June 11, 1950: Atlético Madrid-Lazio 2-1, Latin Cup

Dag Jenkins
Jun 11
7 min read

Lazio battle hard but lose

The Colchoneros edge Lazio in a match dominated by regulation confusion, sendings off and fights

The season so far

Lazio had finished Serie A in 4th place. The Biancocelesti, under manager Mario Sperone, had won 18, drawn 10 and lost 10. The highlights were beating Roma 3-1, Juventus 2-1 away, Milan and Inter both 3-2 and Palermo 5-0 at home. The top scorer was Norberto Höfling with 13 league goals.

Now Lazio had the honour of playing in the Latin Cup. It was a tournament for the Champions of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Lazio had got in due to Juventus, Milan and Inter (1st, 2nd and 3rd) renouncing because many of their players were involved in the World Cup in Brazil. This was the second edition. The reigning champions were Barcelona.

The Lazio manager for this event was not Sperone who was busy with Italian Federation duties but Alfredo Notti helped by technical director Luciano Ramella.

Lazio had added a few players to take to Portugal: goalkeeper Giorgio Fioravanti and midfielder Ernesto Sandroni both on temporary loan from Venezia plus forward Guglielmo Trevisan on loan from Triestina.

The other clubs participating were French Champions Bordeaux, Portuguese Champions Benfica and Spanish Champions Atlético Madrid. A competitive field.

In the semi-final on June 10 Lazio were beaten 0-3 by Benfica. In the other semi-final Bordeaux beat Atlético Madrid 4-2. This meant Lazio would play the Colchoneros for 3-4th place.

Atlético Madrid had won the Spanish Liga under Helenio Herrera. It was their third league title and the first for nine years. One result which stood out was the 5-1 thrashing of Real Madrid. The top scorer in all competitions was Moroccan Larbi Ben Barek while just in the league it was Rafael Mújica with 12. Other players of note were defenders Rafael "Tinte" Repullo, Juan Mencía and Alfonso Aparicio, midfielders José Hernandez, Henry Carlsson and Alfonso Silva plus forwards Adrián Escudero and José Juncosa.

Lazio and Atletico Madrid had already played each other on June 4 in La Coruña in the Trofeo Teresa Herrera and Lazio had won 3-1. Lazio thus became the first non-Spanish club to win the prestigious trophy. Lazio would take part again in 1993, 1998 and 2000 but without winning.

The match: Sunday, June 11, 1950, Estádio Municipal, Lisbon

A sunny day in the Portuguese capital attracted a decent crowd of 25,000 to the Stadio Municipal.

Lazio were missing goalkeeper Lucidio Sentimenti (at World Cup) and defenders Romolo Alzani, Zeffiro Furiassi and Leandro Remondini (at World Cup) plus midfielder Flavio Cecconi while the Spaniards were without goalkeeper Marcel Domingo who had a temperature plus midfielder Alfonso Silva (at World Cup).

The game between the two sides a week earlier had seen several brawls and 3 sendings off (2 for Lazio) so no-one was expecting a particularly friendly game today.

The game started with some confusion. Aldo Puccinelli was told by the referee he was not eligible to play as he had received a red card in the semi-final. By the time Lazio had a substitute ready the teams were already seven minutes into the game and Lazio a goal down but first things first.

The two teams had obviously not forgotten the animosity from the week earlier and the game was immediately rough.

With Lazio in ten men the Colchoneros scored after only three minutes. Youngster Agustín Sanchez Quesada put a good ball forward to Larbi Ben Barak who from about ten metres out hit a bullet-like shot past Giorgio Fioravanti, 1-0.

In the 7th minute Lazio were back to eleven men as Mario Magrini finally trotted on in place of the excluded Puccinelli.

Lazio looked more confident but were punished almost immediately. In the 8th minute Ben Barak broke away in midfield, beat Francesco Antonazzi and set up Adrián Escudero who had a simple task to put the Colchoneros 2-0 up.

In the 13th minute the ruggedness got out of hand and both Magrini and Henry Carlsson were sent off for fighting.

Lazio spurred on by the local crowd pushed forward to try to reopen the game. If it was a difficult situation, in the 32nd minute it got worse. Sergio Piacentini got a yellow card for a not particularly bad foul but then received a red for dissent. The Lazio players in protest even left the field for few minutes but were then persuaded to continue.

Back on the pitch Lazio then decided to pull Romano Penzo back in midfield for more balance and generously continued to attack. The Biancocelesti however were never able to seriously threaten goalkeeper Vicente Dauder. Half time Atletico 2 Lazio 0.

In the second half, despite the numerical inferiority, Lazio had prolonged spells of pressure. Their efforts were rewarded in the 74th minute when Vittorio Sentimenti resolved a scramble in the box with a powerful finish, 2-1.

