March 16, 1997: Lazio Atalanta 3-2
- Simon Basten
- Mar 16
- 5 min read
Atalanta score four but Lazio win
Two own goals and a Buso winner give Lazio the two points
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had arrived third with an excellent final rush. A lot of players had left the club during the summer transfer window: Aron Winter (Inter), Alen Boksic (Juventus), Marco Di Vaio (loan to Bari), Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea) and Cristiano Bergodi (Padova). Coming in were defender Mark Fish (Orlando Pirates) who had played really well in the African Nations Cup, midfielders Roberto Baronio (Brescia), a rising star, Paul Okon (Club Bruges), Pavel Nedved (Sparta Prague) and forwards Renato Buso (Napoli) and last year’s top scorer, together with Beppe Signori, Igor Protti (Bari). Manager Zdeněk Zeman had been confirmed.
The first game of the season was the first round of the Coppa Italia. The Biancocelesti won at Avellino. In the UEFA Cup, Lazio were paired with Lens in the first round. There was history with the French club. In 1977 Lazio had won the first leg 2-0 at the Olimpico but in the return match after 90 minutes Lens were 2-0 up. In extra time the Biancocelesti collapsed and Lens scored 4 more goals. This time Lazio managed to win 1-0 away with a goal from José Chamot and then drew 1-1 at home. In the round of 32 the Biancocelesti had to face Tenerife and had won 1-0 at home but then collapsed 5-3 in the Canary Islands.
In campionato, Lazio did not have a good start. After eight games they were 14th, just a couple of points above the relegation zone. But the situation improved and five games later they were only 2 points away from third place. In January Lazio beat Milan 3-0 and everybody thought they had recovered. But two home defeats in the next two games meant a further debacle. President Sergio Cragnotti sacked Zeman and called Dino Zoff to solve the season. Zoff was President of the club at the time, but he left the presidency and put his tracksuit back on.
Zeman was heartbroken. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Tenerife. Lazio had scored the opening goal, then fell behind twice but managed to come back only to melt away and lose 5-3. The Czech was the great culprit. Signori stated at the end of the game “Scoring three away goals, no team in the world would have been kicked out”. Diego Fuser was even more drastic: “This time it’s not the player’s fault, the blame must be sought elsewhere. As for the tactical attitude, ask the coach. It is useless to bring players who do not follow him in training. Those who do not listen must stay at home”. The Zeman bubble had burst.
After being fired Zeman said: “Without Lazio I’m a destroyed man, I have never done so badly. I’m disappointed but not with myself. I’ve always given everything I had to Lazio. I must have made a few mistakes: the main one was that I wasn’t convincing enough”.
Under Zoff the situation improved and the Biancocelesti were currently 9th but just four points away from a UEFA Cup qualification.
The match: Sunday, March 16, 1997, Lazio Atalanta 3-2
Lazio without Gigi Casiraghi and Beppe Signori injured, so Dino Zoff was forced to put Igor Protti alone in the attack and hope that Diego Fuser, Pavel Nedved and Roberto Rambaudi could give him a hand.
After 20 minutes the Biancocelesti were forced to take off Paolo Negro and put in Alessandro Grandoni. And it was the latter who in the 36th minute sent a long ball towards the Atalanta penalty box. Protti was miles away but Zoran Mirkovic decided to send the ball out and with a spectacular volley put the it in his own net.
Two minutes later with Atalanta still under shock Rambaudi went off on the right, moved into the penalty area passed to Fuser who took a shot and thanks to a deflection from Andrea Sottil it was 2-0.
Nedved failed to make it 3-0 towards the end of the first half as did Guerino Gottardi in the beginning of the second. Lazio could have lived to regret the missed chances.
A different Atalanta came on in the second half and a different Domenico Morfeo who first on a free kick forced Luca Marchegiani to a save and then in the 53rd minute on the counter attack passed a good ball to Gianluca Lentini who reduced the deficit. In the 83rd minute a splendid aerial one two with Federico Magallanes allowed Morfeo to be alone in front of Marchegiani and he volleyed the ball into the net.
Joy for the Bergamaschi and while they were still celebrating Emiliano Mondonico took Morfeo off and put in Valter Bonacina. The Atalantini still had to figure out the new positions on the pitch, but it was too late: Gottardi to Renato Buso and first Biancoceleste goal of the day, sixty seconds after the 2-2.
Good win for Lazio and UEFA Cup a little closer.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro (21' Grandoni), Nesta, Chamot, Favalli, Rambaudi (80' Buso), Fuser, Venturin (64' Piovanelli), Nedved, Gottardi, Protti
Manager: Zoff
Who played for Atalanta
Pinato, Mirkovic, Sottil, Carrera, Rossini, Foglio (82' Rotella), Carbone (68' Magallanes), Sgrò, Morfeo (84' Bonacina), Lentini, Inzaghi
Substitutes: Micillo, Persson, Bonfanti, Rossini
Manager: Mondonico
Referee: Trentalange
Goals: 36' Mirkovic (og), 38' Sottil (og), 53' Lentini, 83' Morfeo, 84’ Buso
What happened next
In the 16 games under Zoff Lazio lost just twice, hence the team was not that bad. They managed to reach 4th place and a place in the following year’s UEFA Cup. A miracle.
Marchegiani was the player with most appearances (40) and Signori top goal scorer with 15 goals.
Let’s talk about Giacomo Paniccia
Giacomo Paniccia (born 17 May 1977 in Latina, Italy) began his football journey in the youth ranks of Como and then moved to Lazio, where he stood out as a promising young talent and captain of the Primavera team that won the Italian Campionato Primavera in the 1994–95 season.
Paniccia made his way through the Lazio system and, although he did not make a competitive senior appearance for the first team (just three benches in the 1996-97 season), he soon moved on to seek playing time in the professional leagues. In 1997, he transferred to Reggiana in Serie B, marking his professional debut in Italy’s second division but he played very little, just two appearances over a couple of seasons. In 1999 he was involved in a car accident which took him out of action for a year. He then played for several clubs across Italian football’s lower divisions, including Trapani, Potenza, Latina, and Lanciano.
In 2003, Paniccia had a brief spell abroad with CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria and later played in Malta with Pietà Hotspurs, where he scored three goals in ten matches, showing his versatility and adaptability in different football cultures.
Then at 26 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer but he managed to get over it and came back to play in 2005 with Massetana, Sorianese, Bassano Romano, and Flaminia Civita Castellana. He also spent part of his career with Avellino, contributing to their squad during the 2006–07 season when they achieved promotion.
Paniccia retired from professional football in 2009.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport in 2010 he spoke about his experience with the Lazio Primavera. “We were a very united team and manager Domenico Caso made me captain, maybe because I was the more extrovert”. When Alessandro Nesta was with AC Milan, he noticed his former captain and stopped the bus to greet him. After a hug, he said to Paniccia “you should have been the one to get down from this bus, not me”.
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