June 4, 1995: Lazio Brescia 1-0
- Simon Basten
- Jun 4
- 12 min read
Second place
A last minute Colucci goal gives Lazio second place
The season so far
At the end of the 1993-94 season Sergio Cragnotti surprised everybody by giving the Lazio managerial job to Zdenek Zeman. The Czech coach had impressed the world with his incredible tactical organisation at Foggia. Two of his former players had been signed by Lazio during the summer: Roberto Rambaudi and Jose Chamot. They joined another former Foggia star Beppe Signori. Arriving were also Giorgio Venturin (Torino), Ivano Della Morte (Monza) and Daniele Adani (Modena).
Leaving Lazio were Luigi Corino (Brescia), Luca Luzardi (Napoli), Dario Marcolin (Genoa on loan) and Claudio Sclosa (Cremonese, loan), all players considered unsuitable for Zeman’s style of play.
Dino Zoff, who had bored everybody to tears in recent years, was promoted to club President. In this way Cragnotti did not lose the charisma of the former World Champion, very important particularly for PR reasons.
In Coppa Italia, Lazio passed the first two rounds, with some difficulty in the second against Piacenza. In the quarterfinals they beat Napoli 3-1 on aggregate and faced Juventus in the semis. After losing the first leg at home 1-0, they were 1-0 down also in the second and in ten men, but they managed to equalise and almost made it to the final, but the woodwork denied the Biancocelesti and in the end a Roberto Baggio penalty handed the final to Juventus.
In the UEFA Cup, Lazio had some trouble scoring away from home. The Biancocelesti passed the first round comfortably but had to wait to the last dying seconds before getting the better of Trelleborgs FF from Sweden in the second round. In the third, against Trabzonspor, the first leg was in Turkey and Lazio managed to score their first two away goals and reached the quarterfinals winning the home leg too. The Biancocelesti were then paired with Borussia Dortmund of former player Karl-Heinz Riedle. The first leg saw Lazio win 1-0 thanks to an own goal. Dortmund won the return match 2-0 with a non-existent penalty at the beginning of the game and a Riedle goal two minutes from time. Lazio were unlucky with Beppe Signori out due to injury and a referee who had clear problems with his eyesight (incredible penalty not given to the Biancocelesti).
After the first half of the season Lazio were third, four points behind Parma and five from leaders Juventus. The second part had started badly with two consecutive defeats and in the next eight games they had lost another three times. They had fallen to fifth place, six points from Parma, second. But in the next six matches they had beaten Roma, Juventus and Inter and were now third three points behind Parma, second. Juventus had already won the scudetto.
The match: Sunday, June 4, 1995, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
On possibly their worst day, Lazio overtook Parma and seized second place, their highest-ever finish after the lone league title won in 1974. That's football. This Lazio side—undoubtedly deserving of praise, yet irritatingly dull in the final match—ultimately sealed the modest triumph of a team celebrated at the end by jubilant Biancocelesti supporters who had earlier hurled boos of frustration at them.
In short, it was a dreadful match. Lazio approached it with unjustifiable complacency, while Brescia played with an equally incomprehensible determination. For almost ninety minutes, until the goal arrived, two questions lingered: why was a team already condemned to relegation fighting with such unusual and indomitable fury? And why were Lazio treating their final commitment so casually that they risked throwing away the dream of a second leapfrog of the season, after already overtaking Roma?
For nearly an hour and a half, Brescia defended Parma's second place far better than Parma themselves were doing in Naples. The "Swallows" smothered Beppe Signori and Alen Boksic in the grip of a desperate defensive barricade. Both Lazio forwards looked as though they had already begun their summer holidays and seemed deaf even to the appeals of the willing Roberto Rambaudi, who waved his arms in vain on the right flank.
This exposed the fragility of Lazio's structure, highlighting the value of Aron Winter's contribution. Not even the good news of Napoli taking the lead against Parma managed to shake Lazio from their lethargy.
Indeed, a few minutes after the roar celebrating Napoli’s lead at the San Paolo, the Roman defence granted a free passage to Fabio Gallo. Intimidated by such generosity, he shot in disbelief and without conviction; an equally surprised Luca Marchegiani prevented disaster with an easy diving save.
