March 16, 1958: Lazio Roma 2-1
- Lazio Stories
- Mar 16
- 10 min read
Great match, great win
Lazio win the derby with two goals in 120 seconds in the last ten minutes
Also on this day:
The season so far
The 1957-58 season had been really tough. There was literally no money and Lazio were in deep financial difficulty. As a consequence, little could be done to improve the team and Ugo Pozzan was the only player to be signed. The club could have sold their best player Arne Selmosson, but managed to avoid it. But the club was forced to sell Primo Sentimenti V and Lorenzo Bettini to Udinese. Manager Jesse Carver moved to Inter so the Biancocelesti had a new one: Milovan Ciric.
The Asian flu swept through Lazio like a cold wind and many players were out of action. Goalkeeper Bob Lovati suffered a serious injury in the second game and came back at the end of October.
At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 13th, just three points above the relegation zone (two teams would go down to Serie B). Ciric was sacked in February and the team was handed to Dino Canestri, technical director, and Alfredo Monza, manager. Things started to improve and the Biancocelesti were currently ninth with a comfortable six-point cushion on the relegation zone. They had even beaten Inter a month earlier. But today was the derby.
The match: Sunday, March 16, 1958, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
A great match between the two teams, very exciting with the ball moving from one side of the pitch to the other.
Lazio started well and had a couple of chances but Luciano Panetti made some excellent saves in the 4th and 19th minutes. In between in the 11th minute an Ermes Muccinelli shot shaved the post. Roma reacted and a miracle from Bob Lovati was needed on the half hour on a Giuseppe Secchi whack. After a half hour of total domination by the Biancocelesti, Roma took hold of the match but did not create anything worth noting.
In the second half, Arne Selmosson hit the woodwork in the 60th minute. The fireworks began in the last quarter of an hour. In the 78th minute Alcide Ghigga raced down the right wing and went into the box. He passed to Dino Da Costa who needed time to move the ball from one foot to the other. This gave Lovati the opportunity to race out and the Roma forward’s shot was wide. Ball back to Umberto Pinardi who passed to Selmosson, big whack, excellent save from the Roma keeper. In the 81st minute Lazio scored. Muccinelli to Selmosson who dribbled past Giulio Corsini, got into the box and beat Panetti.
Two minutes later it was 2-0. Corsini in an attempt to clear on Pasquale Vivolo instead passed to Renzo Burini who had a freeway in front of him. He advanced, dribbled past the keeper and slotted the ball in.
With one minute left, Adelmo Eufemi lost the ball to Da Costa who advanced, dribbled past Pinardi and once on the limit of the penalty area released a missile which this time Lovati could not stop. But there was no more time and Lazio won the derby!!!!
Who played for Lazio
Manager: Monza
TD: Canestri
Who played for Roma
Panetti, Griffith, Corsini, Menegotti, Stucchi, Magli, Ghiggia, Da Costa, Secchi, Guarnacci, Lojodice
Manager: Nordahl
TD: Busini
Referee: Liverani
Goal: 81’ Selmosson, 83’ Burini, 89’ Da Costa
What happened next
In the next 8 games Lazio got just three points so, with one game to go the situation was dramatic. Genoa, Sampdoria, Lazio, Atalanta and Spal on 28 points, Verona last on 26. A 4-0 win in the last game against Verona allowed the Biancocelesti to avoid relegation.
Giovanni Molino was the player with most appearances (34), Selmosson the top goal scorer (9).
The Coppa Italia was played in the solar year and for the first time since the end of World War II. The Serie A, as usual when there was a World Cup, had been anticipated by three weeks to allow the Nazionale to train before the competition. However, without Italy’s participation, there was a need to “invent” something for the Italians to think about, so, instead of launching the Coppa Italia in the 1958-59 season as initially planned, they decided to fill the June gap with the new cup.
All Serie A teams were invited with the exception of Atalanta, involved in a case of possible corruption, and Verona, who had a playoff with Bari, plus the best 8 of Serie B and Serie C. The 32 teams were divided into 8 groups of four. The winners would play the quarterfinals in September and automatically qualify for the first knockout round in the next Coppa Italia.
Lazio started the cup with a number of changes. Fulvio Bernardini, former 1920s Lazio player, returned to coach the team. Only a couple of years earlier he had won a historic scudetto with Fiorentina so there were high hopes that the new boss could take Lazio to a higher level.
Unfortunately, the club was forced to sell their star player, Arne Selmosson. Alas, the highest bidders were Roma and despite various attempts to boycott the transfer, plus the fact that the Swede was not really that happy to play for the other Rome team, Selmosson was sold to Roma.
