June 20, 1956: Lazio Juventus 3-1 (Cadetti)

Lazio win the reserves’ scudetto

Lazio reserves beat Juventus and win a deserved scudetto

Player of the day: Rinaldo Olivieri

Also on this day:

June 20, 1948: Lazio Fiorentina 5-0: The Biancocelesti destroy Fiorentina with goals from Penzo, Cecconi and Magrini plus two own goals.

Source Lazio Wiki

The season so far

The Cadetti League was a tournament for the reserves created by the Italian Professional League in 1954 for Serie A and B teams and played mid-week. It was compulsory to participate. Each team could use a maximum of three players who had played the previous weekend.

There had been a reserves league which had been played for seven years until 1934-35. In 1952-53 it returned and had been won by Lazio in a final group with Fanfulla, Milan and Bologna. It was substituted by the Cadetti League.

In the 1955-56 season Lazio had qualified with Fiorentina from their geographical group which was made up of Roma, Livorno, Bologna, Prato and the Viola. They had won 5, drawn 2 and lost 3.

Then there was a semi-final group with Fiorentina, Salernitana and Bari which Lazio topped winning four, drawing one and losing the last game.

This led to a final group with Brescia, Milan and Juventus. Lazio were first on eight points after beating Brescia away, Milan both at home and away, drawn in Turin with Juve and at home with Brescia.

Today was the last game. Victory would mean scudetto.

The match: Wednesday, June 20, 1956, Stadio Torino, Rome

Lazio went in front almost immediately. Rinaldo Olivieri on the right crossed into the box and Giorgio Bravi had no difficulty in putting Lazio ahead.

Juventus tried a comeback and in the 8th minute first Giampiero Bandini and then Attilio Giovannini limited a Luca Frateschi attempt. After this the Biancocelesti went for a second but shots from Mario Deotto, Enrique Martegani and Franco Carradori were parried by Carlo Mattrel. But on the half hour the Juve keeper could do nothing on a splendid shot from Nicola Lo Buono who was playing in midfield today.

The game faded with the exception of a marvellous bicycle kick from Giovannini in the 40th minute that went just wide.

Juventus put their foot on the accelerator in the second half and reduced the deficit with Angelo Caroli in the 62nd minute. But with one minute left in the match Olivieri made it three, giving Lazio their second Reserves title after the 1952-53 victory.

Who played for Lazio

Bandini, Spurio, Di Veroli, Conio, Giovannini (39’ Napoleoni), Carradori, Bravi, Deotto, Martegani, Lo Buono, Olivieri

Who played for Juventus

Mattrel, Cirri, Boldi, Turchi (Bellis), Aggradi, Bertetto, Caroli, Frateschi, Bartolini (Francescon), Francescon (Bartolini), Rasetti

Referee: De Robbio

Goals: 4’ Bravi, 31’ Lo Buono, 61’ Caroli, 89’ Olivieri

What happened next

The tournament lasted for another three seasons, won twice by Milan and once by Fiorentina. The 1959-60, 1960-61 and 1961-62 tournaments did not see a winner since there were difficulties in finding the time to play the games. It was then disbanded.

Lazio qualified for the semi-final in 1958-59 in which Fiorentina topped the group to then lose the final against Milan.

Let’s talk about Rinaldo Olivieri

Source Lazio Wiki

Rinaldo Olivieri was born in San Benedetto del Tronto, on January 1, 1935. He started to play football in his hometown and was noticed by Spal after 15 appearances and two goals in Serie C. He did not have great technique but was certainly a goal scorer, one of those forwards who was always in the right spot at the right time.

He stayed two years in Ferrara becoming an idol. After having saved the club from relegation in a playoff in 1955, in the summer he was sold to Lazio in exchange for a lot of money plus Sivgard Löfgren. He did not play much, just 11 appearances with four goals, but he did play more for the reserves team that won the scudetto (14 games, 6 goals).

In 1956 he signed for Triestina. That year they were relegated but he stayed on and in the next season they won the Serie B league and got promoted back to Serie A. In 1958 he left for Atalanta who were in Serie B. Another promotion and four consecutive Serie A campaigns in his five seasons in Bergamo. In 1963 he returned home to Sambenedettese in Serie C, was top scorer in the third tier and then in 1965 he decided to retire.

Olivieri played one game for Italy Under 21s..

Once he stopped playing he tried a managerial career and was head coach at Sora for one season in 1971-72.

He died on February 5, 1991.

Sources

Lazio Wiki

Wikipedia