March 12, 1972: Como Lazio 1-1

Lazio Stories
2 days ago
7 min read

The fighting spirit is back

A return to form after a few dull games

Source Corriere dello Sport on Lazio Wiki

The season so far

The disastrous 1970-71 season had culminated in a relegation to Serie B for the Biancocelesti. It was a devastating and unexpected fall for the club so President Umberto Lenzini, on a suggestion from sporting director Antonio Sbardella, chose a young manager called Tommaso Maestrelli who had done well in Serie C and Serie B with Reggina and Foggia.

The first problem the club had to face was the fact that Giorgio Chinaglia demanded to be sold. He refused to play in Serie B and was not entirely happy with the change of management. Maestrelli convinced him to stay.

Two fundamental future players joined Lazio in the summer transfer window. Luigi Martini, from Livorno, and Giancarlo Oddi returning from his loan spell at Massese. Lazio also signed goalkeeper Claudio Bandoni (Fiorentina) and midfielder Rino Gritti on loan from Lecco. Rino Marchesi, Nello Governato and Giancarlo Morrone left Lazio as free agents as well as Ferruccio Mazzola and Michelangelo Sulfaro on loan to Fiorentina.

In the November transfer window Lazio would then sign Carlo Facchin and Giambattista Moschino, returning after nine years, plus Alessandro Abbondanza on loan from Napoli with Pierpaolo Manservisi going in the opposite direction. Arrigo Dolso also left (on loan to Varese).

Lazio started the Serie B campaign slowly, losing the first two games away from home, but from the 6th match onwards things improved. At the end of the first half of the season the Biancocelesti were third, one point behind Palermo and Ternana and two points ahead of Reggiana and Perugia.

They were still third together with Reggiana and one more point than today’s opponents Como, Perugia and Cesena. There was still work to do to get back to Serie A.

The match: Sunday, March 12, 1972, Stadio Sinigaglia, Como

Lazio were in a crisis period. In the last four games they had drawn two and lost two. They desperately needed some kind of reaction and that is what there seemed to be in the first minutes of the game with a couple of Giorgio Chinaglia attempts, one saved in the 18th minute and one wide.

The pitch was wet and not easy to play on.

Como, who had been dangerous in the 12th minute forcing Pino Wilson to intervene to save matters getting worse, were gracefully given a ridiculous penalty in the 20th minute. Gigi Martini tried to intervene to anticipate Luigi Villa but missed. His leg was stretched out so Villa decided to launch himself towards it and collapsed on the ground. The referee fell for it and it was penalty for the locals. Luigino Vallongo scored the spot kick.

The Biancocelesti could have collapsed but instead took over the game and the Como goal was put under siege. Giuseppe Massa missed a sitter in the 25th minute, in the 27th Chinaglia shot at the keeper from a favourable position, in the 35th a shot of his shaved the crossbar and in the 36th another attempt from Giuliano Fortunato was wide by a whisker.

The script did not change in the second 45 minutes. Alfredo Magni saved a Giambattista Moschino shot on the line in the 58th, ball back to Chinaglia whose attempt hit the woodwork. Six minutes later the Como keeper was excellent on a Giuseppe Papadopulo cross but could do nothing in the 73rd minute. Moschino took a free kick and crossed into the box, Antonio Guelfi anticipated Chinaglia and headed away, Carlo Facchin headed back into the box and Massa with a superb bicycle kick made it 1-1.

The game ended with a couple of chances for the Biancocelesti for Chinaglia and Massa plus one for Como with Adriano Lombardi, but despite not winning, Lazio showed fighting spirit and a return to form. Could this game be a turning point for the season?

Who played for Como

Cipollini, Paleari, Melgrati, Trinchero (70' Libera), Magni, Ghelfi, L.Villa, Lombardi, Vallongo, Lambrugo, Turini

Substitute: Zamparo

Manager: Bersellini

Who played for Lazio

Bandoni, Facco, Papadopulo (76' Nanni), Wilson, Polentes, Martini, Massa, Fortunato, Chinaglia, Moschino, Facchin

Substitute: Di Vincenzo

Manager: Maestrelli

Referee: Toselli

Goals: 21' Vallongo (pen), 68’ Massa

What happened next

With five games to the end of the season there were five teams fighting for promotion: Palermo and Ternana 44 points, Lazio 43, Como 42 and Reggiana 41. With two games to the end, the Biancocelesti had reached second place and a week later they topped the table together with Ternana, one point ahead of Palermo and two more than Como. All Lazio needed was a point at Bari and that is exactly what happened.

