazio played against Valencia. Everybody thought that it would be an easy match, but Lazio collapsed in Spain. Without Luca Marchegiani and Alessandro Nesta, Lazio went 2-0 down after four minutes, re-opened the game thanks to an Inzaghi goal half way through the first half, but Valencia netted another two goals and with ten minutes to the end were leading 4-1. Salas scored in the dying minutes to give Lazio a chance of qualification but another defensive blunder with just a few seconds to go, gave Valencia a three-goal lead. Fans were hopeful Lazio could recover at the Olimpico, but the Biancocelesti only scored one goal with Veron and went out of the Champions League. A real pity.
Lazio, like many of the big teams, started the Coppa Italia in the fourth-round games and had to play against Reggiana, who had won their group in August. Lazio, with a few Primavera players in the starting eleven, plus more on the bench, had drawn the first leg away 1-1 (Alen Boksic the scorer for the Biancocelesti) and won the return match 4-1 at home thanks to a Sinisa Mihajlovic free kick double and goals by Simone Inzaghi and Boksic.
The quarter finals were much more difficult as Lazio had to face Juventus. At the end of the first half in Turin the Biancocelesti were losing 3-0 and were virtually out of the competition. But in the second half first a penalty scored by Fabrizio Ravanelli and then a goal by Roberto Mancini with ten minutes to go re-opened the contest. In the return match at the Olimpico Lazio scored in the second half with Boksic. Alessandro Del Piero equalised but Diego Simeone put Lazio ahead in the 81st minute and the Biancocelesti were able to hold onto the precious victory.
Whereas on the one side there were two big clashes in the quarter finals (Lazio vs Juve and the Milanese derby), the other two games should have been more one-sided: Cagliari-Roma and Fiorentina-Venezia. But the islanders eliminated the Giallorossi and an away goal by Venezia gave them a historic semi-final against Lazio.
In the first leg, Lazio destroyed Venezia 5-0 with doubles from Mancini and Mihajlovic (with two penalties) plus a Ravanelli goal. Silver Fox had also missed a penalty. The return was just a formality and Lazio drew 2-2 with an Inzaghi double.
Inter brushed off Cagliari and so met Lazio in the final. The first leg was in Rome on April 12. Inter scored immediately with Clarence Seedorf but Lazio managed to equalise with Pavel Nedved at the end of the first half. In the beginning of the second, Simeone put Lazio ahead so Marcelo Lippi put Ronaldo on the pitch, his first game in five months. Five minutes later the Brazilian broke his patellar tendon. The scene was dramatic and very sad. The game basically ended there.
In the campionato the Biancocelesti started well and by the sixth game they took the solitary lead. Juventus caught up with Lazio in the 10th game after the Biancocelesti lost the derby. A trio of teams (Lazio, Roma and Juve) then led the Serie A for a few matches until Lazio sprinted off in the 14th. It did not last long. A loss on a frozen Venice evening on January 5 gave Juventus the lead again. Roma had fallen behind. Lazio regained the top of the table after beating Bologna in the Centenary game, but two goalless draws in the next two games gave Juve a three-point lead. By the 26th game the deficit increased to nine points and it looked as if it was all over for the scudetto. But on March 25 Lazio won the derby and Juve lost at Milan. The Biancocelesti were at -6 but the next match was in Turin against Juventus. Thanks to a goal from Diego Simeone, the Juventus lead was reduced to three points. However, Florence looked as if it would be fatal again as Lazio drew 3-3 and Juventus won in Milan against Inter.
There were four games to go. Everybody thought it was all over but manager Sven-Goran Eriksson tried to get the team to believe in the impossible. In the 32nd game of the season Lazio beat Venezia and Juventus lost at Verona. Two games to go, two points difference. Lazio beat Bologna away and Juventus were winning 1-0 against Parma. Towards the end of the match there was a corner for Parma. Mario Amoroso crossed and Fabio Cannavaro headed in the equaliser but the referee inexplicably disallowed it.
