February 15, 1981: Lazio-Verona 1-0

Dag Jenkins
2 days ago
7 min read

Mastropasqua and little else but two points

An early goal by the Piedmontese midfielder is enough to defeat Verona

Ticket owned by Dag Jenkins, Photo by Dag Jenkins

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had been relegated to Serie B, not on the field but in the Sports Justice Courts. Lazio paid for four of their players' alleged involvement in the Totonero match fixing scandal. Lazio were therefore in Serie B without Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia, Pino Wilson and Massimo Cacciatori.

The new manager was Ilario Castagner who had done well at Perugia. The Biancocelesti also had several new players to try and bounce straight back up to the top flight. Arriving were goalkeeper Maurizio Moscatelli (Pistoiese), defenders Giorgio Mastropasqua (Bologna), Arcadio Spinozzi (Bologna), midfielders Alberto Bigon (Milan), Giuseppe Greco (Torino), Dario Sanguin (Vicenza) and forward Stefano Chiodi (Milan).

Leaving were defender Mauro Tassotti (Milan), midfielders Vincenzo D'Amico (Torino-luckily he would be back), Antonio Lopez (Palermo), Vincenzo Zucchini (Vicenza) and forward Enrico Todesco (Genoa).

So far Lazio had played 20 league games and won 8, drawn 10 and lost 2. Lazio had started well with 6 wins and 4 draws in the first 10 games but then slowed down. In the previous game however, Lazio had won 2-0 away at Palermo. The Biancocelesti were 2nd on 26 points and needed a win today to show they were definitely back on track. The table read Milan 29, Lazio 26, Cesena 25, Sampdoria 24.

In Coppa Italia, Lazio had qualified for the quarter finals to be played in March. In August /September, Lazio had won 3 (Pescara 2-0 away, Varese 2-1 and Verona 3-0, both at home) and drawn 1 (Ascoli 0-0 away). They would now play Serie A team Bologna home and away in March.

Today's opposition Verona had finished 13th in Serie B the previous season. The manager was Fernando Veneranda and top scorer Nicola D'Ottavio with 9 league goals.

This season the manager was Giancarlo Cadè. The main new signings were goalkeeper Paolo Conti (Roma), defender Mauro Ioriatti (Trento), midfielder Fabio Ferri (Forlì), Francesco Guidolin (Pistoiese - back from loan) and Gabriele Valentini (Cesena) plus forwards Enzo Scaini (Campobasso), Nerio Ulivieri (Udinese) and Luciano Venturini (Pistoiese).

Leaving Verona were goalkeeper Franco Superchi (Roma), defenders Bruno Antoniazzi (Giulianova), Mirco Brilli (SPAL) and Gilberto Mancini (Ascoli), midfielders Franco Bergamaschi (Cesena), Stefano Trevisanello (Pescara) and Beniamino Vignola (Avellino) plus forwards Roberto Boninsegna (Viadanese) and Emiliano Mascetti (retiring after 275 league games with Verona).

In Serie B his year the Gialloblu were 12th, with Atalanta and Bari on 18 points (3 above drop zone). They had won 3, drawn 12 (including Lazio 0-0) and lost 5.

In the Coppa Italia Verona were out after a draw and 3 defeats (including Lazio 0-3 away).

Lazio were expected to win but Verona often drew games and had only conceded 14 goals in 20 matches.

The match: Sunday, February 15, 1981, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

A sunny, spring-like day in the capital but with only 25,000 and a heavy atmosphere due to the fans' strike organised by the Curva Nord. The protest was directed at chairman Aldo Lenzini, accused of dragging the club into economic disaster and chaos.

Lazio had no real absences while Verona were without defenders Fabio Ferri and Emiliano Oddi.

The game started positively for the Biancocelesti who went in front early. In the 7th minute Giorgio Mastropasqua headed in from a Nando Viola corner, 1-0.

A perfect start but that was it for Lazio who then went quiet for long periods conceding the initiative to the visitors.

Lazio sat back and defended their lead. The Biancocelesti left too much space between their back line and midfield so the visitors were constantly organising attacks just outside the Lazio area. Fortunately, the Gialloblu lacked the killer punch and were rarely dangerous, their efforts ending up off target.

However, both sides had a chance each towards the end of the half. In the 40th minute Paolo Conti was reactive on a close range Viola strike and two minutes later at the other end Aldo Nardin saved well on Verona's most dangerous player Enzo Scaini. Halftime: Lazio 1 Verona 0.

The second half continued as the first, Verona pushing forward but with Lazio's defence holding firm. There was however a change of forwards for Verona as Luciano Venturini had come on for Luigi Capuzzo.

In the 61st minute came the first substitution as the Scaligeri brought on former Roma midfielder Walter Franzot for Adriano Fedele.

A minute later Scaini forced Nardin into another good save but it was a rare threat.

Lazio's only shot at goal came on a freekick by Filippo Citterio but Conti dived to his left and parried.

In the 75th minute Lazio tried to liven up their midfield by putting on Renzo Garlaschelli for a tired Alberto Bigon.

