August 8, 2000: Volendam Lazio 0-0 (6-7 pens)
Updated: 3 days ago
Claudio López Shines on Lazio Debut Against Volendam
Claudio López makes an impressive debut as Lazio are held goalless by Volendam before prevailing 7-6 in a marathon penalty shootout.
Season 1999-00
The season so far
The previous season Lazio won their second scudetto in dramatic circumstances. In the final game of the season Juventus had a two-point lead over the Biancocelesti. While Lazio had finished their match at the Olimpico beating Reggina 3-0, between the first and second half of Perugia-Juventus there was a massive storm that drenched the pitch. The second half started an hour later than it should have. Perugia scored with Alessandro Calori and Juve were unable to turn the game around. Lazio had won!!!
In the summer transfer window, President Sergio Cragnotti had decided that Lazio needed a strong centre-forward and a more reliable goalkeeper. In came Hernan Crespo (Parma), one of the best forwards in the world, and Angelo Peruzzi (Inter), one of the best goalkeepers. Other signings included forward Claudio Lopez (Valencia), midfielder Dino Baggio (Parma) and the return of Roberto Baronio from his loan at Reggina. Also bought were midfielders Stefano Fiore and Giuliano Giannichedda from Udinese but they were left to the Bianconeri on loan for an extra year. Leaving Lazio were Alen Boksic (Middlesbrough), Dario Marcolin (Sampdoria), Gianpiero Pinzi (Udinese), Marco Ballotta (Inter), Matias Almeyda and Sergio Conceicao to Parma as partial payment for Crespo. Lazio were still looking to find a right winger.
The season was going to be a strange one since, due to the Olympic Games in Sydney, the Italian Federation decided to start the Campionato on October 1. However, Champions League would be played in September just the same so the Italian teams involved in the European competitions would play with few games in their legs. Not ideal.
In the Netherlands Lazio had played the Amsterdam Cup drawing against Ajax and Barcelona. Today was their final game of their mini tour.
The match: Tuesday, August 8, 2000, Kras Stadion, Volendam
Lazio's final pre-season friendly in the Netherlands ended without a goal, but the evening still offered an intriguing glimpse of what was to come. Held to a 0-0 draw by Volendam at the Kras Stadion, Sven-Göran Eriksson's side ultimately prevailed 7-6 in a penalty shootout, with Claudio López providing the main source of excitement on his debut in the Biancocelesti shirt.
The Argentine forward had arrived from Valencia during the summer and immediately offered Lazio supporters a taste of the qualities that had made him one of Europe's most dangerous attackers. Playing the first half alongside Marcelo Salas, López operated primarily from the right, where his acceleration, movement and powerful left foot repeatedly caused problems for the Dutch defence.
Eriksson fielded his strongest available side for the opening 45 minutes. Angelo Peruzzi returned in goal behind a defence of Paolo Negro, Alessandro Nesta, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Giuseppe Pancaro. Dejan Stankovic, Roberto Baronio and Pavel Nedved formed the midfield, with Ivan de la Peña positioned towards the left and López partnering Salas in attack.
It was López, however, who immediately attracted the attention.
The Argentine was involved from the opening exchanges, quickly finding space and firing a first attempt that lacked accuracy but demonstrated the speed with which he could release his shot. Soon afterwards, he cut in from the right and unleashed one of his trademark curling efforts with his left foot. The ball sailed over the crossbar, but the move drew an appreciative reaction from the crowd.
A few minutes later, López tried the same trick again, this time after being found by Nedved. His curling effort was much closer, skimming the far corner and prompting a collective gasp from the spectators.
The most promising combination of the evening, however, involved López and Mihajlovic.
With less than 20 minutes played, the ball reached the Lazio half before Mihajlovic looked up and sent a perfectly weighted long pass forward. López had timed his run from around the halfway line to avoid the offside trap and raced through on goal. The Volendam goalkeeper came quickly from his line, however, managing to knock the ball away from the Argentine before he could finish.
The move nevertheless offered a tantalising preview of a potential new weapon in Eriksson's Lazio. Mihajlovic's exceptional range of passing combined with López's pace appeared capable of producing a devastating counter-attacking partnership.
The two almost combined again before half-time. Mihajlovic delivered a precise corner from the left towards the opposite edge of the penalty area, where López met the ball on the volley with his left foot. His effort flew narrowly over the crossbar.
For all López's individual brilliance, however, Lazio were struggling to impose themselves on the match.
Volendam, a second-tier Dutch side, played with considerable aggression and intensity. Their pressing and willingness to double up on Lazio's players made life difficult for Eriksson's team, who often appeared weighed down by the heavy training workload of the previous days.
The Biancocelesti still created opportunities. Nedved had perhaps the clearest chance when he found himself alone in front of the goalkeeper but was unable to go round him. Peruzzi was also required to make several important saves as Volendam occasionally threatened on the counter-attack.
The visitors were particularly dangerous when they could exploit the space left behind the Dutch defence, but their lack of sharpness in the final third meant that the match remained goalless.
