March 29, 1981: Rimini-Lazio 1-3

Dag Jenkins
5 days ago
8 min read

Bigon opens and closes

The former Milan midfielder gets a brace in a good 3-1 away win

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had been relegated to Serie B, not on the field but in the Sports Justice Courts. Lazio paid for four of their players' alleged involvement in the Totonero match fixing scandal. Lazio were therefore in Serie B without Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia, Pino Wilson and Massimo Cacciatori.

The new manager was Ilario Castagner who had done well at Perugia. The Biancocelesti also had several new players to try and bounce straight back up to the top flight. Arriving were goalkeeper Maurizio Moscatelli (Pistoiese), defenders Giorgio Mastropasqua (Bologna), Arcadio Spinozzi (Bologna), midfielders Alberto Bigon (Milan), Giuseppe Greco (Torino), Dario Sanguin (Vicenza) and forward Stefano Chiodi (Milan).

Leaving were defender Mauro Tassotti (Milan), midfielders Vincenzo D'Amico (Torino-luckily he would be back), Antonio Lopez (Palermo), Vincenzo Zucchini (Vicenza) and forward Enrico Todesco (Genoa).

So far Lazio had played 26 league games and won 9, drawn 14 and lost 3. Lazio had started well with 7 wins and 8 draws in the first 15 games. They then played Milan and lost, thus losing confidence and slowing down. Lazio's two previous games had been draws. The Biancocelesti were 2nd on 26 points and needed a win today to show they were definitely back on track. The table read Milan 37, Lazio 32, Cesena 32, Sampdoria 31, Genoa 30, SPAL 29.

In Coppa Italia, Lazio had qualified for the quarter finals to be played in March. In August-September, in Group 6 Lazio had won 3 (Pescara 2-0 away, Varese 2-1 and Verona 3-0, both at home) and drawn 1 (Ascoli 0-0 away). They won the group and then played Serie A team Bologna home and away in March and lost both games 0-2, the second just two days earlier.

Rimini were newly promoted. The Biancorossi had finished 2nd in Serie C Group B under Maurizio Bruno.

This year the manager was still Bruno. The new arrivals were goalkeeper Zelico Petrovic (Taranto), defenders Luciano Favero (Siracusa) and Roberto Parlanti (Parma), midfielders Antonio Baldoni (Parma) and Graziano Mazzoni (Avellino but previously Rimini) plus forwards Luciano Chiarugi (Bologna) and Nello Saltutti (Pistoiese).

Leaving Romagna were goalkeeper Massimo Piloni (Fermana), defender Stefano Calcagni (Nocerina), midfielders Giuseppe Valà (Giulianova) and Ettore Donati (Rende) plus forward Adriano Tedoldi (Romanese).

Rimini were currently 10th on 24 points, with Verona, Bari, Lecce and Catania (five from the drop zone, Palermo on 19). The Biancorossi had won 6, drawn 7 and lost 12 (including Lazio 0-1).

In the Coppa Italia, Rimini were eliminated in Group 4 after 2 draws (Atalanta 0-0 at home and Cesena 2-2 away) and 2 defeats (Pistoiese 0-1 away and Fiorentina 0-1 at home).

Not an easy match today for Lazio as this season Rimini had only been beaten once at home in the league but one Lazio needed a win to get into a good position for the promotion rush.

The match: Sunday, March 29, 1981, Stadio Romeo Neri, Rimini

A grey but dry day on the Riviera Romagnola saw about 10,000 spectators gather in the small Romeo Neri ground. Neri was a gymnast from Rimini who won three Olympic gold medals in 1932.

Lazio were missing defender Arcadio Spinozzi and winger Renzo Garlaschelli plus regular goalkeeper Maurizio Moscatelli who would be out for the rest of the season.

Rimini had no real absences.

The first half was extremely balanced. Lazio showed to be classier but Rimini made up for it with determination and will power. Of the two teams it was the hosts who went closer to scoring as they hit a post.