The second half offered neither more nor better. Signori produced a few flashes reminiscent of his old brilliance, but to no effect. Giorgio Venturin, Diego Fuser, the young Leonardo Colucci, and the rest of the midfield worked tirelessly but without imagination. Boksic never managed to free himself from the grip imposed by Giuseppe Baronchelli and company until he was, quite rightly, replaced by Gigi Casiraghi, whose contribution seemed no better. The defence as a whole continued to struggle against Brescia's infrequent but always dangerous counterattacks, and poor Marchegiani was forced into two further interventions: first, bravely rushing out again at the feet of the escaping Gallo, and later dealing twice with attacks initiated by Maurizio Neri.
Then, just as hopes were fading, came the goal that restored the fans' voices and put smiles back on the faces of the distracted protagonists of a day that, in truth, deserved to be forgotten. The move, born of determination, began with Venturin in one of his rare constructive contributions. A Lazio player and a Brescia player both missed the ball, confusing the otherwise excellent Marco Ballotta, and the young Colucci cleverly headed it into the net, deceiving the goalkeeper.
It was a stoppage-time goal that gave Lazio a scarcely deserved victory and, at the same time, second place. Whether fully deserved or not, that second-place finish will remain in the record books.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Bacci, Favalli, Venturin, Negro, Chamot, Rambaudi, Fuser, Boksic (67' Casiraghi), L.Colucci, Signori
Manager: Zeman
Who played for Brescia
Ballotta, Francini, Di Muri, Piovanelli, Baronchelli, Bonometti (84' Corini), Schenardi, Marangon, Neri, Giunta, Gallo Substiturs: Gamberini, Borra, Faini, Bernardi Manager: A.Moro
Referee: Dinelli
Goal: 90’ L.Colucci
What happened next
Lazio’s main ambition was a place in Europe in some way or form and to play well. They managed to keep a high standard of play – a couple of 5-1s (against Napoli and Padova), a 7-1 win at home against Foggia, 8-2 win against Fiorentina, a 3-0 away win against Juventus and the 2-0 win over that other team from Rome – despite an occasional pause (losing the derby for example). The team scored lots of goals, not surprising when one has Alen Boksic, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Beppe Signori in the squad. One could see that the Biancocelesti had enormous potential and they did reach second place behind Juventus and if it were not for the occasional defensive blackouts, they perhaps could have done even better.
Luca Marchegiani and Paolo Negro were the players with most appearances in the season (48, Casiraghi was the one with most matches in Serie A) and Signori the highest scorer (17 in Serie A and 21 in total).
Sadly, this was the last season at Lazio for Paul Gascoigne. He came back after the terrible injury of 1994 and played 4 matches. But Zeman’s type of game was too limiting for him so he was sold to Rangers during the summer.
What happened 1994-95
Milan had won the scudetto the previous season ahead of Juventus with Sampdoria and Lazio third. At the end of the first half of fixtures Milan had a three-point advantage over Juve and Samp which increased to nine in March. Once in sight of the final goal the Rossoneri took their foot off the accelerator but the Bianconeri were too far behind to be able to be a concrete peril. Milan won the title with two games to spare.
In the summer transfer window Milan did very little with just the return of Ruud Guillit after his year with Sampdoria. Juventus changed radically both at club level, with Umberto Agnelli taking over from his brother Gianni and the emergence of the Triad Roberto Bettega, Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo to manage the club, and in the head coach as young Marcello Lippi was chosen as manager. The arrival of Ciro Ferrara, Didier Deschamps and Paulo Sousa completed the revolution.
Lazio also made a big change. President Sergio Cragnotti chose Zdenek Zeman as new head coach taking over from Dino Zoff.
August & September
In August Milan won the Supercoppa beating Sampdoria on penalties after the game had finished 1-1.
Roma started the season well and with Parma and Juventus took the lead early. They won in Milan against Inter and Juventus beat Sampdoria.
The first two games of the Champions League group stage, Milan lost in Amsterdam to Ajax but beat Casino Salzburg at home. In the Cup Winners Cup, Sampdoria eliminated Bodø/Glimt. Lazio, Napoli, Juventus and Parma all went through to the second round of the UEFA Cup after eliminating Dinamo Minsk, Skonto, CSKA Sofia and Vitesse. Inter were eliminated on penalties by Aston Villa.
In the first leg of the second round of Coppa Italia in August, Juventus were not able to score against Chievo and Milan lost at home to Palermo but in the second leg in September they managed to overturn the ties even if the Rossoneri needed the penalty shootout.
