June 13, 1970: Zurich - Lazio 0-3, Cup of the Alps
- Lazio Stories
- Jun 13
- 6 min read
Perfect Swiss timing by Ghio and Chinaglia
A goal more or less every 30 minutes by their strikers give Lazio easy win
Also on this day:
The season so far
Lazio were newly promoted after a year in the purgatory of Serie B. They had won the championship and promotion under Juan Carlos Lorenzo. He had only been allowed to sit on the bench from March 30 as foreigners were not officially allowed to be managers, so until he obtained his passport Roberto Lovati had carried out the Sunday afternoon dug out duties.
This year officially the manager was Bob Lovati and the technical director was Juan Carlos Lorenzo. Some important changes had been made to the squad. Lazio had brought in some players who would prove to change the entire club's history.
An unknown young forward called Giorgio Chinaglia was signed from third division Internapoli. Also from the Neapolitan club arrived defender Giuseppe Wilson. Both players had British connections: Chinaglia grew up in South-Wales while Wilson was born in Darlington to an English father and Neapolitan mother. These two facts would later be one of the reasons for myself becoming a lifelong Lazio fan.
Along with the two “Brits” Lazio had added other players; defender and local lad Giancarlo Oddi (Sora - back from loan), defender Giuseppe Papadopulo (Livorno), goalkeeper Michelangelo Sulfaro (Sambenedettese) plus, in the autumn session, defender Luigi Polentes (Perugia) and above all midfielder Franco Nanni (Trapani). Four of these players; Chinaglia, Wilson, Oddi and Nanni, would play key roles some years later in Lazio's Scudetto winning team.
The main players leaving were defenders Pietro Fontana (Ternana) and Guido Onor (Juventus - end of loan) plus, in the autumn, forward Arrigo Dolso (Monza - on loan) and defender Pietro Adorni (Piacenza).
Serie A had finished early this year due to the upcoming Mexico World Cup. Lazio had a positive campaign and finished 8th. The Biancocelesti had won 11 (including Milan 1-0, Fiorentina 5-1, both at home), drawn 7 (including a derby 1-1) and lost 12 (including first derby 1-2). In the last five matches they had won 3 (Palermo, Inter and Juventus, all at home) and drawn 2 (Napoli and Verona, both away), so finishing the league strongly. The new "Welsh-Italian" striker Giorgio Chinaglia had done well and had scored 12 league goals and Anglo-Italian defender Pino Wilson had also proved an excellent buy.
Lazio had then played the Anglo-Italian Cup with mixed fortune, two home wins and two away defeats against Wolves and Sunderland.
Now it was time for the Alps Cup. It was a tournament between four Italian clubs who could not play each other and four Swiss and this was the tenth edition. The format was that the teams from each nation with the most points would then play in the final. Lazio had drawn the first game 3-3 away at Lugano and won the next 2-0 away at Young Boys from Berne. This was the third game of the group.
Zürich had finished 3rd in the Swiss league but won the Cup under Georg Gawliczek, defeating Basel 4-1 after extra-time.
So far in the Alps Cup, "Zuri” had lost 2-3 away to Sampdoria and then beaten Bari 6-2 at home.
Whoever lost tonight would most likely already be out of the tournament.
The match: Saturday, June 13, 1970, Letzigrund Stadion, Zürich
There were only about 3,000 spectators at the Letzigrund Stadion for this third match of the group.
Lazio played without midfielder Giuliano Fortunato and forward Juan Carlos Morrone but fielded a strong team.
The hosts had a few absences too: defenders Hubert Munch and Konrad Kyburz plus midfielders René Hasler and Christian Winiger.
The Romans took control of the proceedings from the word go. They spent most of the first half hour in the Swiss half but only scored in the 29th minute. Nello Governato put a cross in from the left, the defence cleared weakly and Gian Piero Ghio was quick to drill the ball in. Zürich 0 Lazio 1.
At this point the locals stirred and first had a shot by Rosario Martinelli which shaved the post and then a few minutes later Giuseppe Papadopulo managed to anticipate Fritz Künzli just as he was about to shoot.
In the 43rd minute Franco Nanni was forced off injured and replaced by Luigi Polentes.
Lazio almost doubled their lead before halftime but goalkeeper Karl Grob brilliantly denied a powerful shot by Ferruccio Mazzola.
