Comeback draw on lake

Dag Jenkins
Jun 19, 2024
4 min read

Season 1970-71

Game 3, Cup of the Alps

Saturday, June 19, 1971

Stadio Cornaredo, Lugano

Lugano-Lazio 2-2

Two zero down at halftime Lazio fight back to earn point

The Coppa delle Alpi (The Alps Cup) was the last tournament of the season and the chance for some consolation silverware. It was to be played between June 12 and June 25.

This was the 11th edition of the cup. It was a competition between Italian and Swiss sides. This year eight teams took part, divided into two mixed groups. The A Group was made up of Lazio, Sampdoria, Lugano and Winterthur. The B Group had Varese, Verona, Basel and Lausanne.

The formula was that each team played the foreign team in their group twice (so no matches between Italians). The highest placed Italian and Swiss team would then qualify for the final. The points were calculated from the points from the four matches plus the goals scored.

In the first match, on June 12, Lazio beat Lugano 4-0 (Pierpaolo Manservisi, Giuliano Fortunato, Berset og, Giorgio Chinaglia).

In the second match, on June 15, Lazio beat Winterthur 4-1 (Chinaglia hat-trick and Ferruccio Mazzola).

Today was the third match away to Lugano just over the Italian border, in Switzerland.

Lugano had finished 3rd in the Swiss league and had been runners-up in the domestic cup, losing 0-2 to Servette. The manager was German Albert Sing.

So far in the Alps Cup the "Lügàn" had lost 0-4 to Lazio in Rome and then won 2-1 away against Sampdoria.

The table read: Lazio 4, Lugano 2, Sampdoria 1, Winterthur 1.

A good chance today for Lazio to win the group a game early and at the same time accumulate points and goals to get to the final.

The match

A sparse crowd of about 3,000 turned up at the Cornaredo ground on a mild evening.

An unfortunate episode had occurred before the match as in the usual walkaround on the field Juan Carlos Morrone had been targeted by innocuous paper balls but to avoid one had accidentally elbowed his teammate Nello Governato in the face. This meant "Il professore" had been forced to go to hospital and would miss tonight's game. Lazio were already without Pino Wilson.

The Swiss started on the front foot while Lazio were slow and apathetic. The hosts imposed a high tempo on the game and went close immediately with a Tiziano Scacchi effort.

In the 15th minute the White V's went in front courtesy of the son of an old Lazio friend, John Hansen. The Dane had played for the Biancocelesti in 1954-55 scoring 15 goals, after many years at Juventus. Anyway, his son Henning showed he had some of his dad in him and put the Swiss ahead, 1-0.

Lazio did not have much of a reaction and in the 39th minute the Swiss doubled with a powerful and precise Otto Luttrop volley, 2-0.

Lazio were 0-2 down at halftime after a lacklustre first 45 minutes. It could even have been worse had Rosario Di Vincenzo not made at least a couple of excellent saves.

For the second half Bob Lovati took off Ferruccio Mazzola and put on Pierpaolo Manservisi and at the same time moved Giuliano Fortunato further forward.

The tactical change brought almost instant rewards. In the 52nd minute Fortunato skilfully eluded his marker and from the edge of the box sent an unstoppable shot past Mario Prosperi, 2-1.

Lazio had changed gear and equalised five minutes later. Fortunato sent Gaetano Legnaro down towards the by-line and the defender's cross was met by Giorgio Chinaglia who with the inside of his foot put a low shot just inside the post, 2-2.

In the 68th minute were forced to replace keeper Di Vincenzo with Michelangelo Sulfaro. The game however was past its peak as both sides became more cautious seemingly satisfied with the score line. Final score: Lugano 2 Lazio 2.

A decent comeback point for Lazio who had approached the game badly but remedied in the second half in which, had they insisted, they could possibly have come away with more than a point.

The table now read: Lazio 5, Lugano 3, Sampdoria 3, Winterthur 1. In the other group the top Italian team was Varese with 3 points while Verona had 2. The table would then be a calculation of points plus goals scored (at the moment Lazio 15, Sampdoria 7, Verona 7, Varese 5). Lazio were in a good position.

Who played for Lugano

Prosperi, Fassi, Riehn, Signorelli, Cadlini, Roth, Scacchi, Hansen, Berset, Luttrop, Arrigoni

Manager: Sing

Who played for Lazio

Di Vincenzo (68' Sulfaro), Facco, Legnaro, Nanni, Polentes, Marchesi, Massa, Mazzola (46' Manservisi), Chinaglia, Fava, Fortunato