August 7, 2011: Lazio Aris Thessaloniki 3-0, Friendly
- Dag Jenkins
- Aug 7
- 9 min read
Good news up front
With goals by their two forwards Lazio defeat Aris 2-0
The season so far
Lazio had narrowly missed out on Champions League the previous season with 5th place.
This year Edy Reja had been confirmed but there had been a few changes to the squad.
The main novelty was in goal, as Lazio had bought Federico Marchetti from Cagliari while Fernando Muslera went to Galatasaray, in Turkey. The other main new arrivals were defenders Abdoulay Konko (Genoa) and Lorik Cana (Galatasaray), midfielder Senad Lulic (Young Boys, a name to watch out for… Lulic that is), forwards Djibril Cissé (Panathinaikos) and above all Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich).
The other main player leaving was defender Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus) while others would leave soon, midfielders Pasquale Foggia (Sampdoria - on loan with clause to buy), Christian Manfredini (end of Contract -Sambonifacese) plus forwards Sergio Floccari (Parma - on loan with clause to buy) and Mauro Zarate (Inter - on loan with clause to buy).
This was Lazio's 10th pre-season friendly; Auronzo 16-0, Union Ripa 8-0, Pievigina 8-0, Lucerne 5-1, Slavia Prague 3-3, Osasuna 0-1, Reggina 2-1, Villarreal 1-3 and Universitatea Cluj 4-1.
Lazio's first competitive game would be a Europa League playoff against Rabotnicki (Macedonia) on August 18 and 25.
The Serie A was supposed to start on August 28 (Lazio v Chievo) but would be put back two weeks to September 9 (Milan v Lazio) due to disputes over TV rights.
Aris Thessaloniki had finished 6th in the Greek Super League. They had started under Héctor Cúper (until Jan 18), then Giannis Michalitsos (until Mar 11) and finally Sakis Tsiolis. Aris reached the 4th round of the Greek Cup (Trikala on penalties) and the Round of 32 of the Europa League (Manchester City 0-3).
This season the manager was still Tsiolis. So far, on the transfer market the main players coming in were: defenders Stelios Tsoukanis (Anagennisi Epanomi), Francis Dickoh (Hibernian), midfielders Kostas Kapetanos (Olympiacos Volos), Vasilios Triantafyllakos (Odysseas Anagennisi), Manolis Papasterianos (Iraklis), forwards Karim Soltani (Iraklis) and Athanasios Kanoulas (Anagennisi Epanomi). More players would come in before the league started (Javier Umbides, Noé Acosta, Khalifa Sankaré)
The main players leaving were: defender Ronaldo Guiaro (retiring), midfielders Kostas Mendrinos (Panachaiki), forwards Toni Calvo (Parma - on loan) and Christos Aravidis (Doxa Dramas). More players would leave in August, Kristi Vangjeli (Chornomorets Odesa) and in January, the most important, forward Daniel Cesarec (Maccabi Haifa) and defender Efthymis Kouloucheris (Panionios).
Today was the Greeks 8th summer friendly. They had won 3, drawn 1 and lost 3 (including Peñarol 1-2 and Al-Hilal 2-3).
The Greek league would start on August 27.
The match: Sunday, August 7, 2011, Stadio Centro Italia, Rieti
A crowd of 5,000 gathered at the small Rieti ground, more famous for hosting the prestigious September athletics meeting than football matches.
Lazio were without Federico Marchetti, Giuseppe Biava, Christian Brocchi, Mauro Zarate, Hernanes and Miro Klose but fielded a strong side anyway.
Lazio had played only 24 hours earlier in Fiuggi against Universitatea Cluji so had a completely different eleven on the team sheet.
The game started with a scare for Lazio as a Modibo Diakité mistake allowed Faty a free header but Alvaro Bizzarri was safe.
Lazio then gradually took control of the proceedings. Cristian Ledesma teed up Tommaso Rocchi with a long ball over the defence and the Venetian's shot was blocked with some difficulty by Sifakis.
The goal came in the 22nd minute, another good Ledesma pass, assist by Stefano Mauri and an easy tap-in for Rocchi, 1-0.
The Greeks' reaction was disorganised and ten minutes later Lazio struck again. Javier Garrido took a corner and Djibril Cissé showed impressive elevation and headed in (shades of Karl-Heinz Riedle…), 2-0.
Lazio finished the half on the attack with some neat Rocchi-Cissé combinations which excited the crowd even more. Half time Lazio 2 Aris 0 and only positive news so far.
