December 30, 1962: Lazio Cagliari 2-1

Simon Basten
Dec 30, 2025
7 min read

Lazio Turn the Tide with Spirited Comeback

Moschino and Morrone lead the Biancocelesti to a brilliant turnaround after an early setback

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had lost out on promotion by just one point due to the infamous ghost goal.

Lazio had to play Napoli at the Stadio Flaminio on March 4, 1962. It was a big match, if Lazio won the immediate return to Serie A would have been downhill. In the 76th minute the referee, Iginio Rigato, gave a free kick to Lazio. Gianni Seghedoni with a splendid shot put the ball in the back of the net. The Lazio players and fans celebrated, the Napoli players despaired. Rigato laughed. “It’s not a goal, the ball was out”. He claimed there was a hole in the net and the ball went right through it. Lazio protested but there was nothing the players could do. The Rai TV footage proved the referee’s mistake and Lazio appealed to the Lega Calcio, but the game’s result remained 0-0. The referee never admitted his mistake. Lazio missed out on promotion by one point, Napoli went into Serie A thanks to that point.

In the summer transfer window not a lot was done, with perhaps the exception of the return of Pierluigi Pagni from his loan to Cosenza. More interesting were the autumn transfers with Gianfranco Garbuglia, Gianbattista Moschino on loan and the return of fan favourite Orlando Rozzoni. Also signed was Gianmarco Calleri who would have an important impact on Lazio but in another role in 20 years’ time. Leaving Lazio were, among many, Giacomo Del Gratta, Franco Pezzullo and Maurilio Prini.

After just four games Lazio had sacked manager Carlo Facchini and called up Juan Carlos Lorenzo for the first of his three stints with the Biancocelesti. The promotion race was very tight with lots of teams involved. The Biancocelesti were currently 8th, three points from third place. They had just come from a heavy defeat at Messina the previous Sunday.

The match: Sunday, December 30, 1962, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Angelo Longoni returned to the squad after more than three months out, having convinced in training that he had fully recovered from the serious injury suffered in the Coppa Italia against Fiorentina. Juan Carlos Lorenzo deployed him, somewhat surprisingly, as a right-sided mezzala, while assigning Giambattista Moschino the role of tactical winger.

Cagliari burst out of the blocks. Mario Martiradonna sent in a deep cross that Renato Ronconi diverted toward goal, but Idilio Cei produced a spectacular diving save to keep it out. In the 6th minute Antonino Congiu’s header sailed over the bar. Five minutes later came the opening goal: a mishit effort from former Lazio man Giuseppe Gagliardi ricocheted off Vincenzo Gasperi’s legs and fell kindly for Danilo Torriglia, who slotted home with a simple diagonal finish from close range. A fortunate strike that immediately put the Romans on the back foot.

Sensing his side’s struggles, Lorenzo switched the positions of Longoni and Moschino. The adjustment paid off at once as Lazio began to find rhythm. Longoni fired over in the 14th minute, and Angelo Colombo was twice tested by Giancarlo Morrone soon after. The visiting keeper was then rescued by the post in the 19th minute after another powerful effort from Longoni.

The equaliser arrived just after the half-hour mark. Morrone drew three defenders to the right flank before switching play brilliantly to the opposite side, where Moschino brought the ball under control and beat Colombo with a precise diagonal strike from fifteen metres—his first goal in the Biancoceleste shirt. Two minutes later Lazio completed the turnaround. Moschino released Claudio Bizzarri down the right; his cross found Morrone arriving like a bolt of lightning, and the striker thundered a header into the net.

After the break, Cagliari increased the tempo in search of an equaliser. In the 53rd minute Cei produced a stunning save to deny them: Martiradonna’s cross found Torriglia, whose header was destined for the top corner until the Lazio goalkeeper soared to claw it away. Lazio responded immediately, and on 56 minutes a sweeping team move ended with Orlando Rozzoni unleashing a ferocious drive that crashed against Colombo’s crossbar.

The match remained wide open. In the 59th minute Enrico Mazzucchi lashed a rising shot just over, and moments later Morrone narrowly failed to control a loose ball only metres from goal. The oriundo remained a constant threat, forcing Colombo into another difficult intervention. Gradually the pace faded, both teams having spent enormous energy. Cei—outstanding alongside Gasperi and Morrone—calmly gathered a long-range attempt from Mario Tiddia, the last meaningful action of an entertaining match.

Who played for Lazio

Cei, Zanetti, Garbuglia, Governato, Pagni, Gasperi, Bizzarri. Longoni, Rozzoni, Morrone, Moschino

Manager: Lovati

TD: Lorenzo

Who played for Cagliari

Colombo, Martiradonna, Spinosi, Mazzucchi, Vescovi, Tiddia, Torriglia, Rizzo, Ronconi, Gagliardi, Congiu

Manager: Silvestri

Referee: Marchese

Goals: 11’ Torriglia, 31’ Moschino, 33’ Morrone

What happened next

At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 6th just one point off Padova, Foggia and Lecco, third, and two behind Brescia. Messina were leaders.

Lazio reached second place in the second half of March after four consecutive wins and stayed in the promotion zone from then on. Serie A arrived in the very last game, after winning 2-0 against Pro Patria. A triumphant year for Lazio who came second behind Messina and in the company of Bari. A deserved return to Serie A.