The Scaini vs Nardin duel continued in the 82nd minute but again the keeper from Friuli got the better.

Ilario Castagner then decided to button up more and threw on defender Pietro Ghedin and took off forward Giuseppe Greco.

The precaution worked as Verona, despite more pressure, were not dangerous again. Final score: Lazio 1 Verona 0.

Far from pretty but two good points for Lazio and a home win after two months. An early goal and not much else but the defence had been solid and the keeper Nardin had finally put in a positive performance. Two useful promotion points but Lazio would have to be more dominant if they wanted to go all the way.

Lazio were still 2nd on 28 points but now two ahead of Cesena and three of Sampdoria who had drawn 0-0 in their direct clash in Genoa.

Verona were now 15th on 18 points and still three above the relegation slots.

Who played for Lazio

Nardin, Spinozzi, Citterio, Perrone, Pochesci, Sanguin, Viola, Bigon (75' Garlaschelli), Chiodi, Mastropasqua, Greco (82' Ghedin)

Substitutes: Marigo, Pighin, Simoni

Manager: Castagner

Who played for Verona

Conti, Joriatti, Fedele (61' Franzot), Piangerelli, Gentile, Tricella, Guidolin, D'Ottavio, Scaini, Capuzzo (46' Venturini)

Substitutes: Paleari, Roversi, Valentini

Manager: Cadè

Referee: Castaldi

Goal: 7' Mastropasqua

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSjXHk8pcWg

What happened next

Lazio went very close to promotion but just fell short and finished 4th. Between today and June 14, the penultimate game of the season, Lazio won 4, drew 8 (including Milan 1-1 away) and lost 3. Not great but maybe just about good enough to get promoted. Then came the June 14 home game against Vicenza. The table read Milan 48, Genoa 44, Cesena 44, Lazio 44 for three places in A.

With the score on 1-1, Lazio were awarded a penalty in the 87th minute. Stefano Chiodi, the specialist who had never missed a penalty, stepped up and.... missed obviously, hitting the post. Cesena and Genoa won and a demoralised Lazio then only drew the last away game at Taranto and so came 4th. A huge disappointment. The top scorer was Alberto Bigon with 10 goals (9 in B).

In Coppa Italia, in the quarter finals, Lazio lost 0-2 both home and away to Bologna.

Verona finished 16th, on 34 points (only one above the last relegation slot). In the remaining games the Scaligeri won 3, drew 10 and lost 4. The top scorers were D'Ottavio and Scaini with 5 league goals each (out of only 24 in 38 games).

Only four years later however, Verona would be Italian champions...

So, at the end of a sad season for Lazio the three promotions were Milan, Genoa and Cesena while going down to Serie C were Monza, Atalanta, Taranto (who had started at -5) and Vicenza.

Lets talk about Giorgio Mastropasqua

Giorgio Mastropasqua was born in Rivoli (Turin area) on July 13 1951.

He started his football career in the youth teams of Juventus. Having joined the first team in 1969, in 1970 he was sent on loan firstly to Perugia for a year and then two years at Ternana. In his first season with the Umbria club, Ternana got promoted to Serie A. In 1972 he debuted in Serie A and also played for Italy Under-23s.

Ternana however were relegated to Serie B in his second year and Mastropasqua returned to Juventus. In 1973-74 he appeared 8 times for the Bianconeri and in 1974 he joined Atalanta as part of the Gaetano Scirea deal. He stayed for five years and helped the Bergamo side to promotion to Serie A in 1977. In 1979-80 he signed for Bologna and the year after he joined Lazio.

When he arrived Lazio were in Serie A and President Umberto Lenzini was building a team that on the cards could have had European ambitions, but unfortunately Lazio were relegated to Serie B (unjustifiably but that’s another story) due to the Totonero scandal. Lazio were however favourites to come straight back up, but failed in the penultimate match when Stefano Chiodi missed a penalty that could have meant promotion. In Mastropasqua’s second year Lazio were very disappointing and only just managed to avoid relegation to Serie C.

Mastropasqua left and joined Catania and was one of the key players that helped the islanders reach Serie A (his third promotion). The last years of his professional career were spent at Piacenza and Pavia.

Mastropasqua was a modern “libero”. He was not one of those sweepers that defended behind the defence line, but he played ten meters forward, almost at midfield. He had good technique and was unlucky to have joined Lazio at the wrong time.

He was however ultimately fundamental in helping Lazio return to Serie A. In Lazio’s penultimate game of the 1982-83 season, the Biancocelesti had to face Mastropasqua’s Catania. It was a very important game, a win for either side would have almost secured promotion. In the second half, the match was 1-1 when Mastropasqua deflected an innocuous Gabriele Podavini shot into his own goal. Lazio won and needed only a point in the last game to go back to Serie A. In the end both teams were promoted.

He appeared 78 times for Lazio (69 in Serie B and nine in Coppa Italia) and scored five goals (all in Serie B)

When he stopped playing football he became a manager and worked for several amateur clubs in the Bergamo area.