Lazio at this point doubled their efforts and had chances with Sentimenti again and Enrique Flamini but were unsuccessful. It must be said too that the referee turned a blind eye on at least a couple of fouls by the Rojiblancos defenders inside the box. In the 88th minute the "Indios" were also reduced to nine men as Escudero was given his marching orders but it was too late. Final score Atletico Madrid 2 Lazio 1.

A valiant performance by the Romans considering the circumstances. They started a man less, trailed after three minutes, went two down just as they were reorganising their setup and then played the last hour nine men against ten. Despite this, the Biancocelesti battled hard and could easily have drawn the game. Lazio left the field heads high and were applauded off the field by the Lisbon crowd.

Who played for Atletico Madrid

Dauder, Tinte, Lesmes, Olmeida, Riera, Farias, Estruch, Ben Barak, Carlsson, Agustin, Escudero

Manager: Herrera

Who played for Lazio

Fioravanti, Antonazzi, Spurio, Piacentini, Montanari, Sentimenti III, Magrini (from 7'), Penzo, Höfling, Flamini, Nyers

Manager: Notti

TD: Ramella

Referee: Tordymann (France)

Goals: 3' Ben Barak, 8' Escudero, 74' Sentimenti III

Red Cards: 13' Magrini, 13' Carlsson, 32' Piacentini, 88' Escudero

What happened next

The trophy was won by Benfica. In the final the Portuguese drew 3-3 with Bordeaux and then in the replay won 2-1. The winning goal was scored in the 146th minute (in 3rd extra-time with golden goal rule as this was before penalty shoot-outs)!

The Latin Cup continued until 1957. Lazio never participated again, while Atletico Madrid came 3rd in 1951. The winners included Milan twice, Real Madrid twice, Barcelona and Stade Reims.

In 1955-56 the first European Cup was held and won by Real Madrid. By 1957 it had taken over as the most prestigious tournament in Europe and the Latin Cup was abandoned.

In their domestic leagues the following season Lazio would finish 4th in Serie A again and qualify for the Zentropa Cup (a non-official version of the Mitropa Cup) while Atletico Madrid won the Liga again.

Let's talk about Giorgio Fioravanti

Giorgio Fioravanti was born in Cesena, on February 14, 1921.

He was a goalkeeper and his first club was Forlimpopoli near Cesena in 1937-38 in Serie C.

In 1938 he signed for Venezia and stayed five seasons. The Lagunari were in Serie B but won promotion and then finished 10th, 12th, 3rd and 14th in Serie A. In 1941 the Arancioneroverdi won a historic Coppa Italia defeating Roma 4-3 on aggregate. His managers were Luigi Barbesino, Giuseppe Girani, Giovan Battista Rebuffo (Coppa Italia triumph) and János Vanicsek. In this period, he made 58 league appearances.

In 1943 Fioravanti returned home to Cesena and played a season of regional matches due to the war.

In 1945 he returned to Venezia for two more seasons. In the first the Venetians finished 13th in Serie A Alta Italia and in the second 17th in A and relegated. He only played 6 league games, under Rebuffo and then Nereo Marini.

In 1947 he joined Vicenza for two seasons. The Biancorossi were in Serie A but were relegated and then finished 3rd in Serie B. He played 20 league games, all in the first season. He had several managers over the two seasons: Giovanni Vecchina, Piero Spinato, Elemér Berkessy, Carlo Rigotti and Wilmas Wilhelm.

In 1949 he again returned to Venezia. The Winged Lions were in Serie A again but finished 20th and relegated under Astro Galli. He played 26 league games.

It was in the summer of 1950 that Fioravanti and Lazio's paths crossed. Lazio had the opportunity to play the prestigious Latin Cup but their main keeper Lucidio Sentimenti IV was involved in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil with the Italy squad. Lazio therefore asked for Fioravanti on loan from Venezia just for the duration of the tournament. He only played one game, the 3-4th place game against Atlético Madrid which the Biancocelesti lost 1-2.

He then returned to Venezia for another season in Serie B before spending two seasons at Empoli in Serie C. With the Tuscans he played 24 league games and finished 2nd and 5th under Piero Andreoli.

He retired at 32 and had experiences as a coach with Faenza in 1960-61 at regional level and Ravenna from end of 1966-67 and briefly at the beginning of 1967-68 in Serie C.

He will be remembered mainly for his periods at Venezia where he played over a hundred games and won the club's most important silverware in their history, the 1941 Coppa Italia.

Giorgio Fioravanti died in Cesena on December 1, 2007.

On a curious note, his son Piero would also become a goalkeeper and play 9 league games and 2 in Coppa Italia for Lazio on loan in the 1968-69 season.