In the beginning of the second half Lazio made their superior technical level count. In the 48th minute Albertino Bigon finished off a good through ball by Giuseppe Greco, 0-1.

The seasiders however were not beaten and equalised just over ten minutes later. In the 60th minute Roberto Parlanti belted a freekick which found its way through the wall and into the top corner, 1-1.

The game remained even but in the 78th minute came the key episode. Greco faced Parlanti on the right vertex of the area and lobbed him to try and get into the box but the Rimini libero instinctively put up his hand to block the ball. A naive but blatant handling of the ball and the referee had no other option than to point to the penalty spot. The specialist Roberto Chiodi made no mistake and put Lazio in front, 1-2

In the 68th minute Lazio made their first and only change, taking off midfielder Mauro Manzoni and bringing on defender Claudio Simoni.

Rimini pushed forward looking to at least salvage a point. In the 81st minute they decided to take a risk and took off a full-back Gianpaolo Rossi and threw on another forward Pasquale Traini.

It was a risk too far and in the 84th minute Bigon, without a marker, slotted in Lazio's third, 1-3.

Rimini made one more substitution, in the 87th minute midfielder Giuseppe Donatelli came on for Ciro Bilardi but the contest was over. Final score Rimini 1 Lazio 3.

A slightly flattering score line for the Romans but they had taken advantage of a moment of folly by Parlanti and then the home side's unbalanced tactical setup.

Lazio had been cynical with standout performances by Filippo Citterio, Nando Viola and of course Bigon.

Rimini had battled hard with good games in particular by Mario Buccilli, Carlo Sartori and Guido Biondi.

Lazio were now solitary 2nd on 34 points. Milan had surprisingly lost 1-3 at bottom club Palermo while Cesena had drawn 1-1 with SPAL. The new table read: Milan 37, Lazio 34, Cesena 33, Sampdoria 32, Genoa 30, SPAL 30.

With eleven games to go things were looking up.

Rimini were 13th, on 24 points with Atalanta and Lecce. The C zone was now only two points below (Vicenza had beaten Lecce 1-0).

Who played for Rimini

Petrovic, Rossi (81' Traini), Buccilli, Baldoni, Favero, Parlanti. Biondi, Mazzoni, Saltutti, Bilardi (87' Donatelli), Sartori

Substitutes: Bertoni, Merli, Stoppani

Manager: Bruno

Who played for Lazio

Marigo, Mastropasqua, Citterio, Pochesci, Pighin, Sanguin, Viola, Bigon, Chiodi, Manzoni (68' Simoni), Greco

Substitutes: Nardin, Perrone, Cenci, Marronaro

Manager: Castagner

Referee: Milan

Goals: 48' Bigon, 60' Parlanti, 67' Chiodi (pen), 83' Bigon

What happened next

Lazio went very close to promotion but just fell short and finished 4th. Between today and June 14, the penultimate game of the season, Lazio won 4, drew 8 (including Milan 1-1 away) and lost 3. Not great but maybe just about good enough to get promoted. Then came the June 14 home game against Vicenza. The table read Milan 48, Genoa 44, Cesena 44, Lazio 44 for three places in A.

With the score on 1-1, Lazio were awarded a penalty in the 87th minute. Stefano Chiodi, the specialist who had never missed a penalty, stepped up and.... missed obviously, hitting the post. Cesena and Genoa won and a demoralised Lazio then only drew the last away game at Taranto and so came 4th. A huge disappointment. The top scorer was Alberto Bigon with 10 goals (9 in B).

In Coppa Italia, in the quarter finals, Lazio lost 0-2 both home and away to Bologna.

Rimini finished a decent 9th. In the remaining games they won 4, drew 4 (including Milan 2-2 at home) and lost 3. The top scorers were Saltutti and Parlanti with 8 league goals each.

Rimini went bust in December 2025 while in Serie C. The council is trying to find a new group of owners who could start a new club from the amateur divisions.