New players arrived and were immediately thrown in the team to play the Coppa Italia: Idilio Cei (goalkeeper from Foligno), Claudio Bizzari (forward, Fiorentina), Carlo Tagnin (midfielder, Alessandria), Maurilio Prini (forward, Fiorentina), Giacomo Del Gratta (defender, Zenit Modena) and Egidio Fumagalli (midfielder, Novese). Later on, Franco Janich (defender, Atalanta), Bruno Franzini (midfielder, Genoa) and Paolo Carosi (midfielder, Tivoli) also arrived.
Lazio were in Group H together with Roma, Palermo and Napoli. Whoever came top proceeded to the quarterfinals.
In the first game Lazio demolished Palermo 5-1 with a Humberto Tozzi hat -trick and goals from Renzo Burini and Alfredo Napoleoni. Game two saw the Biancocelesti beat Napoli 3-1 (Tozzi double plus Tagnin). Game three was the derby which saw Lazio win 3-2 away (another Tozzi double and Bizzarri). In game four Lazio drew at Palermo 2-2 (Tozzi, Burini) and in the fifth game the Biancocelesti demolished Napoli away 4-0 (Burini brace, Pozzan and Bizzarri). In the last game of group stage Lazio drew 1-1 with Roma (Tozzi the scorer). Lazio won their group and proceeded to the next stage which was played in September.
In the quarterfinals Lazio beat the only Serie B side to qualify, Marzotto, 2-1 with goals from Fumagalli and Tozzi. In the other games, Bologna won against Milan away 4-2, Fiorentina beat Padova 2-1 and Juventus won at Genoa against Sampdoria 3-2 after extra time.
In the semis, Lazio had to play against Juventus, a very difficult game. Juventus had a stellar attack with Giampiero Boniperti, John Charles and Omar Sivori, but the Biancocelesti won 2-0, again with goals from Fumagalli and Tozzi. In the other semi-final Fiorentina beat Bologna 4-2.
The final was hence between Lazio and Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico. The Biancocelesti won their first historic silverware thanks to a Prini goal in the first half. A magical, long-awaited triumph for the oldest club of the capital.
Let's talk about Arne Selmosson
Arne Selmosson was born in Götene, Sweden, on March 29, 1931.
His first club was Jönköpings Södra in his homeland. He played 80 league games over three seasons and scored 33 goals. In this period, he served his obligatory military service in the Fire Brigade and he remained fond of the force forever more.
He arrived in Italy in 1954, brought by Udinese for 150 million lire. The Friulani's manager was former Lazio Giuseppe Bigogno and they had a great season on the pitch finishing 2nd behind Milan. The Zebrette went unbeaten from December 12 until the end of the season. Selmosson played 34 league games and scored 14 goals (Fiorentina, SPAL x2, Lazio, Pro Patria, Atalanta, Napoli, Catania, Bologna, SPAL, Lazio, Juventus, Roma, Atalanta). His attacking partner was future Lazio Lorenzo Bettini. Udinese's second place was however ruined by the emergence of some illegal match fixing by players and directors dating back to the 1952-53 season. Udinese were punished with relegation to Serie B.
Selmosson however stayed in Serie A joining Lazio while Alberto Fontanesi and Norwegian Per Bredesen went up to Udine. The manager was Luigi Ferrero for the first 14 games and then Englishman Jesse Carver. The Biancocelesti had a good season finishing 3rd. The highlights were beating Inter 3-2 and Milan 3-1 both away, Juventus 2-0 at home and the derby 1-0 (the other was 0-0). Selmosson played 34 league games with 10 goals (Padova, Atalanta, Inter, Triestina, Bologna, Inter, SPAL, Juventus, Pro Patria, Genoa) plus 2 games in the President of the Republic Cup with 1 goal.
In 1956-57 Carver stayed on and Lazio finished 3rd again. Selmosson scored his first goal in a local derby, the equaliser in a 2-2 draw. He played 34 league games with 12 goals (Bologna, Atalanta, Triestina, Padova, Genoa, Torino, Palermo, Fiorentina, Milan, Roma, Napoli, Torino) and 1 game in the President of the Republic Cup.
The 1957-58 would be his last with Lazio. The Biancocelesti started with Milovan Ćirić for twenty games and then finished with Alfredo Monza. Lazio finished 12th and Selmosson played 33 league games with 9 goals (Bologna, Inter, Napoli, Atalanta, Napoli, Roma, Juventus, Torino, Verona). He scored in the 2-1 victory against Roma in March but unfortunately the Giallorossi would be his next team.
