December 1, 1963: Lazio-Mantova 2-0

M&M duo see off Mantova

A goal per half by Morrone and Maraschi give Lazio deserved win

Player of the day: Ettore Recagni

Also on this day:

• December 1, 2002, Piacenza Lazio 2-3. In a game heavily affected by thick fog Lazio recover from a two-goal deficit and win 3-2 in the last seconds.

• December 1, 2019, Lazio Udinese 3-0. It proved to be almost too easy for Lazio to conquer their 6th consecutive win. An Immobile strike within the first 10 minutes opened up the path to a comfortable victory.

Source Lazio Wiki

The season so far

Lazio had just won promotion back to Serie A. Under manager Carlo Facchini, for the first four games, and then Bob Lovati with Juan Carlos Lorenzo as technical director, the Biancocelesti had conquered 2nd place and a place back in the big time. Juan Carlos Morrone, Orlando Rozzoni and Paolo Bernasconi all got 10 goals each.

This was a year after being robbed of a promotion in 1961-62 when Giovanni Seghedoni's goal was absurdly deemed to have gone in through a hole in the net...

This year Lorenzo was officially manager. The main new players were midfielders Paolo Carosi (Udinese-back from loan), Massimo Giacomini (Genoa), Alberto Mari (Sambenedettese), Bruno Mazzia (Juventus-on loan) plus forward Carlo Galli (Genoa).

Leaving were defenders Adelmo Eufemi (Udinese), Gianni Seghedoni (Vis Pesaro), Giambattista Moschino (Torino-end of loan) plus forwards Paolo Bernasconi (Parma), Claudio Bizzarri (Civitanovese) and Angelo Longoni (Vis Pesaro).

So far, Lazio had played ten games and had won 4 (SPAL 1-0 away, Genoa 1-0 at home and Messina 3-1 away, then changed to 2-0 to punish the hosts for crowd trouble and Bari 2-0 away), drawn 4 (Fiorentina 1-1 at home on debut, Milan 1-1, Catania 0-0 at home and Roma 0-0) and lost 2 (Vicenza 0-1 at home and Modena 1-2 away). A reasonable start and Lazio were in 6th place on 12 points.

In Coppa Italia Lazio had been knocked out immediately by Cagliari, losing 0-1 away on September 8.

Mantova had finished 11th the previous season, under Hungarian manager Nándor Hidegkuti. Top scorer was Angelo Sormani with 13 league goals.

This season the manager was Luigi Bonizzoni. The Lombard Biancorossi had brought in some interesting players: a young goalkeeper Dino Zoff (Udinese), defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (Roma - on loan), midfielder Torbjörn Jonsson (Roma), Carlo Volpi (Palermo), Ugo Tomeazzi (Napoli) plus forward Bruno Nicolè (Juventus).

Leaving Mantova were: keeper William Negri (Bologna), midfielders Dante Castellazzi (Palermo), Renzo Longhi (Cosenza, after 208 league games) plus forwards Anton Allemann (PSV Eindhoven), Angelo Sormani (Roma), Rolf Geiger (Stuttgart) and future Lazio, Mario Tomy (Reggiana).

 So far, the Virgiliani had won 2, drawn 5 (including Juventus 2-2 away) and lost 3. They were currently 10th on 9 points but only two points above the drop zone (SPAL on 7).

In Coppa Italia they had been eliminated in September by Verona 1-2 away.

Lazio were hoping to consolidate their decent league position against mid-table opposition.

The match: Sunday, December 1, 1963, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

A cold, grey day in the capital saw about 35,000 turn up at the Olimpico.

Lazio had no major absences, but compared to their last match fielded Paolo Carosi instead of Nello Governato and Massimo Giacomini (making his home debut) rather than Carlo Galli.

Mantova, on the other hand, had several players missing: Ermanno Tarabbia, Sergio Pini, Gigi Simoni (future Lazio manager), Torbjorn Jonsson and Bruno Nicolè all unavailable.

Lazio started with the usual distraction when a misunderstanding between Vincenzo Gasperi and Graziano Landoni in midfield let Mantova fly off on the counter attack, leading Sergio Pelizzaro to enter the area with only Idilio Cei to beat, but the Lazio keeper pulled off a brilliant save.

Having recovered from the scare, Lazio started to attack. Juan Carlos Morrone was particularly active despite being marked by tough German defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger.

In the 17th minute Lazio took the lead. It was the "Gaucho" Morrone who beat Dino Zoff with a close-range shot. Lazio 1 Mantova 0.

A Mantova reaction was expected but did not come. It was instead the Biancocelesti who went close to doubling their lead several times.

In the 28th minute Orlando Rozzoni headed just wide from a Mario Maraschi cross. In the 35th minute Maraschi then had a long-range shot go just out and in the last minute Morrone went through the whole defence but was then denied by Zoff. Halftime Lazio 1 Mantova 0.

After a shaky start the hosts had been by far the better team.

In the second half the Lombards looked more up for a fight but rarely threatened. An exception was in the 60th minute but Tomeazzi's powerful shot was central and blocked by Cei.

Lazio controlled and were dangerous on the break. Between the 65th and 70th minute they went close again with Landoni, Rozzoni and Giacomini.