So, at the end of a sad season for Lazio the three promotions were Milan, Genoa and Cesena while going down to Serie C were Monza, Atalanta, Taranto (who had started at -5) and Vicenza.

Lets talk about Alberto Bigon

Alberto “Albertino” Bigon started out as a centre forward but later moved to midfield. He was one of Italy’s best attacking midfielders of the 1970s.

Bigon was born in Padova, on October 31, 1947. He started his career in the youth teams of his home town and won the Primavera championship in the 1965-66 season. He played three seasons with Padova in Serie B before signing for Napoli in 1967. He did not last long in Campania and in November moved to Spal and debuted in Serie A.

In 1969 he signed for Foggia and under future Lazio manager Tommaso Maestrelli won promotion to Serie A in his first year. In his second, after a good first half of the season, Foggia collapsed and were relegated. But he had attracted the attention of AC Milan and signed for the Rossoneri in 1971. He became one of their most important players and stayed for nine years. With Milan he won a scudetto in 1978-79, the Coppa Italia three times (1971-72, 1972-73, 1976-77) and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1973. He played 329 games for Milan in all competitions with 90 goals.

He came to Lazio in 1980. President Umberto Lenzini had sold Bruno Giordano to Milan in exchange for Bigon and Stefano Chiodi. Milan had been relegated to Serie B in the first match fixing scandal and Giordano had also been involved (18 month suspension), but Bigon and Chiodi were already in Rome when this happened, so the clubs had a problem. As a consequence Mauro Tassotti was sent to Milan as compensation and the two players stayed on. While they were in pre-season training, Lazio were also punished with relegation so Bigon found himself in Serie B. Despite the shock he stayed on.

He played two seasons for Lazio in Serie B and was a fan favourite. He was one of the protagonists of the 1980-81 season. With two games

to go Lazio, Genoa and Cesena were all second on 44 points. Genoa and Cesena won away, Lazio were struggling against Vicenza. In the dying minutes the Biancocelesti were awarded a penalty. Chiodi, who had never missed a spot kick in his entire career, kicked the ball out. Lazio stayed in Serie B and the next season struggled all year and only just avoided relegation to Serie C.

Bigon was then sold to Vicenza and played his last two years of football in Serie C.

With Lazio he played 68 times (57 in Serie B, 8 in Coppa Italia) and scored 12 goals (11 in Serie B and one in Coppa Italia).

After he quit as a player became a manager and coached Reggina for a year in Serie C1 in 1986 and then two years at Cesena. In 1989 he coached Diego Maradona’s Napoli and won a scudetto and a Supecoppa. After his experience in Naples he was manager of Lecce in Serie B, where he was able to avoid relegation, Udinese in Serie A, again avoiding relegation in a play-off against Brescia, and briefly for Ascoli. In the 1996-97 season he was head coach for Sion in Switzerland and won the double (Championship and Cup). He later returned to Italy to manage Perugia but was fired after 8 games. In 1999 he was in charge of Olympiacos Piraeus but was sacked during the season despite the fact the team were top the league. He returned to Sion in 2007. His last experience was managing NK IB 1975 Ljubljana but was fired after five games. At this point he called it a day and retired.

Despite having only stayed at Lazio briefly he was very fond of the Biancocelesti and Maestrelli, as he has mentioned in many interviews. “Maestrelli was my manager at Foggia and our families were very close, our children grew up together. He was almost like a father to me”, he said in an interview in 2013. About his time in Rome, "Despite Chiodi’s missed penalty, I remember it as one of the happiest periods of my life and the fans were just incredible”.

Bigon was an excellent player, of great class and it was a privilege to have seen him play. It was just a pity he arrived at Lazio in their darkest hour.

Lazio career

Season	Total appearances (goals)	Serie B	Coppa Italia
1980-81	37 (9)	32 (8)	5 (1)
1981-82	28 (3)	25 (3)	3
Total	65 (12)	57 (11)	8 (1)