January 14, 2004: Lazio Parma 2-0, Coppa Italia
- Simon Basten
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
First round to Lazio
Muzzi and Stankovic give Lazio a good chance to move on in Coppa Italia.
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had done well reaching a Champions League qualification. But, knowing Roberto Mancini, he must have been very disappointed when the Lazio management told him there was no money for transfers. Goodbye scudetto heroes Luca Marchegiani, Giuseppe Pancaro and Diego Simeone as well as Enrico Chiesa, Dino Baggio and Lucas Castroman. Welcome Roberto Muzzi, Ousmane Dabo, Demetrio Albertini, Luciano Zauri and Matteo Sereni. Not exactly what ambitious Mancini would have wanted.
But this is what a deeply financially troubled Lazio could afford and there was nothing one could do about it. Impossible to extend Dejan Stankovic’s contract so he was going to have to go but he stayed, at least for the moment.
The season started with the Champion’s League qualifying round against Benfica. A comfortable 3-1 win at home was money in the bank for Lazio who also won the away match. In the group stage the Biancocelesti had started well winning away to Besiktas, but two draws and two losses put their qualification in peril. They needed to beat Sparta Praha in the last match to secure qualification, but despite having numerous chances, they lost in injury time and were last in the group, hence no UEFA Cup consolation.
In Serie A Lazio were sixth, three points away from a Champions League qualification. They had lost the last two games against Reggina and Brescia erasing the good work done so far.
In Coppa Italia, the Biancocelesti had eliminated Modena 3-0 on aggregate in the Round of 16. Today was the first leg of the quarter final against Parma.
The match: Wednesday, January 14, 2004, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The first thirty minutes were boring and nothing happened. One had to wait until the 36th minute for some excitement and this was thanks firstly to Fabio Liverani who with a great cross allowed Roberto Muzzi to anticipate Fabio Cannavaro and head the ball past Vincenzo Sicignano who was perhaps a little too far forward. In the 41st minute big scare for the Parma keeper hit by Bernardo Corradi. He was forced to abandon play and was substituted by Sebastian Frey.
In the second half Cannavaro hit a crossbar in the 57th minute but three minutes later Dejan Stankovic thanks to a good pass from Corradi found himself in the box towards the left but with a great shot made it 2-0.
Parma tried to reduce the deficit and had a chance with Benny Carbone in the 64th minute, but Matteo Sereni produced a miracle. Lazio could have made it three but a disastrous attempted lob from Luciano Zauri from favourable a position and Cannavaro’s last second tackle on Claudio Lopez in the 81st minute when he was face to face with Frey, meant that the Biancocelesti would only be taking a two-goal lead into the second leg.
Who played for Lazio
Sereni, Oddo, Stam, Mihajlovic, Favalli, Zauri, Dabo, Liverani, Stankovic (82’ Fiore), Corradi (86’ Giannichedda), Muzzi (62’ Claudio Lopez)
Manager: Mancini
Who played for Parma
Sicignano (46' Frey), Benarrivo (77' Camara), Ferrari, P.Cannavaro, Seric, Barone, E.Filippini, Rosina, Carbone, Bresciano, Adriano (62' Gilardino)
Substitutes: Oyola, Donadel, Bolano, Greco
Manager: Prandelli
Referee: Pellegrino
Goals: 36’ Muzzi, 60’ Stankovic
What happened next
The Campionato should have given a different verdict. Lazio were constantly very close to a Champions League qualification but missed out in the end. Too many injuries, too much uncertainty and too many controversial refereeing decisions to be able to achieve the objective. The team managed to play some extremely spectacular games but also put in some dismal performances. Too inconsistent to hope for anything better than a UEFA Cup qualification.
The financial difficulties left the players and the manager with a degree of uncertainty about their future and many used the season to plan for the next one. Mancini started secret talks with Inter and tempted most of Lazio’s players to go with him. Stam told the club that he had no intention of staying once his contract was over but was not interested in following Mancini. Dejan Stankovic was sold to Inter six months before his contract expired so at least Lazio got a little bit of money plus half of Goran Pandev.
The real Lazio could be admired in Coppa Italia. Lazio drew in Parma in the second leg of the quarter finals and in the semis played against Milan. The Biancocelesti surprisingly won in Milan in the first leg and in the second leg at home put on a wonderful display, perhaps one the best games Lazio have ever played, at least in their recent history, and won 4-0.
The final was against Juventus with the first leg at home. Lazio won 2-0 but it could have been even better as the Biancocelesti played at a similar level as against Milan and even missed a penalty. The return match was complicated and Lazio went down 2-0, but a splendid header by Corradi, the worst player on the pitch up to that moment and a Stefano Fiore equaliser gave Lazio their fourth Coppa Italia.
The 2003-2004 season was the end of an era. Nothing would ever be the same. Claudio Lotito was on his way.
Let’s talk about Alfonso Delgado
Roberto Alfonso Delgado was born in San Miguel de Abona in Spain on May 7, 1986.
He grew up in the Lazio youth sector and won an Under 15 scudetto in 2000-01.
He joined the first team in 2003 and made seven appearances between Serie A and Coppa Italia (which Lazio won). He played just 3 times in the next season and in 2005 he was loaned to Spal.
Back after six months he was sold to Potenza in Serie C2 where he stayed until 2009 earning a promotion to Serie C1 in 2007. In 2009 he signed for Vaslui in Romania and the following season he played for Universitatea Cluj.
In 2011 he came back to Italy and he signed for Pergocrema. From 2012 he has played in a number of clubs in the minor tiers of the Lazio region: San Cesareo, Palestrina, S. Maria delle Mole, Cynthia, Trastevere, Serpentara Bellegraolevano, Albalonga, Flaminia, UniPomezia, Vis Artena, back to UniPomezia, Campus Eur, Vis Fiano Romano and again UniPomezia for the third time. With the latter he won a Lazio Amateur Coppa Italia and a promotion to Serie D.
At Lazio he showed a lot of potential in the youth teams but was unable to translate this once he became professional.
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