Roma 10, Parma 10, Juventus 10, Sampdoria 7, Lazio 7, Inter 7, Fiorentina 7, Milan 7, Bari 6, Cremonese 6, Torino 6, Foggia 5, Cagliari 4, Napoli 4, Genoa 2, Brescia 2, Reggiana 0, Padova 0
October
Parma continued to do well and had a two-point lead over Lazio and Juventus. The Bianconeri drew at home with Inter, were surprisingly beaten at Foggia, but won at home against Milan. Roma lost at Parma while Lazio crushed Napoli 5-1.
Milan drew away with AEK Athens in the Champions League group stage and remained second in their group behind Ajax (first two would proceed to the knock out stage). In the first leg of the Cup Winners Cup second round Sampdoria smashed Grasshopper 3-0. In the first leg of the second round of Coppa UEFA, Napoli drew away to Boavista and Lazio at Trelleborg, Juventus and Parma won away against AIK and Marítimo.
In the third round of the Coppa Italia, Foggia beat Torino and the Milan derby was won by Inter. The other qualified teams were Napoli, Fiorentina, Roma, Juve, Lazio and Parma.
Parma 19, Lazio 17, Juventus 17, Roma 15, Fiorentina 15, Foggia 13, Bari 13, Sampdoria 12, Inter 12, Cagliari 12, Milan 11, Torino 10, Napoli 9, Genoa 8, Cremonese 6, Padova 5, Brescia 2, Reggiana 1
November
Parma continued to lead with Juventus second, but with one game in hand, and Fiorentina third. Milan and Inter, neither of whom had had a good start, drew their derby, Roma crushed Lazio while the Turin clash was postponed due to bad weather.
In the Champions League, Milan first beat AEK Athens and then lost at home against Ajax. The groups standings were now Ajax 8 points, Milan 5, Casino Salzburg 5, AEK 2. The Rossoneri needed to win in Salzburg to proceed to the knock out stage. In the Cup Winners Cup Sampdoria eliminated Grasshopper despite losing 3-2 and would meet Porto in the quarter finals in March. All four Italian teams won in the home games of the UEFA Cup second round and proceeded to the third where, in the first leg, Lazio and Juve won away at Trabzonspor and Admira Wacker, whilst Parma and Napoli lost to Athletic Bilbao and Eintracht Frankfurt.
In the first leg of the Coppa Italia quarter finals, Lazio, Parma, Inter and Juventus beat Napoli, Fiorentina, Foggia and Roma respectively.
Parma 24, Juventus 23*, Fiorentina 22, Lazio 21, Roma 20, Bari 19, Foggia 17, Cagliari 16, Sampdoria 14, Inter 14, Milan 13*, Cremonese 12, Torino 11**, Genoa 11, Napoli 11, Padova 8, Brescia 3, Reggiana 3
* one game in hand
** two games in hand
December
Parma and Juve went off by themselves followed at a distance by Fiorentina and the two Romans. Sampdoria won their derby, Juve beat Lazio in Rome 4-3 in a spectacular game and then went on to win in Milan against Inter.
By winning in Salzbug Milan qualified for the next round of the Champions League where they would face Benfica in March. Lazio, Juventus and Parma managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup quarter finals. Napoli were eliminated after losing at home to Eintracht.
On December 1 Milan played the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo losing to Velez Sarsfield 2-0.
Lazio, Juventus, Parma and surprisingly Foggia were the semi-finalists of the Coppa Italia after eliminating Napoli, Roma, Fiorentina and Inter (in extra time).
Parma 31, Juventus 30*, Fiorentina 26, Lazio 25, Roma 24, Bari 22, Sampdoria 21, Foggia 18, Milan 18*, Inter 17, Cagliari 17, Torino 16*, Napoli 16, Cremonese 15, Genoa 13, Padova 11, Reggiana 9*, Brescia 5
* one game in hand
January
In the first game of the year Juventus won at Parma and overtook them. They then beat Roma 3-0 and went +4 since Parma were stopped in Florence. But in the next match the Bianconeri collapsed at Cagliari and the Emiliani beat Napoli to reduce the gap to just one point. Juve still had to play the derby which had been postponed and when they did they lost it 3-2. The month ended with Juve +2 after beating Brescia and Parma drawing at Cremona.
Juventus 39, Parma 36, Lazio 31, Roma 31, Sampdoria 28, Milan 28*, Fiorentina 27, Bari 26, Cagliari 25, Inter 24, Foggia 24, Torino 23, Napoli 21, Cremonese 18, Genoa 17*, Padova 17, Reggiana 12, Brescia 9
* one game in hand
February
Juve went to +6 and there was the feeling that the scudetto race was over. Lazio smashed Milan for four while below Reggiana and Brescia could be considered already in Serie B. Padova, Genoa and Cremonese were fighting to avoid the remaining two places.