Lazio started the second half well and hit a crossbar with Giuseppe Massa. The Biancocelesti scored again in the 53rd minute when Giorgio Chinaglia's precise shot went through a number of legs and into the net. Zürich 0 Lazio 2.
Lazio continued to dominate and Grob proved to be a quality goal stopper on efforts by Mazzola, Massa and Chinaglia.
The third goal came a minute from the end when "Long John" poked the ball home in a crowded area. Final score Zürich 0 Lazio 3.
An easy and convincing win by Lazio who now led the Italian table with 5 points to Fiorentina's 4. Next up Basel vs Lazio and Fiorentina vs Zürich.
Who played for Zürich
Grob, Kyburz (65' Grünig), Stierli, Matus, Leimgruber, Kuhn, Corti, Martinelli, Künzli, Quentin, Volkert
Manager: Gawliczek
Who played for Lazio
Di Vincenzo, Papadopulo, Facco, Wilson, Governato, Marchesi, Massa, Mazzola, Chinaglia, Ghio, Nanni (43' Polentes)
Substitute: Fiorucci
Manager: Lorenzo
Referee: Bucheli
Goals: 29' Ghio, 53' Chinaglia, 89' Chinaglia
What happened next
Lazio then lost the last game 2-3 away to Basel and were eliminated. The Biancocelesti would not play Zürich again in an official competition again until 2011 in the Europa League (1-1 away and 1-0 at home).
Zürich lost 1-2 away to Fiorentina in the last game and finished bottom of the Swiss group.
Fiorentina and Basel then met in the final at the St. Jakob stadium and the Swiss prevailed 3-2. The RotBlau therefore lifted their second Alps Cup.
Let’s talk about Gian Piero Ghio
Gian Piero Ghio was one of the most important Lazio players in the 1968-69 season and gave a huge hand to the promotion to Serie A. He was a good centre-forward who could also play on the wing.
Born in Agna (Padova) on January 28 1944, he started his career in the Sampdoria youth teams. In 1963-64 he played on loan for Vis Pesaro in Serie C and in 1965-66 for Monza in Serie B. He attracted the attention of Lazio after his 1967-68 stint with Avellino in Serie C where he scored 20 league goals in 29 games.
He signed for Lazio in 1968-69 and contributed to Lazio's promotion with 10 goals. The manager was Argentine Juan Carlos Lorenzo.
He stayed another year with the Biancocelesti, playing another 36 games with 11 goals (5 in A). Lazio finished 8th again under Lorenzo.
In 1970-71 he moved to Napoli and played 27 league games and scored 4 goals. The Partenopei had a good season under Giuseppe Chiappella and finished 3rd.
In 1971-72 he was a reserve player for Inter and even scored in the European Cup against Borussia Monchengladbach. The Nerazzurri finished 5th under Giovanni Invernizzi and reached the European Cup final but lost 0-2 to Inter. In the league Ghio played 9 games with 1 goal (Milan in a 2-3 derby defeat).
His career then continued in Serie B with Atalanta (9 league games, 1 goal), Novara for two seasons (51 league games, 4 goals), Casale (in Serie C, 22 league games, 3 goals), Brescia (28 league games, 4 goals).
He then dropped a level and had a season with Cavese in Serie C (only 3 league games) and then down to the 5th tier for his final season with Colligiana (Siena, 8 games, 2 goals). He retired in 1979.
After quitting football, he became a manager and trained a number of 3rd and 4th tier teams in the 1980s (including Ternana, Alessandria, Cosenza, Salernitana, Pavia and Mantova) and 1990s (Mantova again, Giarre and Spezia).
He played 76 times for Lazio (25 in Serie A, 37 in Serie B, 5 in Coppa Italia, 2 in Mitropa Cup, 4 in the Anglo-Italian Cup and 3 in the Cup of the Alps) and scored 22 goals (5 in Serie A, 10 in Serie B, one in Coppa Italia, 4 in the Anglo-Italian Cup and two in the Cup of the Alps).
Appearances and goals for Lazio
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia | Mitropa Cup | Anglo-Italian Cup | Cup of the Alps |
1968-69 | 40 (11) | - | 37 (10) | 3 (1) | - | | |
1969-70 | 36 (11) | 25 (5) | - | 2 | 2 | 4 (4) | 3 (2) |
Total | 76 (22) | 25 (5) | 37 (10) | 5 (1) | 2 | 4 (4) | 3 (2) |
Sources
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