Lazio sweep away Atalanta
A Rocchi double, both on penalties, and a goal by Pandev sweep away Atalanta.
Also on this day: February 17, 1974, Lazio Juventus 3-1. A goal by Garlaschelli and a Chinaglia double put Lazio in driving seat for title. Player of the day: Fausto Inselvini
The season so far
Lazio had qualified as third for the preliminary round for the Champions League in the previous season so all the fans expected President Claudio Lotito to invest a little money in the team. He did not. The big problem was that a new goalkeeper was needed. Lazio had to say goodbye to Angelo Peruzzi, who had decided to quit, and Matteo Sereni, who had refused to stay. A signing had been made, Juan Pablo Carrizo, a promising Argentinian, but due to passport problems he had to be loaned to River Plate. This meant that Lazio now had two keepers: 43-year-old Marco Ballotta and 21-year-old Fernando Muslera who had just arrived. Who would play?
There were four other new arrivals: Aleksander Kolarov, Lionel Scaloni, Simone Del Nero and Mourad Meghni. Enough? The fans had big doubts.
The first game of the season was the Champions League qualifying round against Dinamo Bucharest. After drawing at home the first leg, Lazio managed to win in Bucharest and reach the group phase. They were faced with mighty Real Madrid, Werder Bremen and Olympiakos. Not an easy group but Lazio initially did pretty well and at one point were very close to continuing their adventure. But then they lost at home against the Greeks and therefore missed out on a UEFA Cup qualification too.
Having to play three competitions with such a limited, number wise, squad was certainly going to be difficult and Lazio suffered. At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 14th and very close to the bottom of the table. Not much joy for the fans and a terrible start for Muslera who made quite a number of blunders.
Lazio had done well in Coppa Italia defeating Napoli and Fiorentina. Now they had to face Inter in the semi-finals.
In November 2007 a Lazio fan, Gabriele Sandri, was shot dead by a policeman. At a service area along the A1 motorway a group of Lazio fans going to Milan to see the game against Inter had a fight with some Juventus supporters. The highway patrol was on the other side of the motorway and could not really see what was happening. Sandri’s friends had nothing to do with the fight and had stopped for refreshments leaving their friend in the car who was having a nap. The police noticed this group of fans going back to the car. Policeman Luigi Spaccarotella took out his gun and fired two shots. His second killed Gabriele. Sandri was a popular DJ and a well-known Lazio fan. It was a terrible day.
In the winter transfer window, Lotito finally came to the rescue and in came Stefan Radu, a promising Romanian defender, David Rozehnal, an experienced Czech defender and Rolando Bianchi, tall centre forward on loan from Manchester City. Fan favourite Ousmane Dabo also returned after 18 disappointing months at Manchester City.
The second half of the season had just started and Lazio really needed a win against Atalanta.
The match: Sunday, February 17, 2008, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio without Kolarov, Luciano Zauri, Fabio Firmani and Massimo Mutarelli at least managed to recover Radu and Valon Behrami for this game. Delio Rossi decided that Bianchi was not ready to start from the beginning and preferred to play with Goran Pandev.
Tommaso Rocchi had a chance in the 6th minute following a great pass from Stefano Mauri but he was anticipated by Ferdinando Coppola. In the 25th minute there was a penalty for Lazio. Pandev saw Christian Manfredini unmarked on the left just inside the box and passed him the ball. His control was not perfect but he managed to anticipate the Atalanta goalkeeper who knocked him down. Rocchi scored the penalty.
Atalanta began to get a little dangerous towards the end of the first half. Cristiano Doni’s shot from a free kick in the 42nd minute was very well saved by Marco Ballotta.
Atalanta had a big chance in the 48th minute. Doni crossed the ball in the box, Sergio Floccari was anticipated by Sebastiano Siviglia, ball to Tiberio Guarente but his shot was too high. Lazio replied with a mighty whack from Cristian Ledesma which went just over the crossbar.
In the 56th minute, a great assist from Mauri allowed Pandev to fly unmarked towards the box and score. 2-0 for Lazio.
Doni tried again to reduce the deficit but was denied by Ballotta. Bianchi, who had substituted Pandev in the 79th minute, with two minutes to go was brought down in the box. The referee gave Lazio their second penalty and Rocchi made it 3-0.
Who played for Lazio
Ballotta, Behrami, Siviglia, Cribari, Radu, Mudingayi (89’ Dabo), Ledesma, Manfredini, Mauri (84’ De Silvestri), Rocchi, Pandev (79’ Bianchi).
