Too easy

Simon Basten
Feb 24, 2024
2 min read

Season 1990-91

Game 22, Serie A

Sunday, February 24, 1991

Stadio Dall’Ara, Bologna

Bologna Lazio 1-2

Lazio scored two but missed many many more

The season so far

Lazio were currently eighth. They had managed to draw 14 times so far this season and hence only win 4 games. Impossible to qualify for Europe with this pace. There was a need to change the draws into wins.

Things had improved slightly in the first four games of the second part of Serie A and Lazio had at least won a couple (Torino and Lecce). Time to continue the trend.

The match: Sunday, February 24, 1991, Stadio Dall’Ara, Bologna

Lazio built their victory methodically and took the lead as early as the 22nd minute thanks to one of Ruben Sosa’s many runs down the left: he sent the ball to Karl-Heinz Riedle, who beat Nello Cusin to it and rediscovered the joy of scoring after more than one hundred days. The goal paralyzed Bologna, unable to react and so frightened that they began making ridiculous mistakes.

In the 28th minute, Pedro Troglio set up Claudio Sclosa in the box; Cusin was beaten by the midfielder’s shot, but Paolo Negro cleared it off the goal line. Anyone expecting a Bologna response was disappointed. It was Lazio who struck again into the “butter” of Emilia, and before halftime they nearly scored twice more. The first chance came in the 44th minute with Ruben Sosa, following a comical save by Cusin and a clearance for a corner by Egidio Notaristefano. The second came in the 45th minute, with the hapless Cusin wandering around the field in pursuit of Riedle, and Gabriele Pin’s lob saved by Renato Villa.

In the second half, Bologna threw themselves into attack. All in vain. Lazio calmly controlled Bologna’s disjointed moves (the only real danger came in the 64th minute, when Roberto Bacci saved on the line from Notaristefano) and responded on the counterattack. If Sosa had been less reckless in front of goal, the scoreline could have resembled a tennis result. Then came the comical finale. After a couple more attempts by the usual Sosa, there was Cusin’s “masterpiece.” The goalkeeper, perhaps dazed by fever, cleared the ball weakly straight to Sosa’s feet, and this time he could hardly fail to score. Even referee Baldas joined the farce, awarding a goal by Kubilay Turkyilmaz in the 85th minute that had been scored from an offside position.

Bologna slowly moving towards relegation.

Who played for Bologna

Cusin, Biondo, Villa, Mariani, Negro, Di Già, Schenardi (56' Campione), Verga, Turkyilmaz, Notaristefano, Waas (46' Anaclerio)

Substitutes: Valleriani, Galvani, Traversa

Manager: Radice

Who played for Lazio

Fiori, Bergodi, Sergio, Pin, Gregucci, Soldà, Bacci, Troglio, Riedle, Sclosa, Sosa