López's performance was therefore the main positive from a first half in which Lazio had failed to find the net. The Argentine was undoubtedly guilty of occasionally trying to do too much himself, with Salas often left waiting for the ball, but his speed and directness offered Eriksson a new attacking dimension.
At half-time, the Lazio coach completely changed his team.
Luca Marchegiani replaced Peruzzi, while Fernando Couto, Francesco Colonnese and Giuseppe Favalli were among those introduced. Eriksson also gave opportunities to several younger players, with the second-half side including Andrea Luciani, Daniele Ruggiu and Emanuele Berrettoni.
The changes inevitably altered the character of the game. The intensity dropped and the match became less technically interesting, although Lazio continued to search for a breakthrough.
Fabrizio Ravanelli came close twice, once early in the second half and again towards the end. Guerino Gottardi appeared to have been brought down inside the penalty area, but the referee waved play on. Berrettoni did find the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
The goal that Lazio were looking for never arrived.
After 90 minutes, the two sides remained locked at 0-0, leaving the match to be decided by an unusual penalty shootout. Ten penalties were taken by each side, with Lazio eventually emerging victorious 7-6.
Marchegiani proved decisive, saving three of Volendam's attempts from the spot and ensuring that Lazio could at least leave the Netherlands with a victory of sorts. The players were presented with a cake as a trophy for winning the shootout, an amusing conclusion to an otherwise frustrating evening.
Who played for Volendam
Need, Kras, Ravensberger, Koning (57' Breinburg), Salden (86' Pascale), Van Ommeren, Boots, Bartele (76' Smit), Putter, Rose (66' Tuyp), Kokmeyer (66' Babangida) Manager: Wisman
Who played for Lazio
First half: Peruzzi, Negro, Nesta, Mihajlovic, Pancaro, Stankovic, Baronio, Nedved, De la Peña, Lopez, Salas
Second half: Marchegiani, Santarelli, Colonnese, Couto, Pesaresi, Gottardi, Lombardo, Luciani (37' Conti), Ruggiu (37' Varriale), Ravanelli, Berrettoni
Manager: Eriksson
Referee: Van der Pas
What happened next
Lazio won the Supercoppa in September against Inter but in Serie A they did not start too well and by the end of the year were fourth with 21 points, way off Roma who were leading the Serie A eight points ahead. There had been a lot of problems. This first issue was that Sven-Goran Eriksson had signed a contract with the English FA to manage England starting from the summer of 2001. This meant that it was going to be his last year with Lazio. This created a negative psychological situation in the team, uncertain of what would happen in the future. Secondly, Crespo got injured early on and he was taking his time in getting back into form. Thirdly, the team was badly missing a right-winger since Attilio Lombardo was past his prime and Dejan Stankovic was fulfilling the task rather reluctantly. Fourthly, Claudio Lopez, Lazio’s star summer signing, got injured early on in the season and would be out for the rest of the year. There was still optimism but in the first game of the new year Lazio lost at home and Eriksson, realising that he might be the problem, resigned. The team was given to Dino Zoff who stepped down as President to become head coach. In January Lazio finally bought Karel Poborsky and Lucas Castroman to fill the void created by selling Conçeicao.
In campionato once Zoff arrived things improved and Lazio with three games to go were second behind Roma but five points behind. The Giallorossi were tiring but Lazio threw away a game against Inter where they had 100 chances to score their second goal but the Nerazzurri then equalised in injury time. If Lazio had won, they would have been only three points behind.
Coming into the final game, Roma were top, Juventus two points behind and Lazio three. In the last game Roma had to face Parma who decided not to play and allowed the Giallorossi to win their third scudetto. At that point the Biancocelesti, who were winning at Lecce, threw in the towel and lost the game.
In the Champions League Lazio managed to go through to the second group phase but were eliminated by Real Madrid and Leeds United. In Coppa Italia, the Biancocelesti were beaten by Udinese in the quarterfinals.
Pavel Nedved was the player with most appearances (46) and Crespo the leading goal scorer (28). The Argentine was also the leading Serie A goal scorer with 26 goals.
Let’s talk about Andrea Luciani
Midfielder, born in Bracciano (Rome) on 20 October 1981.
Luciani came through Lazio's youth system and was part of the team that won the Campionato Primavera (Italian Under-19 Championship) in the 2000/01 season.
He made two appearances for the first team in the Champions League during the 2000/01 season, both resulting in victories: a 2-1 win against Anderlecht and a 1-0 victory away to Sparta Prague. He was also named among the substitutes for one league match.
The following season, he was transferred to Salernitana in Serie B. The season after that, he moved to Cosenza, where he made only a few appearances. He played more regularly in Serie C, representing Fermana, Sora, Martina and later Avellino.
Luciani subsequently continued his career with several clubs from the Lazio region. In the 2013/14 season, he joined Ostia Mare, before ending his playing career with Civitavecchia in 2016.
Lazio Career
Season | Champions League Appearances |
2000-01 | 2 |
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