Big win gives hope
A massive win in Naples gives Lazio a small ray of hope
Also on this day: February 19, 1998, Juventus Lazio 0-1 Coppa Italia. A first half Boksic goal leaves the Biancocelesti optimistic for return leg. Non Lazio player of the day: Alessandro Del Piero
The season so far
There probably could not have been a worse start for Lazio in the 1960-61 season. Chaos at the club, lack of money and therefore little possibility to invest on great players, and problems with the manager, Fulvio Bernardini, translated into two draws and seven losses in the first nine games.
Just before the game against Spal in December, Bernardini was shown the door and the team was given to Lazio legend Enrique “Flacco” Flamini who was managing Lazio’s youth teams. There was hope that the enthusiasm would allow Lazio to avoid their first relegation to Serie B, which seemed very likely at this point. The win against Spal was however a rare occasion and Lazio at the end of the first part of the season were in a desperate position. On January 6, Jesse Carver was called in to help Flamini with the situation in an attempt to revitalise the team.
In September Lazio played the final for 3rd place of the previous year’s Coppa Italia and beat Torino 2-1 (the finals for first and third place were played at the beginning of the 1960-61 season).
The match: Sunday, February 19, 1961, Stadio San Paolo, Naples
The managers of both teams had changed a lot of players before this game. Carver had Amos Mariani injured and decided to give Giancarlo Morrore a rest, introducing Gianni Bui.
Lazio started surprisingly well. In the 10th minute Franco Janich won a duel with Emanuele Del Vecchio and made a long pass to Adelmo Eufemi who immediately passed it to Claudio Bizzari. The Lazio player thundered into the penalty box and was fouled by Celso Posio. A penalty, that Franco Carradori had no problem with and Lazio were one up.
While Napoli were trying to form some kind of reaction, Lazio made it two. Eufemi cleared the Lazio penalty box, ball to Orlando Rozzoni who passed it to Paolo Carosi. The midfielder dribbled Maioli and 35 metres from the goal he decided to shoot. Impossible for Bugatti to save, 2-0 for Lazio.
Eleven minutes later Lazio made it three. Rozzoni received the ball from an Egidio Fumagalli throw-in, ran past Posio and Elia Greco and put the ball in the net. Incredible. The Neapolitans were shocked, the last thing they would have imagined was for weak Lazio to show such strength.
Napoli attempted a comeback but in the 40th minute Guido Postiglione kicked the ball high from a favourable position. 3-0 for Lazio at the end of the first half.
At the start of the second half, Lazio made it four. After a header that went just out, in the 48th minute Rozzoni thundered a shot into goal following a great move started by Fumagalli and continued by Bruno Franzini and Giovanni Molino. Lazio then sat back a bit and Napoli, booed by their fans, scored twice. Juan Carlos Tacchi’s shot in the 54th minute hit the woodwork but Del Vecchio was ready for the tap in. A quarter of an hour later another shot from outside the box went past Bob Lovati and Napoli started to believe they could actually make a real comeback.
But this was not to be. A weak clearance by the Napoli defence was picked up by Fumagalli who made it five for Lazio. Great enthusiasm for the Lazio supporters, there was still a glimmer of hope of avoiding relegation.
Who played for Napoli
Bugatti, Greco, Mistone, Bertucco, Posio, Bodi, Di Giacomo, Postiglione, Del Vecchio, Maioli, Tacchi.
Coach: Amadei.
Manager: Cesarini.
Who played for Lazio
Coach: Flamini
Manager: Carver
Referee: Bonetto
Goals: 10’ Carradori (pen), 21’ Carosi, 32’ Rozzoni, 48’ Rozzoni, 54’ Del Vecchio, 69’ Maioli, 74’ Fumagalli
What happened next
This win was one of the rare moments of solace for Lazio in the 1960-61 season. Things did not improve as hoped.
At least they beat Roma. While the bets on the match were more focused on how many goals Lazio were going to concede, Lazio put in a surprising effort and won. But it was not enough. Lazio ended up last.
But they did well in Coppa Italia. After beating Como at home in March for 4-0, they played in San Siro against Inter in April. An early goal by Giancarlo Morrone was enough to reach the semi-finals where they beat Torino on penalties in May.
The final was however another story. Lazio, already relegated, lost 2-0 to Fiorentina.
In the early summer of 1961 Lazio had to play against Grasshopper Zurich for their leg of the Cup of the Alps. In the first two tournaments, 4 Italian sides played against 4 Swiss in a single home and away match. The nation that got more points won the trophy. Lazio won their leg by winning 5-0 away and drawing 3-3 at home.
Carradori was the player with most appearances that season (39 in total, 32 in Serie A) while the leading scorer was Rozzoni with 15 goals (11 in Serie A).
Lazio 1960-61
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 34 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 30 |
Coppa Italia | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Total | 38 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 36 |
Top Five Appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Carradori | 36 | 32 | 4 |
Rozzoni | 33 | 30 | 3 |
Eufemi | 31 | 28 | 3 |
Janich | 30 | 28 | 2 |
Molino | 29 | 26 | 3 |
Top Five Goal Scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Rozzoni | 13 | 11 | 2 |
Morrone | 6 | 4 | 2 |
Carradori | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Franzini | 2 | 2 | - |
Mariani | 2 | 2 | - |
Fumagalli | 2 | 2 | - |
Let’s talk about Paolo Carosi
Paolo Carosi was a real gentleman. The Lazio fans used to call him “Barone” (Baron). A midfielder, Carosi was a real Lazio fan who happened to play for the Biancocelesti for many years and was their manager both at youth level and for the A team.