Idilio Cei and Diego Zanetti were the players with most appearances (39), Giancarlo Morrone, Paolo Bernasconi and Orlando Rozzoni the top goal scorers (10).

Let’s talk about Giancarlo Morrone

Juan Carlos Morrone, better known as Giancarlo and nicknamed “El Gaucho”, is a Lazio legend.

Born a forward but later in his career he moved behind the attackers, Morrone was a Biancoceleste idol for many years and once he quit football he worked with the youth teams for over a decade.

Born in Buenos Aires on February 5, 1941, he started playing football at Platense in the Argentinian Second Division at just 17 years of age. In two years, he scored 46 goals and in 1960 signed for Lazio. He arrived when the season had already started and Lazio were bottom. He could not save the Biancocelesti.

In the first year of Serie B, Morrone scored 14 goals (including the first ever Lazio goal in Serie B), but Lazio missed out on promotion due to the infamous ghost goal.

Lazio returned to Serie A in the 1962-63 season with Morrone contributing another 10 league goals.

In 1963-64, manager Juan Carlos Lorenzo decided to transform the centre forward into a number 10, so he could provide assists to forwards Orlando Rozzoni and Mario Mareschi. The intuition did not really work well but not through any fault of El Gaucho. The forwards had simply seen better days.

In 1964 Lazio sold Morrone to Fiorentina. Always short of money, the club took the opportunity to cash in a large amount plus two players (Can Bartu and Giampiero Vitali). Morrone played two years in Florence, met his future wife, won a Coppa Italia, and showed all his quality.

But he missed Lazio. So, in 1966-67 he returned and stayed for another five seasons. Lazio had mixed fortunes in this period, but Morrone stood out. He played a total of 269 games for Lazio (120 in Serie A, 119 in Serie B, 18 in Coppa Italia, 5 in Mitropa Cup, 2 in the Intercities Fairs Cup, 3 in the Anglo Italian Cup and 2 in the Cup of the Alps) scoring 53 goals (15 in Serie A, 32 in Serie B, 4 in Coppa Italia and 2 in the Cup of the Alps).

In 1971 he signed for Foggia in Serie B and played a couple of years. In 1973 he moved to Avellino but a year later he suffered a very bad injury and was forced to retire.

Once he stopped he immediately started a very successful career as manager of Lazio youth teams.

In 1983 he was called to manage the A team for the last five games of the Serie B championship. Lazio had seen the return of Bruno Giordano and Lionello Manfredonia and under manager Roberto Clagluna had done very well in the first half of the season. But then the Biancocelesti went into a long psychological and technical crisis. They had difficulties in scoring because they were not creating chances. Clagluna could not figure out a solution. In April Lazio dismally drew 0-0 three times and lost at home against Pistoiese and away to Varese.

The match against Reggiana on May 8 was fundamental, Serie A was slipping away. Lazio scored three times with Giordano but were unable to secure victory. Clagluna had to go in order to create a spark that could help Lazio get over the line. Giancarlo Morrone was called in to help create that spark. In the next match however, things precipitated even further and Lazio lost 5-1 to Milan. But then two home wins and two away draws gave Lazio the necessary points and it was Serie A again after three years.

There was a change in Presidency and Giorgio Chinaglia purchased the club. He confirmed Morrone as manager. There was great hope, but, with very few exceptions, Lazio were disappointing. In the first 12 games the Biancocelesti won three times (including beating Inter 3-0), drew twice and lost all the remaining matches. Morrone was fired, and replaced by Paolo Carosi, another former Lazio player.

Morrone returned to the Primavera team and won the national title in 1986-87 but with the arrival of the Calleri brothers he decided his time at Lazio was over. From 1987 he managed the Napoli Primavera team for four years and then went on teaching football in a number of Serie C clubs.

El Gaucho was a fantastic football player. Magnificent dribbler, he had a powerful shot and great vision. The chronicles indicate that his best game was against Mantova in 1963 when he was marked by Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, one of the most ruthless defenders the world has ever seen. That match he drove the German nuts, pure magic. He never made it to the Italian National team and that was a pity. As manager he was a great teacher of football, always up to date with what was happening.

Lazio career

Season	Total games (goals)	Serie A	Serie B	Coppa Italia	Mitropa Cup	Fairs Cup	Anglo-Italian Cup	Cup of the Alps
1960-61	21 (7)	17 (4)	-	3 (2)	-	-	-	1 (1)
1961-62	35 (14)	-	33 (13)	2 (1)	-	-	-	-
1962-63	34 (9)	-	33 (9)	1	-	-	-	-
1963-64	32 (5)	31 (5)	-	1	-	-	-	-
1966-67	38 (4)	33 (4)	-	2	3	-	-	-
1967-68	30 (4)	-	28 (4)	2	-	-	-	-
1968-69	28 (6)	-	27 (6)	1	-	-	-	-
1969-70	30 (2)	22 (2)	-	3	2	-	3	-
1970-71	21 (2)	15	-	3 (1)	-	2	-	1 (1)
Total	269 (53)	118 (15)	121 (32)	18 (4)	5	2	3	2 (2)