Giuseppe Rossi

Giuseppe Rossi was born in Tresana (Massa), on October 20, 1939.

Source Lazio Wiki

At a very young age moved to Rome with his family. His first club were amateurs Volsinio in Rome and in 1959 he joined semi-professionals Rieti in Serie D.

On September 11, 1959, Lazio played Rieti in a friendly. The score was 7-3 but Rossi made a good impression and, in the summer of 1960, he was signed by Lazio.

In the 1960-61 season he played in the De Martino Reserve League. He then made his debut for the first team on June 25, 1961 coming on as substitute for Idilio Cei in an Alps Cup game against Grasshoppers Zurich.

In 1961-62 he started the season with Lazio but in November was loaned to Pisa in Serie C. He played 16 league games under manager Piero Andreoli and the Nerazzurri finished 2nd. One of his teammates was former Lazio, Ugo Pozzan (1957-61).

In 1962-63 he returned to Lazio and was second keeper behind Idilio Cei in the promotion season under Bob Lovati and Juan Carlos Lorenzo (TD). He was unlucky not to make his debut as he came close twice.

First on November 11, 1962, in Lazio vs Brescia when Cei seemed on the verge of joining Milan. Rossi had the number one shirt on and was warming up in the changing rooms when the news came through that the deal was off and he was sent to the grandstands and Cei played after all.

His second chance came in January 1963. Cei was passing through a poor patch of form and all the newspapers reported that Rossi would be starting in the away game to Triestina on January 13. Unfortunately, in a mid-week training game, on the Wednesday, Rossi clashed with teammate Orlando Rozzoni and suffered a bad cut to the head which put him out of action. Again, Cei played, kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win and then kept his place until the end of the season. Rossi then only played in a friendly in March.

In 1963-64 it seemed he was joining Parma in Serie B and even played a friendly but then an economic agreement was not found and the transfer did not materialize. At Parma he would have found Lazio connections: Renzo Sassi (1954-56), legend Primo Sentimenti (1950-57), Dimitri Pinti (1961-62) and Paolo Bernasconi (1962-63)

He signed for Salernitana in Serie C instead. He stayed two seasons. In the first he only played 3 league games while in the second he played 26. The Granata finished 6th and 13th under Austrian Rodolph Hiden. His teammates included Lazio connections: Brunello Cocciuti (1955-56, 1957-58, 1959, 1960-61) and Oliviero Visentin (1959-61, 1964-65). Towards the end of the second season, he suffered a bad arm injury. A pity as there had been talk of him joining Catania or Brescia both in Serie A.

Instead in 1965-66 Rossi joined Bari in Serie C. He played 21 league games and Galletti finished 4th, first under Hugo Lamanna and then Filippo Calabrese.

In 1966 he went back to Rome and found a job in a bank and paused his football career.

He returned to football but at amateur level in 1967 with Almas in Rome. He stayed five seasons; one in the 6th tier, one in the 5th tier and three in Serie D. In 1969 Almas won the Amateur Coppa Italia and the International Ottorino Barassi Cup defeating North Shields, who had won the English Amateur Cup.

Rossi then retired at 32.

An unlucky career with events going against him when he was on the verge of getting his big chance.

Lazio Career

Season	Alps Cup Appearances
1960-61	1

Sources

Lazio Wiki