For the second half the visitors made two changes while Lazio decided to keep the original XI.
Lazio were almost immediately awarded a penalty for a foul on Rocchi. Cissé stepped up but blasted his shot high towards nearby Mount Terminillo.
On the hour mark the friendly got a bit heated and Ledesma and Neto had to be separated by their teammates.
The Greeks continued making more substitutions than Lazio who only made their first two in the 74th minute when Pasquale Foggia and Simone Del Nero came on for Senad Lulic and Rocchi.
The game had more or less said what it had to say and the substitutions plus tiring legs meant the game lost its intensity. The Greeks gained more territorial control but were unable to really threaten Bizzarri. Full time Lazio 2 Aris 0.
A positive training match for Lazio who especially in the first half had looked impressive. The Biancocelesti had shown they had strength in depth fielding two competitive line-ups in 48 hours. Cissé had looked sharp, Mauri already match fit and Lorik Cana proved he could be a useful asset in midfield when necessary.
Next up a last friendly against Real Sociedad in Rome and then it would be time for the Europa League playoff.
Who played for Lazio
Bizzarri, Zauri, Diakité, Dias, Garrido, Cana, Ledesma, Lulic (74' Foggia), Mauri, Cissé (82' Kozak), Rocchi (74' Del Nero)
Manager: Reja
Who played for Aris
Sifakis, Vangjeli, Papazacharias (53' Kotsonis), Lazaridis, Michel, Neto (78' Katidis), Faty, Toja (46' Portilla), Kapetanos (46' Cesarec), Soltani (63' Agtzidis), Castillo (71' Papasterianos)
Manager: Tsiolis
Referee: Rocchi
Goals: 22' Rocchi, 33' Cissé
What happened next
As mentioned, other players would say goodbye before September. Sergio Floccari, Pasquale Foggia and Mauro Zarate all left on loan to Parma, Sampdoria and Inter respectively. During the season, Sculli would join Genoa and Stendardo Atalanta. Cissé would not live up to his August honeymoon and leave in January for QPR in England. Arriving at Lazio in January would be midfielder and local boy Antonio Candreva (Cesena).
Lazio then beat Rabotnički 6-0 at home (including a Cissé brace) and 3-1 away and qualified for the Europa League group phase. They then came second in a group with Sporting Lisbon, Vaslui and Zurich and so had to play Atletico Madrid, coming down from Champions League, and were well beaten 1-4 on aggregate. The Colchoneros would then go on to win the tournament.
In the Coppa Italia Lazio reached the quarterfinals but were defeated 1-3 away by Milan. The Cup was then won by Napoli.
In Serie A things went a lot better. Lazio finished 4th (Europa League qualification) after 18 wins (including both derbies 2-1), 8 draws and 12 defeats. Top scorer was Miroslav Klose with 15 goals (12 in league) while Hernanes got 11 (8 in league). Serie A was won by Juventus for the 28th time.
So back in the Europa League and two derby triumphs made it a positive season for the Biancocelesti who however at one point looked as if they could even reach the Champions League. They were 3rd with four matches to go but lost to Udinese 2-0 away and got pipped to third place by the Friulani.
Aris Thessaloniki finished 6th again. Tsiolis was sacked at the end of October and replaced by Michal Probierz until January when Michalitsos returned but only for one week as then Manuel Machado took over until the end of the season. In the Greek Cup, Aris went out in the Round of 16 (Atromitos 1-2). Top scorer was Nery Castillo with 7 goals (6 in league). The Greek league was won by Olympiakos for the 39th time.
Let’s talk about: Lorik Cana
Lorik Cana was born in Gjakova, in Kosovo, on July 27, 1983. At the time it was part of Albania. At a young age he was forced to flee his homeland due to the Yugoslav war and his family took refuge in Switzerland. He has Albanian, Swiss, Kosovarian and French citizenship and speaks four languages fluently plus a knowledge of Turkish and German.
At 16 he was invited to a trial at Arsenal but was unable to be present due to bureaucratic problems connected to his visa. He then joined the Paris Saint-Germain youth sector in 2000. In 2002 he made his debut for the first team.
The manager was Luís Fernandez but this was pre "Les Rouge-et-Bleu" becoming "money bags" and they finished 11th. Cana played 3 league games.
The following year he played a lot more, 32 league games with 1 goal and 4 in the domestic cups, under coach Vahid Halilhodziç. "Les Parisiens" finished 2nd and won the Coupe de France (Châteauroux 1-0).
