December 15, 1996: Perugia Lazio 1-2
- Dag Jenkins
- Dec 15, 2024
- 7 min read
First ever league win in Perugia and three away wins in a row
Rambaudi and a Signori penalty finally bring Lazio Umbrian joy
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had finished 3rd (UEFA) under manager Zdeněk Zeman. The highlights were beating Juventus 4-0, Sampdoria 6-3, Atalanta 5-1, Cagliari 4-0, Fiorentina 4-0 and especially Roma 1-0, all at home. Top scorer was Beppe Signori with 26 goals (24 in A).
This year the Bohemian stayed on. The main new signings were: South-African defender Mark Fish (Orlando Pirates), midfielders Pavel Nedved (Sparta Prague) and Paul Okon (Club Bruges) plus forward Igor Protti (Bari), previous year's top Serie A scorer with Signori.
Leaving were defender Cristiano Bergodi (Padova), midfielders Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea), Aron Winter (Inter) plus forwards Alen Boksic (Juventus) and Marco Di Vaio (Bari - on loan).
The Serie A campaign had started very badly with two defeats (Bologna 0-1 away and Udinese 0-1 at home). Since then, the Biancocelesti had won 4, drawn 4 (including the recent derby 0-0) and lost 2. They were currently in joint 9th place with Sampdoria, Piacenza and today's opposition Perugia on 16 points.
Lazio had also started their Coppa Italia campaign on August 28 and had won 1-0 away at Avellino. They then played Verona away on October 23 and won 2-1. Then came the quarter finals but Lazio lost 1-2 on aggregate to Napoli.
In the UEFA Cup, the Biancocelesti had played the first leg of the round of 64 away at Lens, winning 1-0. On September 24 they completed the revenge on the French side, nineteen years after the humiliating 0-6 defeat in extra-time in 1977, by drawing 1-1. In the round of 32 it was possibly the beginning of the end for Zeman. Lazio won 1-0 at home against Tenerife and were winning 1-0 away and then drawing 3-3 but managed to lose 3-5 and get eliminated. A very disappointing evening.
Perugia were newly promoted. The Umbri had finished 3rd in Serie B under three different managers: Walter Novellino, Diego Giannattasio and finally Giovanni Galeone. Top scorer was Marco Negri with 18 league goals.
This season the manager was still Galeone. For Serie A the Grifoni had brought in a few new players: keeper Alaxsandar Kocić (Vojvodina), defenders Alberto Di Chiara (Parma), Salvatore Matrecano (Udinese), Marcello Castellini (back from Parma), midfielders Michel Kreek (Padova), Antonio Manicone (Inter), Carmine Gautieri (Bari), Fausto Pizzi (Napoli) plus forward Milan Rapaić (Hajduk Spalato).
Leaving were keeper Simone Braglia (Lucchese), defenders Gianluca Atzori (Reggina), Massimo Beghetto (Vicenza), Andrea Camplone (Ancona), midfielders Pasquale Rocco (Torino - on loan), Pasquale Suppa (Padova) plus forward Paolo Baldieri (Savoia) and Alberto Briaschi (Ancona).
So far, the Umbri were in joint 9th place with Lazio on 16 points. The Biancorossi had 5 won, drawn 1 and lost 6 (including the most recent match 1-4 away to Fiorentina).
In the Coppa Italia the Grifoni had surprisingly gone out in the second round, in September-October, to C1 opponents Nocerina 1-2 on aggregate.
Perugia were unbeaten at home this season and Lazio had never won a league game in the Umbrian capital.
A mid-table clash today but Lazio had European ambitions while Perugia's main objective was to avoid relegation. A sliding doors moment?
The match: Sunday, December 15, 1996, Stadio Renato Curi, Perugia
A crowd of 20,000 turned up at the small ground named after the Perugia player who had tragically collapsed and died on this field in 1977.
Perugia had to do without midfielder Massimiliano Allegri plus their main goal scorer Marco Negri while Lazio were missing defender Paolo Negro, midfielder Pavel Nedved and forward Gigi Casiraghi.
The first half was evenly balanced. Lazio were too fancy in their build up, trying to walk the ball in with too many passes while Perugia were always off target from long range.
Lazio suffered a blow on the half hour mark when defender Alessandro Nesta was forced off injured and replaced by Guerino Gottardi.
Lazio had a couple of good chances to take the lead especially with Beppe Signori but the biggest of all fell to Perugia in the 38th minute when they were awarded a penalty. Lazio defender Alessandro Grandoni appeared to get the ball on a challenge with Fausto Pizzi but the referee had other ideas. Fortunately for Lazio, Federico Giunti sent his low penalty wide to Luca Marchegiani's left.
The second half was similar. In the 57th minute Marchegiani pulled off an excellent save to deny Milan Rapaić and Lazio responded by hitting a post with Diego Fuser.
