Benfica too strong for Lazio

Simon Basten
Jun 10, 2023
2 min read

Season 1949-50

Semi Final, Latin Cup

Saturday, June 10, 1950

Stadio Municipal, Lisbon

Benfica Lazio 3-0

Lazio lose against a far better team

Lazio took a few games to develop into a team this season but when they did they became a force to reckon with. They finished fourth.

At the end of the season Lazio played the Latin Cup, an international competition between French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian teams. This was because the top three Italian teams had declined participation due to the upcoming World Cup.

Before these two games Lazio played the Teresa Herrera Trophy against Atlético Madrid. This is a tournament that has been played since 1946 and is the third oldest professional tournament in Spain. Lazio won the trophy 3-1 coming from behind with goals from Romolo Alzani, Vittorio Sentimenti III and Mario Magrini. This was the only time the Biancocelesti managed to win this tournament. They played again in 1993, 1998 and 2000.

Sperone could not accompany the team due to previous commitments with the Italian Federation for the World Cup so Alfredo Notti was manager with Luciano Ramella as technical director.

The match

The game should have been played two days earlier but an epidemic of laryngitis took out eight Lazio players so the club asked for a postponement.

Benfica took a weakened Biancoceleste team apart, too much difference between the two sides. Lazio however had complaints on the first two goals. José Rosario scored after seven minutes in probabile off side, and Rogerio Carvahlo made it two on a penalty in the 27th, a little bit too generous a decision by the referee. The home team then closed the game in the 76th minute with Arsenio Duarte. After scoring three they controlled the rest of the match. Lazio could do very little, Benfica way too strong for them.

Who played for Benfica

Bastos, Jacinto, Fernandez, Moreira, Felix, Dacosta, Corona, Arsenio, Julio, Rogerio, Rosario

Manager: Smith

Who played for Lazio

De Fazio, Antonazzi, Piacentini, Montanari, Sandroni, Magrini, Puccinelli, Trevisan I, Arce, Flamini, Nyers II