Born in Tivoli on April 8 1938, he started playing football in the youth teams of his hometown but arrived at Lazio as soon as he was twenty years of age. In the first two seasons he was a part of the subs team, but then got his regular place in the first team. In his first full season Lazio were relegated, so in his second he had to play in Serie B. In the winter transfer window of 1962 he was loaned to Udinese for whom he played 29 games and scored 4 goals. Back at Lazio in 1963 he played for the Biancocelesti until 1968 when he signed for Catania. His last season as a professional was at L’Aquila in Serie D in 1969.
He played 198 times for Lazio (139 in Serie A, 37 in Serie B, 19 in Coppa Italia and 3 in Mitropa Cup) and scored three goals (2 in Serie A and 1 in Serie B). Carosi will also be remembered for the game against Milan in San Siro in the 1966-67 season. Lazio were losing 2-1 and with two minutes to go, the referee, Aurelio Angonese mistakenly closed the game. The Biancocelesti protested but it took a while for the referee to realise his mistake. Once he did, all the players were summoned back to the pitch to play the last two minutes. Unfortunately Carosi was in the shower, so he quickly had to dry off and put his kit back on. He was really angry and refused to tie his shoelaces and to go back to the position where he was supposed to play. He just stayed put at midfield. There were only two minutes left, what was the point? But a stray ball arrived his way and he saw that Romano Bagatti was unmarked. He quickly passed the ball to the Lazio striker who made it 2-2!!!
Carosi started to manage Lazio youth teams once he quit playing football and was manager of the Lazio Primavera for five years and won the scudetto in 1975-76. In his squad he had the crème de la crème of Lazio youth: Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia, Andrea Agostinelli, Maurizio Montesi and Massimo De Stefanis.
In 1977-78 he managed Avellino, taking them to promotion, and signed for Fiorentina in 1978, taking them to 6th place in the 1979-80 season. He was fired in the next season due to bad results. In 1981-82 he managed Cagliari and the season after Bologna.
After the Lazio defeat against Napoli on December 11 1983, Giorgio Chinaglia fired Giancarlo Morrone and called Paolo Carosi. The situation was desperate. Lazio were third from bottom with just eight points. It went from bad to worse when two games later Giordano broke his leg following a ruthless tackle by Antonio Bogoni (who was not even booked). Lazio fell into despair, lost the Ascoli match and also the next one at home against Pisa.
Lazio had only nine points after the first half of the season. Carosi realised that he had to do something and he counted on the players with greater experience. Life without probably one of the best centre forwards in Europe was not going to be easy and there was no backup plan. At this point Vincenzo D’Amico and Manfredonia took matters into their own hands and guided the team.
Lazio started earning points. In the first six games of the second half of the season they beat Genoa and Sampdoria at home and drew against Verona, Inter away (thanks to a Walter Zenga howler) and drew a dramatic derby 2-2.
Just when things were looking brighter, Lazio stumbled again. The last four games were fundamental. Fortunately Giordano came back in record time. Against Napoli Giordano regained his place in the centre of the Lazio attack and the Biancocelesti managed to win the match 3-2. In the final two games of the season Lazio needed three points to avoid relegation. A win against Ascoli at home and a draw against Pisa with a Giordano double allowed Lazio to stay in Serie A.
Carosi was confirmed as Lazio manager but there were problems during the 1984 summer transfer window. Chinaglia had sold both Manfredonia and Giordano to Juventus in exchange for a few players and much needed cash. However, one of the players that was supposed to come to Lazio, Massimo Briaschi, refused the transfer. Giordano and Manfredonia also refused to play for Juventus (they were offered a lower wage than which they were earning at Lazio) and everything fell through. Lazio more or less had the same squad as the previous year, but it was impossible to do worse than the previous year.
In the Coppa Italia group phase Lazio played well but were knocked out. Lazio and Roma had the same number of points and a two-point lead over Genoa. Lazio lost the derby (due to a non-existent penalty) and Genoa won 5-0, Lazio were eliminated on goal difference. Chinaglia was not happy. Nor was he happy when Lazio lost the first game of Serie A against Socrates’ Fiorentina. The next game Lazio lost away to Zico’s Udinese 5-0. Chinaglia made his biggest mistake as President of Lazio by sacking Carosi and calling a semi-retired Juan Carlos Lorenzo to become manager. Lazio were relegated at the end of the season. It was a huge mistake that Lazio would pay for a very long time.
Paolo Carosi’s last year as manager was in 1986 when he was called by Monza in Serie B but he could not avoid relegation.
He was Lazio’s manager for 25 games, 20 in Serie A and 5 in Coppa Italia.
He died in Rome on March 15 2010.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia | Mitropa Cup | Cup of the Alps | Italo-French Friendship Cup |
1958-59 | 6 | 4 | - | 2 | - | - | - |
1959-60 | 12 | 9 | - | 1 | - | - | 2 |
1960-61 | 28 (1) | 22 (1) | - | 4 | - | 2 | - |
1961-62 | 27 (1) | - | 24 (1) | 3 | - | - | - |
1962-63 | 3 | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | - |
1963-64 | 18 | 18 | - | - | - | - | - |
1964-65 | 25 | 24 | - | 1 | - | - | - |
1965-66 | 32 | 29 | - | 3 | - | - | - |
1966-67 | 38 (1) | 33 (1) | - | 2 | 3 | - | - |
1967-68 | 13 | - | 11 | 2 | - | - | - |
Total | 202 (3) | 139 (2) | 37 (1) | 19 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Sources
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