Manager: Rossi
Who played for Atalanta
Coppola, Rivalta, Capelli, Pellegrino, Bellini, Ferreira Pinto (46' Guarente), Tissone, De Ascentis, Langella (51' S. Inzaghi), Doni, Floccari (65' Muslimovic).
Substitutes: Ivan, Padoin, Belleri, Manfredini.
Manager: Delneri.
Referee: Girardi
Goals: 26’ Rocchi (pen), 56’ Pandev, 88’ Rocchi (pen)
What happened next
Lazio in the end finished 12th. Not a season to be remembered with the exception of beating Roma in injury time. Lazio did not have the money to be competitive in Champions League and perhaps if they had played the UEFA Cup in the previous season (they qualified but due to Calciopoli they missed out), they could have had that little more experience necessary that would have been very useful in the management of three competitions.
In Coppa Italia Lazio were eliminated in the semi-final by Inter.
Rocchi was the player with the most appearances (48) and together with Pandev was the top goal scorer.
Lazio 2007-08
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 47 |
Coppa Italia | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
Champions League | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
Total | 52 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 66 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League |
Rocchi | 48 | 36 | 4 | 8 |
Pandev | 44 | 32 | 5 | 7 |
Ledesma | 43 | 32 | 4 | 7 |
Cribari | 42 | 31 | 5 | 6 |
Ballotta | 39 | 29 | 2 | 8 |
Top goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League |
Rocchi | 19 | 14 | 1 | 4 |
Pandev | 19 | 14 | - | 5 |
Bianchi | 4 | 4 | - | - |
Let's talk about Marco Ballotta
Marco Ballotta is the highlander of Italian football. Born in Casalecchio di Reno on April 3, 1964, he started his football career in the youth teams of San Lazzaro and then with Bologna. In the 1982-83 season he played with Casalecchio and then went back to Bologna.
In October 1984 he signed for Modena. He stayed with them until November 1990 playing in Serie C1 and Serie B. After a brief stint with Cesena, where he debuted in Serie A, he signed for Parma where he stayed for three years winning a Coppa Italia, a Cup Winners Cup and a UEFA Super Cup. With Parma he was backup for Claudio Taffarel in his first year and Luca Bucci in his third, but in the second he played 30 games. After Parma he moved to Brescia for a year followed by two very successful seasons at Reggiana, in the first helping the club to promotion to Serie A.
He signed with Lazio in 1997 as backup for Luca Marchegiani. He did not play much but he was fundamental in a couple of decisive matches, most notably the game in Turin against Juventus in 2000. Lazio were six points behind Juve and needed a win to give them scudetto possibilities. The Biancocelesti won thanks to a Diego Simeone header and thanks to Ballotta’s great saves.
At the end of the scudetto season, Lazio invested in a new goalkeeper, Angelo Peruzzi, and Marchegiani became his deputy. Hence no more room for Ballotta who as a consequence signed for Inter. After a year in Milan he was back at Modena where he stayed for three seasons helping the team to a promotion in Serie A. In 2004-05 he signed with Treviso in Serie B and played most of the games.
He was back at Lazio in 2005 as third goalkeeper but Peruzzi was often injured and Sereni was not in such good shape so Ballotta managed to play 12 games the first season and 14 in the second. In his third and last year he took over goalkeeping duties from Fernando Muslera after the Uruguayan showed that he was not ready for Serie A.
In that year he set two records: the oldest player ever to play a Serie A game at 44 years old and 38 days (against Genoa on May 11, 2008) as well as the oldest player ever to play a Champion’s League game at 43 years of age and 252 days (against Real Madrid on December 11, 2007).
That season was his last in professional football, but he continued to play football at amateur level until way over 50.
He played 85 games for Lazio (61 in Serie A, 10 in Coppa Italia, 12 in Champions League, one in the Cup Winners Cup and one in the UEFA Cup) and won a Scudetto, two Coppa Italias, a Cup Winners Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and an Italian Super Coppa.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Cup Winners Cup | UEFA Cup |
1997-98 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | 1 |
1998-99 | 4 | 3 | - | - | 1 | - |
1999-00 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | - | - |
2005-06 | 12 | 8 | 4 | - | - | - |
2006-07 | 14 | 11 | 3 | - | - | - |
2007-08 | 39 | 29 | 2 | 8 | - | - |
Total | 85 | 61 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 1 |
Sources