Zeman condemns Foggia to Serie B

Simon Basten
May 28, 2024
2 min read

Season 1994-95

Game 33, Serie A

Sunday, May 28, 1995

Stadio Pino Zaccheria, Foggia

Foggia Lazio 0-1

Lazio win thanks to Signori and Foggia are relegated

After the first half of the season Lazio were third, four points behind Parma and five from leaders Juventus. The second part had started badly with two consecutive defeats and in the next eight games they had lost another three times. They had fallen to fifth place, six points from Parma, second. But in the next five matches they had beaten Roma, Juventus and Inter and were now joint third with Milan just three points behind Parma, second. Juventus had already won the scudetto.

Foggia needed to win today to continue to have a slim chance of avoiding relegation, but Lazio were not going to do anyone any favours.

The match: Sunday, May 28, 1995, Stadio Pino Zaccheria, Foggia

Just a couple of hours before the game, the team were informed of the death of Mario Di Cola, a former Lazio counsellor in the 1970s. He was in Foggia ready to watch the match but he died of a heart attack in a hotel room where the players were staying.

The team was in shock and it looked like they were not particularly interested in the game. Foggia on the other hand were in a desperate situation. They needed to win in order to keep their slender hopes of staying in Serie A.

The Biancocelesti laid in waiting apart from an Alen Boksic shot which went wide in the 3rd minute. Foggia went close to scoring in the 9th minute when Luca Marchegiani fumbled on a Massimiliano Giacobbo free kick. The ball hit the woodwork and went back into the keeper’s hands.

In the 36th minute Lazio scored. Free kick outside the penalty box, massive whack from Beppe Signori, nothing Franco Mancini could do.

In the second half, Foggia could have equalised but Mauro Bressan hit the woodwork again in the 47th minute and Massimiliano Capellini was twice in front of Marchegiani in the 52nd and 57th minute but both times he squandered the massive chances. With Igor Kolyvanov trying to save the game by himself and the two forwards, Paolo Mandelli and Cappellini, innocuous, the end of the Foggia miracle was a natural consequence.

Lazio now had the chance to reach second place in the last match of the season.

Who played for Foggia

F. Mancini, Padalino, Bianchini, Nicoli (70' Parisi), Giacobbo, Caini, Mandelli, Bressan, Cappellini, De Vincenzo (83' Baiocchi), Kolyvanov

Substitutes: Brunner, Di Bari, Marazzina

Manager: Catuzzi

Who played for Lazio

Marchegiani, Nesta, Favalli, Di Matteo, Negro, Bergodi, Rambaudi (63’ Venturin), Fuser (63’ Casiraghi), Boksic, Winter, Signori