The Biancocelesti were able to secure promotion thanks to an excellent attack with Chinaglia, Massa and Abbondanza, and a very strong defence with goalkeeper Bandoni and Giuseppe Wilson. The midfield was not up to par and there was the need to find better players. They would come in the following season.

Wilson was the player with most appearances this season (48), Chinaglia the top goal scorer (26 goals).

Let’s talk about Giuseppe Massa

Giuseppe Massa was born in Naples, on April 26, 1948.

He started playing football with a small local Neopolitan team, Flegrea, but his first real professional experience was with Internapoli, the second team in Naples, in the 4th division in 1965/66. He became known as "Peppiniello". Here he met and played alongside Pino Wilson who would later be his captain at Lazio.

In 1966 he joined Lazio and after one year in the youth team he was moved up to the first team squad by Roberto Lovati. He made his debut on March 3, 1968, against Catania in Serie B. He made 13 league appearances in his first year and scored 3 goals.

The following year, again in Serie B, he played 30 league games with 6 goals helping Lazio back to Serie A.

In 1969/70 in the top flight, he played 27 times with 5 goals while in 1970/71 he played 29 games with another 5 goals but could not avoid Lazio's relegation.

His most prolific year was 1971/72 when he scored 12 league goals in 38 appearances and Lazio were promoted back to Serie A with Tommaso Maestrelli.

He had a good spell at Lazio in his six years playing 137 league games with 37 goals. Maybe a little unfairly, Massa will be remembered just as much for his transfer to Inter in the summer of 1972 as for his Lazio goals. This was not merely because he was sold to Inter, but more importantly for who came to Lazio in the opposite direction. The deal was Massa to Inter in exchange for Massimo Silva and Mario Frustalupi, plus 300 million Lire (approx 150,000 Euros). The latter, Frustalupi "The Wolf Thrasher", would prove fundamental to Lazio's scudetto glory in 1973/74. So, as well as Massa had served Lazio, his departure turned out to be for the best. Frustalupi was exactly the playmaker Lazio were looking for and joined all the pieces of the puzzle into that perfect fit, the "Banda Maestrelli".

At Inter Massa played two seasons totalling 43 Serie A games with 4 goals.

In 1974/75 he returned to his hometown to play for Napoli. He stayed four seasons playing 102 league games and scoring 24 goals. He won the Coppa Italia with Napoli in 1975/76. In the same season he scored the winner against Lazio (1-0) and a goal in a 2-1 win over Roma. In 1976/77 he again scored a winner against Roma (1-0).

In 1978 he left Napoli but not the region of Campania. He went up the road and joined Avellino in Serie A. He stayed three seasons, played 65 league games and scored 10 goals (including the equaliser in an epic 3-3 draw against Juve). Avellino did well in those years and were a regular feature in Serie A arriving 10th, 12th and 10th in Massa's stint in Irpinia.

In 1981 he moved down two divisions to play for Campania in C1. Here he played another three seasons for a total of 45 games and 3 goals. He then retired in 1983 at 35 years old.

Massa had an excellent club career playing 417 games and scoring 76 goals.

At International level he earned 4 caps for Italy's Under 23s.

Massa was a diminutive player at 1.68 but he was extremely mobile. He was what you call a traditional number 7 who could play as a right winger in midfield or as a forward. He was particularly quick with excellent dribbling skills. He was skillful with good technique and scored goals as well as setting them up.

At Lazio Massa played for six years, so is an important part of their history. He scored 34 goals and helped Giorgio Chinaglia get countless more. He won two promotions with Lazio and was part of the build up to Maestrelli's scudetto of 1973/74. He served Lazio well and gained eternal gratitude for coming, playing and even leaving…

Giuseppe Massa died on October 17, 2017 in Naples at the age of 69. His daughter Azzurra is also now a top-level football player.

Lazio Career

Season	Total	Serie A	Serie B	Coppa Italia	Mitropa Cup	Fairs Cup	Anglo-Italian Cup	Cup of the Alps
1967-68	13 (3)	-	13 (3)	-	-	-	-	-
1968-69	33 (7)	-	30 (6)	3 (1)	-	-	-	-
1969-70	40 (6)	27 (5)	-	3	2	-	4	4 (1)
1970-71	38 (6)	29 (5)	-	3 (1)	-	2	-	4
1971-72	44 (13)	-	38 (12)	6 (1)	-	-	-	-
Total	168 (35)	56 (10)	81 (21)	15 (3)	2	2	4	8 (1)