This was the talking point in Italy for the entire week. Juve had already won a controversial scudetto a couple of years back when a clear penalty on Ronaldo was not given to Inter in Turin. So, there was massive media pressure on the last two games of the season: Lazio-Reggina and Perugia-Juventus.
Perugia President Luciano Gaucci, ashamed of the lack of fighting spirit his team had shown against Milan in the last game of the previous season, stated that it would not be a walkover for Juventus. Lazio fans hoped in a draw and then to go to a playoff. And this is what was happening at the end of the first half. Lazio were winning 2-0 and it was still goalless in Perugia. But a massive storm had erupted over the Umbrian capital and the pitch was waterlogged. Referee Pierluigi Collina tried a number of times to see if the ball would bounce on the waterlogged pitch, but no. There was a problem. If the game had been abandoned they would have to start from scratch the next day. With what had happened in the previous match when Cannavaro’s goal was disallowed for no reason at all, the Italian referee felt that the repetition of the game would have been unfair. So, he insisted. When they were about to give up, the rain stopped. The pitch was not in ideal condition, but playable. The second half could recommence, an hour later than it should have. In the 50th minute Alessandro Calori scored for Perugia. Juve did not manage to equalise and Lazio won their second scudetto.
Still smelling of champagne and without any training whatsoever since the Sunday match, Lazio faced Inter for the second leg of the Coppa Italia final. There were chances for both sides, particularly for Inter in the dying seconds of the match, when Alvaro Recoba hit the woodwork, but the game was goalless and the Biancocelesti won the double.
An amazing season.
Let’s talk about Simone Inzaghi
Simone Inzaghi played for Lazio from 1999 to 2010 and was manager from 2016 to 2021.
Inzaghi was born in Piacenza, on April 5, 1976. He started his career in his hometown where he went through the youth sector. In 1994 he was loaned to nearby Carpi in Serie C1 where he played 15 games with 3 goals. In 1995 he was loaned to Novara in Serie C2 and played 30 games with 5 goals, the "Azzurri" won the league. In 1996 he was loaned to Lumezzane in C2 where he played 26 games with 6 goals and "Lume" also won the league.
Having gained some experience in the lower divisions he returned to Piacenza in Serie A in 1997 but, after one game in Coppa Italia, he was then again loaned this time to Brescello in C1, where he played 23 games with10 goals.
In 1998 he was considered ready to play full-time for Piacenza in Serie A. He had a good season for the "Il Piace". He played 30 league games and scored an impressive 15 goals (including one against Lazio). The manager was former Lazio, Giuseppe Materazzi and the "Lupi" came 13th.
The following year he signed for Lazio. It was the beginning of a long love affair. He stayed a first spell of six years playing 153 games with 53 goals (League 27, Coppa Italia 6, Champions League 15, UEFA Cup 5). He won a Scudetto (2000), the Coppa Italia twice (2000, 2004), an Italian Supercoppa (2000) and a European Super Cup (1999).
In the Scudetto year he played 22 league games and scored 7 goals (Cagliari, Torino, Lecce, Milan, Inter, Venezia and Reggina). His goal against Inter was particularly important as it re-opened a match where Lazio were 0-2 down with 7 minutes to go and eventually drew. He also opened the scoring in the last decisive game against Reggina. Another goal to remember is his goal in a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea and of course his four in the same match in a 5-1 drubbing of Marseille.
In his first six years he played under managers; Sven Goran Eriksson, Dino Zoff, Alberto Zaccheroni, Roberto Mancini, Mimmo Caso and Giuseppe Papadopulo. He played alongside great strikers such as Alen Boksic, Cristian Vieri, Mancini, Marcelo Salas, Hernan Crespo, Bernardo Corradi. As a consequence, he was not always first choice but usually got a fair number of games.
In the 2004-05 season Lazio were struggling under Caso and then Papadopulo, and Inzaghi was loaned to Sampdoria for six months. The Blucerchiati had a good season under Walter Novellino and came 5th but Inzaghi only played 5 league games and 2 in Coppa Italia with no goals.