Juventus 48, Parma 42, Roma 37, Lazio 34, Milan 33, Sampdoria 32, Fiorentina 32, Cagliari 32, Torino 29, Bari 29, Inter 28, Napoli 27, Foggia 25, Padova 23, Genoa 21, Cremonese 19, Reggiana 12, Brescia 12
March
Juventus maintained the +6 over Parma. They drew with Inter away while Lazio, after having thrashed Foggia 7-1 the previous month, demolished Fiorentina 8-2. Milan started to move up the table and were now third. Foggia were sucked into the battle to avoid Serie B.
Milan beat Benfica 2-0 on aggregate and proceeded to the semi-finals of the Champions League where they would play PSG. Sampdoria eliminated Porto in the quarter finals of the Cup Winners Cup but it was not easy. After having lost at home 1-0 they won thanks to the penalty shootout. They would meet Arsenal in the semi-finals. Parma and Juventus proceeded to the UEFA Cup semi-finals after eliminating Odense BK and Eintracht Frankfurt. Lazio were controversially eliminated by Borussia Dortmund.
Juventus managed to beat Lazio in Rome in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final, Foggia and Parma drew 1-1 in the other game.
Juventus 55, Parma 49, Milan 42, Roma 41, Lazio 40, Fiorentina 36, Sampdoria 35, Inter 35, Cagliari 35, Torino 33, Napoli 31, Bari 30, Genoa 27, Padova 26, Cremonese 25, Foggia 25, Reggiana 14, Brescia 12
April
With five games left to the end of the season, Juve were +8 over Parma. They won in Milan but lost the derby once again and were even beaten at home by Padova, but still managed to increase the gap. Lazio and Genoa won their derbies. Below the fight to escape from the last two places in Serie B was between Genoa, Cremonese and Foggia.
Milan qualified for the final of the Champions League after beating PSG 3-0 on aggregate. They would face Ajax in Vienna. In the group stage the Rossoneri had lost both games against the Dutch. Sampdoria missed out on the final of the Cup Winners Cup after losing on penalties to Arsenal (who in the final were beaten by Real Zaragoza in extra time). Parma and Juventus would meet in the UEFA Cup final after having eliminated Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund.
Juventus would meet Parma in the final of the Coppa Italia after having eliminated Lazio and Foggia respectively. The final would take place in June.
Juventus 64, Parma 56, Milan 51, Roma 49, Lazio 48, Inter 45, Fiorentina 44, Cagliari 43, Torino 41, Sampdoria 40, Napoli 39, Bari 37, Padova 36, Genoa 32, Cremonese 31, Foggia 30, Reggiana 14, Brescia 12
May & June
Juventus lost 3-0 at home to Lazio but Parma could only draw at home with Genoa. The Biancocelesti also thrashed Inter 4-1. The Bianconeri won the scudetto with two games to spare by thrashing Parma 4-0. Lazio joined Parma in second place taking advantage of the Emiliani's drop in form once the scudetto race was over. Foggia went on a free fall and lost all their games, hence were the third to be relegated. With 90 minutes left Genoa were on 37 points, Padova on 40. Final games Genoa-Torino and Inter-Padova. With one minute left in the match, while Genoa were winning, Padova were drawing 1-1 but Marco Delvecchio scored and Genoa were now on equal points. A playoff was needed. The match ended 1-1 and Serie A was decided on penalties. Padova won and the Rossoblu were relegated.
Mian lost the final of the Champions League in Vienna 1-0 to Ajax. Parma beat Juventus in the final of the UEFA Cup 2-1 on aggregate.
Juventus won the Coppa Italia by beating Parma 3-0 on aggregate, a partial compensation for the loss in the UEFA Cup final.
Juventus would be playing in Champions League, Parma the Cup Winners Cup, Lazio, Milan, Roma and Inter the UEFA Cup. Piacenza, Udinese, Vicenza and Atalanta were promoted to Serie A. Gabriel Batistuta (Fiorentina) was top scorer with 26 goals.
Final table: Juventus 73, Lazio 63, Parma 63, Milan 60, Roma 59, Inter 52, Napoli 51, Sampdoria 50, Cagliari 49, Fiorentina 47, Torino 45, Bari 44, Cremonese 41, Padova 40, Genoa 40, Foggia 34, Reggiana 18, Brescia 12
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