No Hollywood drama but decent point

Dag Jenkins
Jun 1, 2023
3 min read

Season 1951-52

Game 35, Serie A

Sunday, June 1, 1952

Stadio Torino, Rome

Lazio - Milan 1-1

Lazio draw with reigning champions in front of Gregory Peck

The Eagles were having another good season and were 5th on 39 points. Lazio had won 14 (including Juventus 2-0 at home), drawn 7 (including Inter and Milan both 1-1 away) and lost 9. There was no derby this year as Roma had been the first team from the capital to be relegated to Serie B. Lazio came from a good 4-2 away win at Bologna.

Milan were reigning champions. and were currently 2nd on 47 points, eight behind leaders Juventus. The Rossoneri had won 18 (including derby 2-1), drawn 11 (including derby and Juventus both 1-1) and lost 5 (including Juventus 1-3 away). The previous week they had fallen to a shock 1-2 defeat at rock bottom Legnano.

Milan were slight favourites today but Lazio had already beaten leaders Juventus at home and 12 out of their 14 wins had come in front of their fans so they were highly competitive in Rome.

The match

A hot and sunny day saw just over 15,000 in attendance, these included famous Hollywood actor Gregory Peck. The star was greeted warmly by the fans.

Lazio were missing defenders Primo Sentimenti and Francesco Antonazzi plus attacking midfielder Enrique Flamini.

Milan had to do without defender and captain Andrea Bonomi.

Lazio were on top for most of the first half. Milan looked apathetic and Lazio tried to take advantage. Aldo Puccinelli had a couple of good chances and Gulesin Sükrü had a penalty appeal waved away. Milan looked slicker and classier but faded in the last third of the field.

After six minutes of the second half Lazio went in front. In the 51st minute the Milan defence carelessly let Ragnar Larsen slip through and present himself in front of Lorenzo Buffon who dived at his feet but lost the ball so the Norwegian midfielder had an easy task to slot the ball in, 1-0.

Milan reacted with one of Gunnar Nordahl's few initiatives of the afternoon. The Swede burst forward and cracked what seemed a winning shot but Lucidio Sentimenti managed to tip it away from the top hand corner. A superb save.

Milan equalised in the 68th minute. Amleto Frignani went on a run down the wing and crossed into the middle where Nils Liedholm, Gunnar Gren and Nordahl all tried to scramble the ball over the line in the crowded area. Finally it was Gren who managed to control the ball, but possibly with the help of his hands, and score. Lazio protested but the goal stood, 1-1.

Both sides then seemed to be reasonably happy with the point and the game continued without any particular excitement until the dying moments. In the last minute Renzo Burini struck a shot which came back off the crossbar and reached Gren who hit it towards the empty goal but Romolo Alzani appeared out of nowhere and headed it away. It was the last action of the game as the referee then whistled for full-time. Lazio 1 Milan 1.

A deserved point for Lazio against the reigning champions. Lazio had been better for an hour but then the Devil stirred and finally could even have snatched both points. It was not a classic however and it was doubtful Gregory Peck would have been overly enthusiastic about the football part of his "Roman Holiday".

Lazio were now joint 4th, on 40 points with Napoli (2-1 SPAL) and Fiorentina (0-2 Torino). With three games to go Lazio could still aspire to a 4th place finish.

Milan were still 2nd on 48 points. Top placed Juventus had lost 2-3 to Inter who were now only two points behind the Rossoneri.

Who played for Lazio

Sentimenti IV, Montanari, Furiassi, Alzani, Malacarne, Fuin, Puccinelli, Magrini, Antoniotti, Larsen, Sukrü