In 2005-06 he was back at Lazio for his second spell. In two years under Delio Rossi he played 14 games with 1 goal (in Coppa Italia versus Cittadella). Lazio had a good season coming 6th but were then docked 30 points for the betting scandal and so missed out on Europe.
The following season was excellent and Lazio came 3rd qualifying for the Champions League. Inzaghi however was not involved as in 2007-08 he went to Atalanta on loan for a season. He played 19 league games with no goals under Luigi Del Neri.
In 2008-09 he was back at Lazio for his third and last spell, as a player anyway. He stayed another two seasons. In the first, under Delio Rossi, he played 9 league games with 1 goal (Lecce) and 1 game in Coppa Italia. Lazio won the Coppa Italia beating Sampdoria on penalties in the final. In his second and last year, first under Davide Ballardini and then Edy Reja, Inzaghi only played 3 league games. Lazio again won silverware, this time the Italian Supercoppa, beating Mourinho's "triplete" Inter 2-1 in Beijing.
At this point at 34 and struggling with back problems Inzaghi retired.
At international level he played 4 games with the Italy U18s and won 3 full Italian caps. In one he even played alongside his brother Filippo (against Spain).
He retired as a player but soon opened another chapter as a manager. He went into the Lazio youth sector and did well winning U19s Coppa Italia twice and a Supercoppa. In 2015-16 he was promoted to the first team for the last seven matches following Stefano Pioli's sacking.
The following year the new manager was supposed to be charismatic Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa but the "El Loco", living up to his reputation, resigned even before arriving. Plan B came into action and it was Simone Inzaghi.
He stayed five years with two 5th places, 8th, 4th and 6th. In 2020 with 4th place he got Lazio back in the Champions League after a 13-year absence. That year, without the Covid-19 interruption, many pundits think Lazio would have won the Scudetto. In his time in Rome he did however win 3 trophies; a Coppa Italia (2019 vs Atalanta) and the Supercoppa twice (2017, 2019 both vs Juventus). He is the only person to have won both domestic cups as a player and manager. He also has the longest unbeaten run at Lazio, 21 games. On the down side he received criticism for his inability to read games and make corrective changes in negative situations. His departure from Lazio was also far from transparent. He gave the impression he was staying on and had even planned the transfer market with Igli Tare before he suddenly jetted off to Inter at the last moment. He was obviously playing at two tables all along.
So, in 2021 he made his sudden and controversial move to Inter. He stayed five years. He won the Coppa Italia twice, the Supercoppa three times and in 2023-24 finally a Scudetto. In 2023 and 2025 Inter also reached the finals of Champions League but despite playing well lost 0-1 to Manchester City while the 0-5 defeat to PSG was a different story. This heavy defeat and letting the scudetto slip away in favour of Napoli led Inzaghi and Inter to part ways.
For the 2025-26 season he joined Al-Hilal in the Saudi League and he was straight in with the FIFA Club World Cup in the USA.
As a player Inzaghi was a striker. He is 1.83 for 80 kilos but he was not a strong or physical player. He was not a talent but like his brother Pippo, he was a goal scorer. He had good positioning and was quick over short distances, enough to pounce on loose balls or beat the offside trap. He did not have any particularly strong points but as I said he scored goals and that is certainly not a defect.
Personally, I was never a big fan of Inzaghi, the player, as when I went through the abilities of a striker; header, dribbling, shot, strength etc, he did not seem to possess any, apart from opportunism. For me he was most useful in procuring free kicks for Sinisa Mihajlovic to curl in. But it's a personal opinion and to be fair you don't score 55 goals for a team at top level without some skills even if it’s just opportunism. He is also Lazio's second top scorer in Europe with 20 goals (only behind Immobile).
As a manager he has been successful. He favours the 3-5-2 formation which can transform into a 5-3-2 when not in possession. He is known for his versatility, passion and familiar tactics. They served him well at Lazio in his five years and he has won several trophies including a scudetto with Inter.
Lazio Career
Sources
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