The deadlock was broken in the 71st minute. On a Signori cross Roberto Rambaudi found himself unmarked in the heart of the area and with an acrobatic scissor kick volley beat Aleksandar Kocić on the far post. A great goal and Perugia 0 Lazio 1.
The Biancoceleste lead only lasted eight minutes as in the 79th minute Perugia equalised. Rapaić caused havoc in the Lazio area, cutting out the whole defence including Marchegiani and Carmine Gautieri had an easy task to slot the ball in. Perugia 1 Lazio 1.
Both sides seemed reasonably satisfied with the draw but only two minutes later the Romans were awarded a penalty. Salvatore Matrecano pulled down Signori and the referee had no doubts and pointed to the penalty spot. The blond striker had no problem beating Kocic who had only arrived an hour before the match from international duty with Yugoslavia. Perugia 1 Lazio 2.
All that followed was a series of substitutions, two each, and Lazio managed to see out the last minutes before the final whistle. Perugia 1 Lazio 2.
An important win for Lazio. It was not a vintage performance but Perugia was historically a difficult place to come so the Biancocelesti were more than pleased to just take the three points.
Lazio were now up to joint 8th with Sampdoria on 19 points while Perugia slipped down to joint 12th with Piacenza on 16, now only two points above the drop zone.
Who played for Perugia
Kocic, Castellini, Matrecano, Dicara, Di Chiara (87' Rocco), Goretti, Giunti, Kreek, Gautieri, Pizzi, Rapaic (85' Pagano)
Substitutes: Spagnulo, Traversa, Cottini, Manicone, Gattuso
Manager: Galeone
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Nesta (30' Gottardi), Grandoni, Chamot, Favalli (89' Venturin), Fuser, Okon, Marcolin (82' Piovanelli), Rambaudi, Protti, Signori
Substitutes: Orsi, Franceschini, Baronio, Buso
Manager: Zeman
Referee: Ceccarini
Goals: 71' Rambaudi, 79' Gautieri, 81' Signori (pen)
What happened next
Lazio never found much consistency and lost the next match 0-1 in Naples. Then, despite a good 3-0 home win against Milan, on January 26, after a 1-2 home defeat to Bologna, Zeman was sacked and Dino Zoff returned. Lazio were in joint 12th position with Udinese on 23 points.
With Zoff results got better. Over the next 16 games, the Biancocelesti won 9 (including Perugia 4-1), drew 5 (including derby with 91st minute equaliser in ten men, Milan and Juventus, both 2-2 away) and only lost 2. Lazio finished 4th and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Top scorer was Beppe Signori with 15 league goals.
Perugia faded and ended up relegated. Galeone was soon sacked and two other managers followed, Mauro Amenta and then Nevio Scala but the Umbri finished 16th. Top scorer was Marco Negri with 15 league goals.
Juventus won their 24th Scudetto while Perugia were accompanied down to Serie B by Cagliari, Verona and Reggiana.
Let’s talk about Vincenzo Cangelosi
Vincenzo Cangelosi was born in Palermo, on Oct 12, 1963.
In his youth he was a goalkeeper but mainly a reserve. He had two years at Palermo (1981-83, in B with 0 league appearances), a season at Crotone (1984-85, promoted to C2, 4 league appearances), Foggia (1986-87, C1, 2 league appearances) and Siracusa (1987-88, C2, 2 league appearances).
He then retired at 26. He became Zdeněk Zeman's assistant at Foggia in 1989. He had known Zeman since the age of eleven as the Bohemian had been coaching in the Palermo youth sector.
He remained Zeman's assistant manager for the next thirty years. He lived the fantastic Zemanlandia days at Foggia, the Roman days with Lazio and Roma, then Fenerbahçe, Napoli, Salernitana, Avellino, Lecce, Brescia, Red Star Belgrade, Foggia again, Pescara, Roma again, Cagliari, Lugano, Pescara and finally Foggia again in 2021-22.
There was some success and several failures and sackings but always entertaining football. They achieved two 9th places in Serie A and a promotion at Foggia, a promotion to Serie A at Pescara and a 2nd place in Serie A with Lazio.
They were at Lazio for two and a half seasons with 2nd and 3rd places. There was some great football and some incredible wins (Fiorentina 8-2, Salernitana 7-1, Napoli 5-1, Foggia 7-1, Milan 4-0, Inter 4-1, Juventus 4-0, Sampdoria 6-3 and two derby wins just to name a few) but also inconsistency and in their third season, in January, they were replaced.
They then controversially joined Roma but Cangelosi just followed Zeman who wanted a sort of revenge on Lazio.
In 2022 Cangelosi went solo and became head coach at Casertana in Serie D. The "Falchetti" (Little Falcons) finished 3rd and then won the playoff and were promoted to Serie C. The following year the Rossoblu finished 4th in Serie C and lost in the playoffs to Juventus Next Gen 2-3 on aggregate. He then left Caserta.
Cangelosi's career in football so far will certainly be remembered for his thirty-year assistance to iconic Zdeněk Zeman, no doubt quite a journey.
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