In the 74th minute Morrone was hacked down by Italo Mazzero and the referee awarded Lazio a freekick from an inviting position. Maraschi stepped up and sent a shot, with the outside of his foot, into the top hand corner to Zoff's right. Lazio 2 Mantova 0.

Mantova only had one real chance to pull one back but it was a big one when in the 88th minute Mazzero hit the crossbar. Final score Lazio 2 Mantova 0.

A good win for Lazio who had been superior to the Virgiliani. Lazio were now up to joint 5th place with Vicenza on 14 points.

Mantova were down to joint 11th with SPAL, Genoa and Torino on 9 points but now only one point above third bottom Sampdoria and Catania (SPAL had beaten Roma 2-0).

Who played for Lazio

Cei, Zanetti, Garbuglia, Carosi, Pagni, Gasperi, Maraschi, Landoni, Rozzoni, Giacomini, Morrone

Manager: Lorenzo

Who played for Mantova

Zoff, Schnellinger, Corradi, Mazzero, Cancian, Giagnoni, Pellizzaro, Tomeazzi, Volpi, Manganotto, Recagni

Manager: Bonizzoni

Referee: Grignani

Goals: 17' Morrone, 74' Maraschi

What happened next

Lazio lost the next four consecutive matches and fell down the table. They then picked up and had a reasonable season finishing 8th. They beat both Milan 1-0 and Juventus 3-0 away and drew the derby 1-1. Top scorers were Juan Carlos Morrone and Mario Maraschi with 5 league goals each.

Mantova finished 13th. They then won 4 (including Roma 1-0 at home), drew 12 (including Lazio 0-0) and lost 7. Top scorer was Italo Mazzero with 7 league goals.

Bologna won the Scudetto after the first and only ever playoff (Inter 2-0 in Rome). The downward journey to B was made by Bari, SPAL and Modena (after a playoff with Sampdoria, 0-2 in Milan).

Let's talk about Ettore Recagni

Source Lazio Wiki

Ettore Recagni was born in Lodi on November 6, 1937.

His first professional club was Mantova between 1957 and 1959. The Lombards were in the 4th tier and won promotion to Serie C and then made the double jump the following season winning the league again. Recagni played 64 league games and scored 28 goals.

In 1959-60 he spent a season at Lazio. The Biancocelesti finished 12th in Serie A under Fulvio Bernardini. Recagni only played 2 league games while he played 12 times in the reserve league with 4 goals. The main forwards were Maurilio Prini, Humberto Tozzi and Orlando Rozzoni and Recagni did not break into the first team.

In 1960 he returned to Mantova for four seasons. The Biancorossi were in Serie B but won promotion again and then finished 9th, 11th and 13th in Serie A. Recagni played 107 league games with 19 goals. His managers were Edmondo Fabbri for the first two seasons, then Nándor Hidegkuti and Luigi Bonizzoni. His teammates included future Lazio managers, Gigi Simoni (1985-86) and Dino Zoff (1990-94, 1997, 2001) plus future player Mario Tomy (1969-71).

In 1964 he joined Reggiana in Serie B. He stayed two seasons and the Granata finished 11th and 15th, under Dino Ballacci and Romolo Bizzotto. Recagni played 53 league games with 16 goals plus 1 game in Coppa Italia. He played alongside Tomy again and future Lazio Scudetto winner Paolo Franzoni (1973-75).

In 1966-67 he played a season with Savona in Serie B but only played 6 league games with 1 goal. The Biancoblu were relegated under first Ercole Rabitti and then Vincenzo Occhetta. His teammates included legendary future Lazio manager Eugenio Fascetti (1986-88) and Juventus legend Beppe Furino (534 games for the Zebras).

In 1967-68 Recagni played for Alessandria for a season. The "Orso Grigio" (Grey Bear) were in Serie C and finished 9th. The manager was Mario Pietruzzi and Recagni played 23 league games and scored 10 goals. There were two Lazio connections in the squad: Avelino Moriggi (1970-72) and Gaetano Legnaro (1970-71, 1972-76).

Recagni's last club was Sora (Frosinone) where he played for two seasons in Serie D, 1968-70, finishing 6th and 10th. He then retired at almost 33.

He went straight into coaching. He started at Palmese (Serie D, 1971-72, 1973-74, 9th and 12th). In 1972-73 he was assistant manager at SPAL (promoted to B). He then had spells at Reggina (Serie B, 1973-74, relegated), Salernitana as assistant (Serie C, 1974-75, 6th), Taranto (Serie B, 1975-76, 9th), Sorrento as assistant (Serie C, 1976-77, 15th), Roma as assistant to Gustavo Giagnoni (Serie A, 1977-78, 8th), Formia (Serie C2, 1979-80, 13th), Sansepolcro (Serie C2, 1980-81, relegated) and Giugliano (5th tier, 1983-84, 11th).

In 1984 he started working for the Italian Football Association.  Between 1984 and 1989 he was head coach of the Italy Women's national team and again in 1999-2000.

Recagni was a forward. Early in his career he played mainly as a winger and then later moved towards midfield. He was one of the protagonists of the Mantova miracle (from 4th division to Serie A).

At Lazio he had very little playing time so he returned to Mantova where he experienced the peak of his career.

Ettore Recagni died in Rome on November 2, 2020.

Lazio Career

Season	Serie A Appearances
1959-60	2

Sources

Lazio Wiki

Wikipedia