Lazio were in financial difficulty and had to sell their star striker to the highest bidder, who turned out to be bitter rivals Roma, for 135 million lire. Selmosson himself was not too pleased but had no choice. It was a hugely controversial event in Rome and such was the Swedes popularity that some people even changed allegiance just so they could watch "Raggio di Luna" (Moonbeam) as he was nicknamed. One such defector was future Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, it is probably fair to say many of the fickle team swappers were of non-Roman origins.
So Selmosson joined Roma and missed out on being part of the Lazio team that lifted the club's first historic silverware, in September 1958 under Fulvio Bernardini. He had played 101 league games and scored 31 goals for Lazio.
Selmosson stayed three seasons on the other side of the Tiber and in fairness did pretty well. He played 87 league games and scored 30 goals (3 against Lazio...). He became the first player to have scored for both Lazio and Roma in local derbies (since emulated by Aleksandar Kolarov and Pedro). Roma finished 6th, 9th and 5th and won the Fairs Cup in 1961. His managers for the "Lupi" were fellow countryman Gunnar Nordahl for the first season and Alfredo Foni for the next two seasons (another former Lazio player, 1929-31). In his third season he played less and only scored 1 goal and decided to leave.
In 1961 he returned to Udine for three more seasons. In the first the Bianconeri were relegated under Luigi Bonizzoni, then Sergio Manente and finally Alfredo Foni again. Selmosson played 23 league games and scored 6 goals (Atalanta, Fiorentina x2, Torino, Palermo, Juventus). One of his teammates was a young keeper called Dino Zoff plus former and future Lazio forward, Orlando Rozzoni (1959-61, 62-64 and 65-66).
He stayed in Udine in Serie B and the Zebrette finished 14th under Alberto Eliani. Selmosson played 21 league games and scored 7 goals. (Messina, Foggia, Padova, Monza x2, Parma, Sambenedettese). Zoff was by now undisputed first keeper.
Selmosson's last year of football ended in another relegation. In 1963-64, under Eliani and then Armando Segato, Udinese were relegated to C1. Selmosson played 29 league games with 5 goals (Venezia home and away, Monza, Cagliari, Verona).
He then retired at 33. He returned to Sweden and continued playing at amateur level for Skovde AIK and then coached in minor leagues. He then settled in Götene and, like many players of his generation, he opened a sports shop. In 2009 a monument in his honour was put up in his hometown.
At international level he won 4 caps for Sweden with 1 goal. He played in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden winning a silver medal (losing to 17-year-old Pelè's Brazil 2-5).
Selmosson was a forward and is considered one of the best Scandinavian players ever. He was 1.78 and 73 kilos. He was exceptionally quick but also very skilful. He usually played on the left side of attack from where he started his famous dribbling movements finishing with a shot or an assist for his attacking partners. He was also excellent in the air with perfect timing. He was well known for being a model sportsman and after scoring for Roma in derby against Lazio he refused to celebrate but instead walked back head down, earning the respect of both sets of fans (this is commonplace now but was unheard of at the time). He was a placid, laid back and shy character and this led to maybe his only weakness in that in the physical and sometimes dirty games in the provinces he was occasionally a bit out of the game.
As mentioned, he was nicknamed "Raggio di Luna", Moonbeam, for the colour of his hair and pallor of his skin. It was first coined in Udine but it stuck in Sweden too as "Månsträlen". His footballing talent and his "defection" to Roma have entered into Italian popular culture. Famous playwrights Giovannini and Guarinei wrote a play about him and Nils Liedholm who became a respected wine producer named a spumante after him. In Udine he has had a street entitled to him.
He was immensely popular at Lazio. His sale to Roma was a trauma for many. He stated he wanted to stay with the Biancocelesti but had no choice. Some Lazio directors had to resign and some could not leave their houses for a while. Fans threatened not to renew their season tickets and some took to the streets in protest and there were scuffles with the police. The worst hit however were the kids, many already had one of the first colour posters of their idol Selmosson in light blue and white, distributed by a local sport weekly only a week before his sale. He had been especially good with the Lazio youth kids, often appearing at their training sessions at Acqua Acetosa.
These fan protest scenes were seen again 30 years later when Sergio Cragnotti tried to sell Beppe Signori to Parma but this time the fans' protests were successful.
He is one of the few players who, after playing for both clubs, is respected on both sides of the Tiber, another being Fulvio Bernardini.
Arne Selmosson died on February 22, 2002.
Lazio Career
Season | Serie A Appearances | Serie A Goals |
1955-56 | 34 | 10 |
1956-57 | 34 | 12 |
1957-58 | 33 | 9 |
Total | 101 | 31 |
Sources
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