June 25, 1961: Grasshoppers Zürich - Lazio 0-5, Alps Cup

Dag Jenkins
1 hour ago
7 min read

Grasshoppers no match for Eagles

Lazio cruise past Zurichers in away Alps Cup tie

Other games in June
Season 1960-61

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had finished 12th in Serie A, under manager Fulvio Bernardini. The Biancocelesti had reached the semi-finals of Coppa Italia but lost 0-3 to Juventus. Lazio then won the consolation final beating Torino 2-1. Top scorer was Orlando Rozzoni with 16 goals (13 in A).

This season Bernardini was still in charge. The financial situation at the club meant there was not much space to manoeuvre on the transfer market. The main new players were: defender Alfredo Napoleoni (Cirio - back from loan), forwards Paolo Ferrario (Milan - on loan), Gianni Bui (Cirio - back from loan) and an unknown Uruguayan, Homero Guaglianone (Montevideo Wanderers). Not a lot to get excited about. The most important arrival came in the autumn and was Argentine Juan Carlos Morrone from Platense. The main player leaving was striker Humberto Tozzi (Palmeiras, after four years and 45 goals).

Lazio went down to Serie B. It was their first relegation. It was a disastrous season, after ten games Bernardini was replaced by Enrique Flamini and from fixture 15 Jesse Carver arrived as technical director but Lazio ended up rock bottom on 18 points after 5 wins (including a derby 2-1) 8 draws and 21 defeats (including a derby 0-4). The top scorer was Rozzoni again with 13 goals (11 in A).

In Coppa things went better. Lazio beat Como 4-0 at home in March, Inter 1-0 away in April and Torino on penalties in May, after a 1-1 home draw (Franco Carradori scored the goal and five penalties out of six). In the final however, on June 11 in Florence, Lazio lost 0-2 to Fiorentina.

Today was the first game of the Alps Cup and it was new manager Paolo Todeschini's debut. It was a team competition between Italian and Swiss clubs. Each team would play home and away against one from the other country and then all the results would be put together to decide the winning country. There were 16 teams involved and this was the second edition. In 1960 Italy had won 7-4 (with 5 draws). Each club from the winning nation then received a miniature version of the Alps Cup.

This was Lazio's first participation and their opponents were Grasshoppers from Zurich. The Hoppers had finished 6th in the Swiss top flight under manager Branislav Vukosavljević. He was from Serbia and had formerly played for Grasshoppers (1953-58).

In their history the GCZ had won 15 league titles (most recent 1955-56) and 13 Swiss Cups (most recent 1955-56).

On paper Lazio were clear favourites.

The other pairings were: Brescia vs FC Lugano, Lecco vs FC Lucerne, Pro Patria vs FC Sciaffusa, Reggiana vs Young Fellows Zurich, Parma vs Bellinzona, Monza vs FC Biel and Fiorentina vs Young Boys Berne.

The match: Sunday, June 25 1961, Hardturm-Stadion, Zürich

Just under 5,000 turned up for this summer Alps Cup game on a surprisingly hot day.

Lazio fielded an under-strength side and left out several regulars such as defenders Giovanni Molino (leaving for Napoli), Franco Carradori (leaving for Brescia), midfielder Ugo Pozzan (leaving for Pisa) and forwards Juan Carlos Morrone and Orlando Rozzoni (leaving for Udinese).

Lazio maybe more accustomed to the heat looked in control from the start and took an early lead. In the 8th minute Sandro Joan set up Claudio Bizzarri and "Caio" won a challenge against Renato Faccin and beat the Switzerland national keeper Karl Elsener, 0-1.

The second goal came only six minutes later. In the 14th minute Lazio had a freekick for a foul on Joan and Bizzarri touched the ball to Maurilio Prini who, with the help of a slight deflection by the wall, doubled the score, 0-2.

In the 24th minute Bizzarri went on a good solo run but his final effort hit the post.

At this point Lazio pulled back and left the initiative to the Swiss who had a prolonged period of territorial dominance. Their only threat however came in the 38th minute when a powerful strike by Peter Von Burg was well saved by Idilio Cei. Halftime 0-2.

During the interval the Romans replaced defender Nicola Lo Buono with Giacomo Del Gratta.

At the beginning of the second half the hosts attacked with determination and in the 53rd minute they scored a goal with Von Burg but it was disallowed for offside.

Lazio's defence held well and in the 56th minute the Biancocelesti scored again. Prini sent Bizzarri on the counter attack and the winger got his brace by hitting a superb strike past Elsener, 0-3.

Lazio at this point took off a slightly injured Cei and put on youngster Giuseppe Rossi.

Lazio were dominating and scored again in the 71st minute. Ivo Ghilardi pulled down an unstoppable Bizzarri in the area and Prini put away the penalty, 0-4.

The fifth goal came in the 82nd minute. Guglielmo Mecozzi broke out of defence, ran almost the whole length of the field and teed up Bruno Franzini who made it 0-5 and final score.

