July 14, 2007: Kapfenburg Lazio 0-2, Friendly
- Simon Basten
- Jul 14
- 6 min read
Experiments continue
In Lazio’s second pre-season friendly, Rossi continues to make experiments
Also on this day: July 14, 2022: Lazio Dekani 5-0, friendly. In their second pre-season friendly, Lazio show glimpses of excellence
The season so far
The previous season had been an exceptional one for Lazio, arriving third and obtaining a qualification for the Champions League preliminary round, to be played in mid-August. Manager Delio Rossi had been confirmed.
Lazio were in full transfer mode. There was the problem of the goalkeeper to solve. Angelo Peruzzi had retired and Lazio were looking for a substitute. Juan Pablo Carrizo was the chosen one but still had to be signed. So far Lazio had bought Aleksandar Kolarov, a young Serb left back with a powerful shot, Mourad Meghni from Bologna, Lionel Scaloni and Simone Del Nero on a free transfer. It was hoped that more would come, especially considering that Lazio had a Champions League to play. Some of the names rumoured were forward Valeri Bojinov and defender Francesco Pratali.
Lazio were in preseason training at Kapfenburg in Austria. They had so far played one game, against SV Thal (Austrian fifth tier) and today was the second game against the home team who were in the Austrian second tier.
The match: Saturday, July 14, 2007, Kapfenburg
Manager Delio Rossi mixed things up a bit for this second game and played the two halves with two different teams. To note was the fact that it was the first time Alexander Kolarov played in a Lazio shirt. An interesting left back, very powerful. In the first half the Biancocelesti hit the woodwork with Simone Inzaghi and Stephen Makinwa had a couple of chances but the hosts could also have scored, denied by a couple of good saves from Marco Ballotta and a clearance on the line from Guglielmo Stendardo.
In the second half Lazio scored twice in two minutes. Cristian Ledesma on a free kick in the 56th minute and Manuel Belleri 120 seconds later with a glorious backheel on a Ledesma assist. The Austrians were rather too energetic and the game was full of fouls and bookings. Valon Behrami was forced off due to a bad knock.
All in all, a good training game for the Biancocelesti.
Who played for Kapfenberg
Eisel (46' Kostner), Schonberger, Kunzo (46' Taboga), Edler, Saler, Erkinger, Krakoysky (46' Sencar), Reiter (46' Osoinik), Bernsteiner, Liendl, Rotten Steiner
Substitutes: Pitter, Lienhart, Reifeltshammer, Seebacker
Manager: Gregoritsch
Who played for Lazio
First half: Ballotta, De Silvestri, Stendardo, Cribari, Kolarov, Mudingayi, Firmani, Manfredini, Mauri, Makinwa, Inzaghi
Second half: Berni, Scaloni, Belleri, Diakité, Zauri, Behrami (73’ Baronio), Ledesma, Mutarelli, Del Nero, Rocchi, Pandev
Manager: Rossi
Referee: Unger (Austria)
Goals: 56’ Ledesma, 58’ Belleri
What happened next
Lazio managed to reach the Champions League group phase by eliminating Dinamo București. At this point it was hoped that Lazio would start to do something as far as transfers were concerned but the only major signing was young goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, temporary replacement for Carrizo, forced to stay in Argentina due to the fact that his Italian passport had not arrived in time.
In the Champions League, Lazio were knocked out in the group stage, but put on a brave effort, beating Werder Bremen and drawing at home against Real Madrid.
In Serie A Lazio struggled all year. They did not have the squad depth to face the Champions League, Campionato and Coppa Italia and in the end they finished 12th. The only highlight of the season was a last second winner against Roma in March. President Claudio Lotito tried to make amends in the winter transfer window with the signing of young Romanian defender Stefan Radu, a more experienced defender David Rozenhal, a centre-forward Rolando Bianchi on loan and the return of Ousmane Dabo. But these signings should really have been made six months earlier.
Tommaso Rocchi was the player with most appearances (48) and most goals (19) together with Goran Pandev.
Let’s talk about Manuel Belleri
Manuel Belleri was born in Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia), on 29 August, 1977.
As a footballer he grew up in Lumezzane's (Brescia) youth sector. He then made his debut for the first team in Serie C2 in 1993. He spent six seasons with "Il Lume", four in C2 and two in C1 (they won promotion in 1997). He made a total of 122 appearances for the "Valgobbini" and scored 7 goals.
In 1999 he moved up a league and joined Empoli in Serie B. He stayed five seasons, three in Serie B and two in Serie A (promotion in 2002), mainly under Sivio Baldini. With the Tuscan "Azzurri" he played a total of 169 games with 6 goals (1 in Serie A vs Bologna). In his last year with Empoli they were relegated and he moved on.
In 2004-05 he joined Udinese in Serie A. The manager was Luciano Spalletti and the Friulani had a great season finishing 4th, qualifying for the Champions League. Belleri played 22 league games, 6 in Coppa Italia and 1 in the UEFA Cup.
In 2005-06 he joined Lazio. Here he found Delio Rossi as manager and was reunited with former teammate Tommaso Rocchi. Lazio did well on the pitch with a 6th place but were then demoted to 16th for their involvement in Calciopoli (betting scandal). Belleri played 16 league games (1 goal vs Palermo), 1 game in Coppa Italia and 4 games in the Intertoto Cup (1 goal vs Tampere United).
In his second year in Rome the Biancocelesti had an excellent season, finishing 3rd and qualifying for the Champions League preliminary (won vs Dinamo Bucharest). Belleri also played more: 22 league games (1 goal vs Ascoli) and 3 games in Coppa Italia.
In the summer of 2007, after making one appearance in Champions League for Lazio, he was loaned to Atalanta in Serie A. The "Orobici" were managed by Luigi Delneri and Belleri played 20 league games. The Bergamaschi finished 9th.
In 2008-09 he came back to Lazio but, after only playing one league game, in January he was loaned to Bologna. In Emilia, under Sinisa Mihajlovic and then Giuseppe Papadopulo (both former Lazio), he made 6 league appearances. The Rossoblu finished 17th.
In 2009-10 he joined Lecce in Serie B. The Salentini won the league and promotion under Luigi De Canio. Belleri made 19 league appearances but was not kept on in Serie A.
In October 2010 he signed a two-year contract with SPAL from Ferrara in Lega Pro (3rd tier). In his first year the "Estensi" came 9th in Group A while the second they were relegated to Lega Pro Second Division (4th tier). In total Belleri played 50 games with 2 goals for the Biancoazzurri.
He then retired at 35. Since 2015 he has been living in Tokyo where he works as director of Milan's footballing academy in Koto-ku.
Belleri was a right full-back. He was a diligent and reliable defender. At 1.77 and 72 kilos he was not particularly physical but had good athleticism. He could defend and attack. He had a decent career playing 139 matches in Serie A.
He was only with Lazio for a couple of years. His playing time was first limited by Massimo Oddo and then by the arrival of Valon Behrami. He managed however to play 38 Serie A games, 4 in Coppa Italia, one in Champions League and 4 in the Intertoto Cup. He was in the squad that won the 2009 Coppa Italia, although away on loan at the time of the final victory.
Lazio career
Sources
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