February 26, 1922: Lazio Alba 3-2

Simon Basten
14 hours ago
4 min read

Survival of the luckiest

Lazio fall behind, score three, suffer a comeback from Alba which ends on a penalty hitting the woodwork

The season so far

The 1921-22 season was a rather complicated one due to the schism in the Italian Football Federation which led to the creation of the Confederazione Calcistica Italiana (CCI – Italian Football Confederation). The clubs had asked for a reduction in the number of football teams participating in the league and Vittorio Pozzo, who would be future Italian Coach and winner of two World Cups, had devised a plan but this had been rejected by the Federation. Therefore, the major clubs had formed their own federation (CCI) and had organised their own league. Lazio joined the major clubs.

The CCI championship was divided into two Leagues, a northern one and a southern one. The latter included the clubs of Lazio, Campania, Marche, Puglia and Sicily. After a semi-final group with the winners of all the regions, the winner would then meet the winner of the Northern League in the final.

There were nine teams in the Lazio group and the Biancocelesti were not doing well. They were far behind leaders Fortitudo (who were the only team to have completed all of the 11 fixtures so far) and were fourth together with Roman who had one game in hand. The main problem was that they were playing badly and hence not scoring as much as they used to.

The match: Sunday, February 26, 1922, Campo della Rondinella, Rome

The match remained uncertain until the very end. Alba immediately moved forward at a fast pace and the Lazio defence fell apart, conceding the first goal. Lazio reacted and imposed their style of play, managing to equalise in the 36th minute with Dante Filippi. Lazio kept pressing, and Luigi Saraceni scored again for his team. In the 44th minute, Ugo Dosio converted a penalty to bring Lazio’s tally to three goals.

In the second half, Alba showed a slight supremacy, and in the 23rd minute Matteo Salineri was caught off guard by a long-range shot which slipped from the goalkeeper’s hands and ended up in the net. In the 44th minute, Alba had a massive chance to equalise, but the penalty awarded to them was missed by De Giuli, who struck the crossbar.

Who played for Lazio

Salinieri, Saraceni I, Dosio, Faccani, Maneschi, Orazi I, Fraschetti, Filippi, Parboni, Saraceni II, Varini Manager: Baccani

Who played for Alba

Sironi, Lamanna, Mattei, Fizzotti, Buratti, Gallina, Mattiello, Rovida, De Giuli, Dragoni, Giacconi

Referee: unknown

Goals: 1’ unknown Alba, 36’ Filippi, 40’ Saraceni II, 44’ Dosio (pen), 68’ unknown Alba

What happened next

Lazio ended up fourth in a disappointing season. They did however win the Canalini Cup and the reserves championship. Later in the season they started to play Fulvio Bernardini as centre forward and the experiment was successful. The team would see the benefits starting from the next season.

Faccani and Orazi had the most appearances this season (19), top scorer was Filippi with 10 goals.

Let’s talk about Alessandro Varini

Alessandro Varini was born on June 24, 1900 in Rome.

He played for Lazio as a forward for 13 years, from the 1913/14 to the 1925/26 season. He made his first-team debut at a very young age in Audace–Lazio (3–0) on 28 February 1915, when, due to the sudden absence of several regular starters, he was called up to play together with other members of the second and third teams. He shared a room with Fulvio Bernardini, with whom he formed a formidable attacking partnership.

He was a fast, skillful striker with a strong instinct for goal, although he devoted himself more to building up attacking play than to finishing. His official appearances numbered 66, with 12 goals.

He left football when he got married, since at that time playing football did not provide any financial income. He worked for many years in his father’s carpentry workshop on Via Vittoria in Rome, which unfortunately went bankrupt. He then found work at another carpentry shop that took him to Albania with his son. After returning to Rome, he worked for a construction company on the bridge being built on Corso Francia. There he suffered an accident, slipping and sustaining serious injuries under his chin. He was rescued and treated, but internal injuries to his stomach went unnoticed, leading to his premature death. It was November 24 1944.

Lazio Career

Season	Total games (goals)	First Category	First Division	Other
1914-15	1	1	-	-
1915-16	2 (1)	-	-	2 (1)
1916-17	5 (1)	-	-	5 (1)
1919-20	19 (4)	12 (3)	-	7 (1)
1920-21	15 (1)	15 (1)
1921-22	12 (4)	-	12 (4)
1922-23	4	-	4	-
1923-24	7 (1)	-	7 (1)	-
1924-25	1	-	1	-
Total	66 (12)	28 (4)	24 (5)	14 (3)