February 24, 1991: Bologna Lazio 1-2
- Simon Basten
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Too easy
Lazio scored two but missed many many more
The season so far
Lazio, tired of Mr. 0-0, Giuseppe Materazzi, were becoming ambitious and as a consequence needed a manager who could lead them to a European Cup participation. Dino Zoff, who had just been dropped by Juventus despite winning both the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia, was the chosen man.
A change in mentality was needed to accompany the new manager so in came Karl-Heinz Riedle, German centre-forward who had just won the world cup, Armando Madonna, Sergio Domini and Roberto Bacci among others. Lazio said goodbye to Paolo Di Canio and Amarildo.
Lazio were currently eighth. They had managed to draw 14 times so far this season and hence only win 4 games. Impossible to qualify for Europe with this pace. There was a need to change the draws into wins.
The problem was that Domini and Madonna were not playing up to their previous standards. The former was considered to be an excellent playmaker and had shown a lot of potential in his previous club Cesena. But with Lazio it was a completely different story. He had the amazing ability of sending long passes in the only places on the pitch without Lazio players. Madonna should have taken Di Canio's place. At Atalanta he was very highly considered but did not settle down with Lazio and was more of a liability than an asset.
It took Zoff the whole of the first half of the season to substitute Madonna on a permanent basis with Bacci and a few more games to put Pedro Troglio in Domini's place. Things had improved slightly and in the first four games of the second part of Serie A Lazio had at least won a couple (Torino and Lecce). Time to continue the trend.
The match: Sunday, February 24, 1991, Stadio Dall’Ara, Bologna
Lazio built their victory methodically and took the lead as early as the 22nd minute thanks to one of Ruben Sosa’s many runs down the left: he sent the ball to Karl-Heinz Riedle, who beat Nello Cusin to it and rediscovered the joy of scoring after more than one hundred days. The goal paralyzed Bologna, unable to react and so frightened that they began making ridiculous mistakes.
In the 28th minute, Pedro Troglio set up Claudio Sclosa in the box; Cusin was beaten by the midfielder’s shot, but Paolo Negro cleared it off the goal line. Anyone expecting a Bologna response was disappointed. It was Lazio who struck again into the “butter” of Emilia, and before halftime they nearly scored twice more. The first chance came in the 44th minute with Ruben Sosa, following a comical save by Cusin and a clearance for a corner by Egidio Notaristefano. The second came in the 45th minute, with the hapless Cusin wandering around the field in pursuit of Riedle, and Gabriele Pin’s lob saved by Renato Villa.
In the second half, Bologna threw themselves into attack. All in vain. Lazio calmly controlled Bologna’s disjointed moves (the only real danger came in the 64th minute, when Roberto Bacci saved on the line from Notaristefano) and responded on the counterattack. If Sosa had been less reckless in front of goal, the scoreline could have resembled a tennis result. Then came the comical finale. After a couple more attempts by the usual Sosa, there was Cusin’s “masterpiece.” The goalkeeper, perhaps dazed by fever, cleared the ball weakly straight to Sosa’s feet, and this time he could hardly fail to score. Even referee Baldas joined the farce, awarding a goal by Kubilay Turkyilmaz in the 85th minute that had been scored from an offside position.
Bologna slowly moving towards relegation.
Who played for Bologna
Cusin, Biondo, Villa, Mariani, Negro, Di Già, Schenardi (56' Campione), Verga, Turkyilmaz, Notaristefano, Waas (46' Anaclerio)
Substitutes: Valleriani, Galvani, Traversa
Manager: Radice
Who played for Lazio
Substitutes: Orsi, Lampugnani, F.Marchegiani, Madonna, Saurini
Manager: Zoff
Referee: Baldas
Goals: 22' Riedle, 78' Sosa, 85' Turkyilmaz
What happened next
Things improved, less draws and a few more wins. Lazio even beat Juventus 1-0. But hopes of a UEFA Cup qualification ended with a loss in Milan against Inter in the penultimate game. Lazio drew 19 times in the 1990-91 season; this sole fact was enough to understand that a lot more had to be done to the squad to be able to have any type of ambition.
Fiori and Sergio were the players with the most appearances (36) and Ruben Sosa the leading goal scorer (12).
Let’s talk about Nello Cusin
Nello Cusin was born in San Stino di Livenza near Venice on March 19, 1965.
He began to play football in the local club and in 1982 signed for Conigliano in Serie C2 where he made 17 appearances. After a year with Treviso in Serie C1, where he made just one appearance, in 1984 he joined Lazio as third goalkeeper, but in a disastrous year for the Biancocelesti he made just two appearances on the bench. After moving to Como for a few months, in October 1985 he signed for Ospitaletto. He stayed two years making 61 league appearances. In 1987 he joined Bologna in Serie B. The club was promoted and he finally debuted in Serie A on October 9 ,1988 at Pisa. He stayed in Emilia Romagna until 1991, year in which Bologna were relegated, also playing in the UEFA Cup in 1990-91 and reaching the final of the Mitropa Cup in 1989.
He then signed for Brescia in 1991 and stayed until 1996, with the exception of a year on loan to Pescara. The Lombards were promoted to Serie A in 1991-92 but were immediately relegated. At Pescara he hardly played, just 5 appearances, and in his last year with Brescia he played just three games.
In 1996 he joined Casarano in Serie C1 where he played regularly and ended his career with the professionals at Lecco in 1999. After a final season in Serie D with Cuneo, he retired in 2000.
Once he stopped playing, he became a goalkeeper coach in the minor leagues of Emilia Romagna and was co-manager with Fabrizio Ferron of Scuola Portieri Uno in Bologna. In 2013-14 he was the goalkeeper coach for the Modena Primavera.
At Lazio he was unlucky, arriving in a bad year and having Nando Orsi and Massimo Cacciatori ahead of him in the pecking order.
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