A positive debut for the new Lazio head coach. A satisfying and easy win after a disappointing season. The man of the match was Bizzarri, two goals, a post, an assist and an earned penalty were proof of his convincing afternoon.

After the first round of matches the score was Italy-Switzerland 7-1. The only defeat was for Fiorentina 2-3 away to Young Boys.

Who played for Grasshoppers

Elsener, Zurmuehle, Ghilardi, Baeni, Interhofen, Faccin, Gabrieli, Von Burg, Robbiani, Ballaman, Duret

Manager: Vukosavljecvić

Who played for Lazio

Cei (57' Rossi), Lo Buono (46' Del Gratta) Eufemi, Carosi, Janich, Mecozzi, Longoni, Mariani, Franzini, Joan, Prini, Bizzarri

Manager: Todeschini

Referee: Angelini

Goals: 8' Bizzarri, 14' Prini, 56' Bizzarri, 71' Prini (pen), 82' Franzini

What happened next

Lazio then drew the return game 3-3 in Rome (Longoni 2, Morrone).

In the return game Lazio fielded some of their new players such as Angelo Longoni and Mario Maraschi.

The Italian clubs won the cup by 14-1 (with one draw). The following year the cup became a knockout tournament between Italian, Swiss and French teams and was won by Genoa.

Of today's players Franco Janich (Bologna), Bruno Franzini (Bologna), Sandro Joan (Salernitana) and Amos Mariani (Napoli) would not start the 1961-62 season with Lazio.

Lazio then spent two years in Serie B and were back in Serie A in 1963-64. Todeschini only lasted 21 league games (W7, D10, L4), he then became a highly respected sculptor (the Giuseppe Meazza bust at San Siro is his).

Grasshoppers have since won 12 more league titles (but not since 2002-03), 6 Swiss Cups (last in 2012-13), 2 Swiss League Cups and 1 Swiss Super Cup.

Let’s talk about Giuseppe Rossi

Giuseppe Rossi was born in Tresana (Massa), on October 20, 1939.

At a very young age moved to Rome with his family. His first club were amateurs Volsinio in Rome and in 1959 he joined semi-professionals Rieti in Serie D.

On September 11, 1959, Lazio played Rieti in a friendly. The score was 7-3 but Rossi made a good impression and, in the summer of 1960, he was signed by Lazio.

In the 1960-61 season he played in the De Martino Reserve League. He then made his debut for the first team on June 25, 1961 coming on as substitute for Idilio Cei in an Alps Cup game against Grasshoppers Zurich.

In 1961-62 he started the season with Lazio but in November was loaned to Pisa in Serie C. He played 16 league games under manager Piero Andreoli and the Nerazzurri finished 2nd. One of his teammates was former Lazio, Ugo Pozzan (1957-61).

In 1962-63 he returned to Lazio and was second keeper behind Idilio Cei in the promotion season under Bob Lovati and Juan Carlos Lorenzo (TD). He was unlucky not to make his debut as he came close twice.

First on November 11, 1962, in Lazio vs Brescia when Cei seemed on the verge of joining Milan. Rossi had the number one shirt on and was warming up in the changing rooms when the news came through that the deal was off and he was sent to the grandstands and Cei played after all.

His second chance came in January 1963. Cei was passing through a poor patch of form and all the newspapers reported that Rossi would be starting in the away game to Triestina on January 13. Unfortunately, in a mid-week training game, on the Wednesday, Rossi clashed with teammate Rozzoni and suffered a bad cut to the head which put him out of action. Again, Cei played, kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win and then kept his place until the end of the season. Rossi then only played in a friendly in March.

In 1963-64 it seemed he was joining Parma in Serie B and even played a friendly but then an economic agreement was not found and the transfer did not materialize. At Parma he would have found Lazio connections: Renzo Sassi (1954-56), legend Primo Sentimenti (1950-57), Dimitri Pinti (1961-62) and Paolo Bernasconi (1962-63)

He signed for Salernitana in Serie C instead. He stayed two seasons. In the first he only played 3 league games while in the second he played 26. The Granata finished 6th and 13th under Austrian Rodolph Hiden. His teammates included Lazio connections: Brunello Cocciuti (1955-56, 1957-58, 1959, 1960-61) and Oliviero Visentin (1959-61, 1964-65). Towards the end of the second season, he suffered a bad arm injury. A pity as there had been talk of him joining Catania or Brescia both in Serie A.

Instead in 1965-66 Rossi joined Bari in Serie C. He played 21 league games and Galletti finished 4th, first under Hugo Lamanna and then Filippo Calabrese.

In 1966 he went back to Rome and found a job in a bank and paused his football career.

He returned to football but at amateur level in 1967 with Almas in Rome. He stayed five seasons; one in the 6th tier, one in the 5th tier and three in Serie D. In 1969 Almas won the Amateur Coppa Italia and the International Ottorino Barassi Cup defeating North Shields, who had won the English Amateur Cup.

Rossi then retired at 32.

An unlucky career with events going against him when he was on the verge of getting his big chance.