The 2004-05 was his last full season in Paris. PSG started with Halilhodžić but he was replaced in February by Laurent Fournier. The Parisiens finished 9th and Cana played 32 league games with 1 goal, 2 games in the domestic cups and 6 games in the Champions League.
In 2005-06 he started at PSG under Fournier but, after 2 league games, in August he left for rivals Marseille. He stayed four seasons with 5th, 2nd, 3rd and 2nd places. His managers were Jean Fernandez, Albert Emon, then with Eric Gerets and finally Eric Gerets alone. Cana played 175 matches for "Les Olympiens" (The Olympians), 122 in the league with 6 goals, 19 in the domestic cups with 1 goal and 34 in Europe (8 CL +4 UC) with 1 goal. He played alongside Djibril Cissé for two seasons.
In 2009-10 he joined Sunderland in the Premier League. The Black Cats had Steve Bruce as manager and finished 13th, their best results were beating Arsenal and Tottenham at home. Cana played 31 league games and 4 in the domestic cups.
In 2010 he went to Istanbul in Turkey and joined Galatasaray. The Cimbom coaches were four over a difficult debut season: Frank Rijkaard, Gheorghe Hagi, Bulent Ünder and then Fatih Terim. The "Aslanlar" (The Lions) finished a disappointing 8th. Cana played 24 league games with 1 goal, 4 in the Turkish Cup and 3 in the Champions League.
In 2011 he came to Lazio. The Biancocelesti had a good season under Edy Reja and finished 4th (EL) also winning both derbies. Cana played 15 league games with 2 goals (Lecce, Atalanta) and 6 in the Europa League (Lazio out in the last 32 against Atlético Madrid).
The following season Vladimir Petkovic arrived as manager (one of the few people who speaks more languages than Cana). Lazio started well in the league but then faded and finished 7th. They however triumphed in the Coppa Italia beating bitter rivals Roma in an epic Roman derby final (Lulic 71'). Lazio also won one and drew one in the league derbies. Cana played in the final plus 24 league games, another 4 in Coppa Italia and 9 in the Europa League (eliminated in quarters by Fenerbahçe and a shocking Scottish referee).
In 2013-14 Petkovic started but was replaced by Reja during the Christmas break. Lazio finished 9th and lost the Super Cup final to Juventus 0-4. Cana played 26 league games with 2 goals (Sampdoria 94th minute equaliser, Fiorentina winner) and 6 in the Europa League (out in the last 32 against Ludogorets).
In 2014-15 Stefano Pioli was manager and Lazio did well, finishing 3rd (CL Preliminary round). Lazio also reached the Coppa Italia final but were defeated by Juventus 1-2 after extra-time. Cana played 17 league games and 3 in Coppa Italia.
In 2015-16 Cana left Lazio and returned to France, this time to Nantes in Ligue 1. The Atlantic Loire valley Canaries had Armenian Michel Der Zakarian as manager and finished 14th. Cana played 21 league games plus 3 in the Coupe de France and played alongside Argentine Emiliano Sala, who some years later would tragically die in an air crash before transferring to play for Cardiff City.
This was Cana's last professional club and he retired at 33.
At international level he won 93 caps for Albania with 1 goal (Azerbaijan). He played two games in Albania's historic participation in Euro 2016 with the "Shqiponjat's" (Eagles) first win, versus Romania. He holds the record number of caps and was captain from 2010. He was voted Albania's Player of the Year three times: 2003, 2009 and 2014.
Since retiring he has starred in an autobiographical film about himself, "Triumph". He has set up the Lorik Cana Foundation promoting sport and culture in Albania and Kosovo. From2017 he is also Ambassador for children's football in Albania, on behalf of the Federation.
Cana was a central defender but could also play in midfield. At 1.86 metres and 77 kilos he was strong physically and extremely tough. He was nicknamed "Luftërari" (The Warrior) for his fighting spirit. He was a great tackler and a master at regaining possession. He was not an elegant player but very efficient. His style of play obviously earned him his fair share of yellow and red cards. His hard-working ethic made him popular wherever he played.
At Lazio he played 111 games with 4 goals and left a positive memory. In a league often dominated by theatrics, Cana was hard but fair and unlike many, could and would take as good as he got. His nickname was the usual "Il Guerriero" (The Warrior). Lazio have had far better defenders but few who played with his passion or who got stuck in as much as Cana. His legacy is also obviously connected to the epic 26th May derby triumph in the Coppa Italia final in which Cana was a protagonist, playing the whole game. He is part of one of Lazio's legendary teams.
Lazio Career
Sources
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