May 18, 1997: Milan Lazio 2-2
- Lazio Stories
- 9 hours ago
- 11 min read
Lazio battle against devil and referee to earn point
Trailing twice, denied a legitimate goal and down to ten men Lazio fight back to clinch a draw
Also on this day:
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.
Lazio were currently in 4th position in Serie A, on 50 points. The Biancocelesti had a four-point cushion on Sampdoria who were just off the European slots. In the last three matches Lazio had drawn the derby (with a 92nd minute equaliser in 10 men), beaten Perugia 4-1 and Napoli 3-2, both at home.
Milan were having a difficult season by their standards. They had started the season with Óscar Tabárez as manager but he had been replaced by Arrigo Sacchi after 11 games. The Rossoneri were in 9th position, on 42 points. They were five points behind Bologna who occupied the last UEFA Cup qualification slot. In the last three matches the "Diavolo" had drawn 1-1 away at Udine, beaten Reggiana 3-1 at home and drawn 1-1 away at Parma.
The Rossoneri had some quality players; Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti, Marc Desailly, Michael Reiziger, Zvonimir Boban, Edgar Davids, Roberto Baggio, George Weah, Marco Simone, Christoph Dugarry, just to name a few.
An open game today. Lazio doing better and 8 points ahead but with so much talent Milan could never be underestimated.
The match
Lazio had no real injury problems and went for a more defensive Guerino Gottardi over Roberto Rambaudi while Igor Protti was chosen rather than Beppe Signori. Milan were without defenders Pietro Vierchowod injured and Franco Baresi suspended plus midfielder Edgar Davids and forwards Dejan Savićević and Marco Simone.
There was a 50,000 crowd in the old San Siro (45,000 were season ticket holders).
In the first half Lazio were strangely absent and Milan had control of the proceedings. The Milanista midfield dominated with Stefano Eranio and Zvonimir Boban particularly lively, helped too by Demetrio Albertini.
In the 16th minute the Biancocelesti were saved by the crossbar when a thundering long range shot by Marcel Desailly came back off the woodwork.
Milan had the upper hand despite not creating clear cut chances. In the 34th minute Roberto Baggio went close with a long range shot but soon after the "Diavolo" was forced to do without the "Divin Codino" off injured but on surged George Weah.
Milan continued to push forward and in the 41st minute deservedly took the lead. Albertini crossed in a freekick from the left into a crowded area where Weah anticipated a hesitant defence and headed past Luca Marchegiani. Milan 1 Lazio 0.
Milan ahead at halftime and no disputing the score line as Lazio had done virtually nothing.
For the second half Mauro Tassotti emerged from the tunnel in place of an injured Francesco Coco. Lazio strangely made no changes.
Milan almost doubled early on when Boban hit the post but in the 53rd minute Lazio finally made a tactical substitution bringing on Beppe Signori for Pierluigi Casiraghi and the game changed.
Lazio started at last to take some initiative and equalised with their first shot towards goal. In the 56th minute a shot by Beppe Favalli from outside the area was deflected by Boban and wrongfooted the keeper, Angelo Pagotto. A lucky goal but Milan 1 Lazio 1.
The game now became more balanced as Lazio had finally joined the show. It was Milan however who took back the lead in the 64th minute. It was a Weah header again, this time from an Eranio cross from the right, that surprised the Lazio central defenders and beat Marchegiani. Milan 2 Lazio 1.
From now on it was all Lazio. In the 72nd minute the Biancocelesti also put on a more attacking Roberto Rambaudi to replace Guerino Gottardi. In the 73rd minute Lazio thought they had equalised when José Antonio Chamot ran onto a Fuser shot and beat Pagotto. The linesman kept his flag down and set off towards midfield but the referee surprisingly blew up for offside and Fuser was so angry he got himself sent off for dissent.
The goal was later proved to be ok as Weah was keeping him onside.
Lazio despite being a man down were now in the driving seat. Milan were further weakened in the 80th minute when Billy Costacurta was forced off injured and replaced by Daniele Daino, who positioned himself in midfield and Desailly went back in defence.
In the 81st minute Lazio had a huge chance to level. Rambaudi teed up Signori who was one-on-one with Pagotto but he had his shot blocked.
The equaliser came in the 86th minute. Pavel Nedved blasted a freekick from about 30 metres out straight into the top left-hand corner. A brilliant strike and Milan 2 Lazio 2.
The game had nothing more to say and ended with a point each. Neither side was over the moon but of the two Lazio could consider themselves the more satisfied. Milan were practically out of Europe for the following year while Lazio, despite being irritated with the referee, now had a three point advantage on the 7th placed team with two games left.
Lazio were still 4th, on 51 points while Milan were 9th on 43.
Who played for Milan
Pagotto, Eranio, Costacurta (80' Daino), Maldini, Coco (46' Tassotti), Boban, Desailly, Albertini, Blomqvist, Dugarry, R. Baggio (37' Weah)
Substitutes: S. Rossi, Reiziger, Vukotic
Manager: Sacchi
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Nesta, Chamot, Favalli, Gottardi (72' Rambaudi), Fuser, Venturin, Nedved, Casiraghi (53' Signori), Protti
Substitutes: Orsi, Fish, Grandoni, Marcolin, Piovanelli
Manager: Zoff
Referee: Pairetto
Goals: 41' Weah, 56' Boban (og), 64' Weah, 86' Nedved
What happened next
In the last two games of the season Lazio beat Verona and drew away to Juventus reaching 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 Arrigo Sacchi
Arrigo Sacchi is considered to be one of the great innovators of Italian football. Between 1987 and 19991 he took Milan to the top of the world, winning a scudetto, a Supercoppa, two European Cups, two Super UEFA Cups and two Intercontinental Cups.
Born in Fusignano, near Ravenna, on April 1 1946, he began playing football in his home town and later had a stint with Baracca Lugo in Serie D but with modest results. In 1972 he began to manage Fusignano and in the 1970s he divided his time between work and coaching minor teams. In 1982 he was in charge of the Cesena Primavera team and took them to the scudetto. At this point he decided to become a manager full time.
After the coaching course of Coverciano, he was head coach first with Rimini in Serie C1 for two seasons, with a season with Fiorentina primavera in between. He then was head coach at Parma for two years starting from 1985. They had just been relegated to Serie C1 but he immediately got them promoted to Serie B in his first year and in his second Parma eliminated Milan in the Coppa Italia. Silvio Berlusconi, impressed, decided to give Sacchi the head coach position at Milan and in July 1987 he signed an annual contract.
Scepticism prevailed, not helped by initial results including being eliminated by Espanyol in the UEFA Cup Round of 16. After the first half of the season however Milan were second, three points behind Napoli. The gap then widened to five in February, as the Azzurri were flying thanks to the trio of forwards Diego Maradona, Careca and Bruno Giordano. In March Napoli started slowing down as fatigue, particularly of the midfield players, set in. Milan went to -4 and in the beginning of April, with Napoli losing to Juventus and Milan winning in Rome, the gap was just two points. On April 24, the Azzurri drew with Verona and Milan won the derby. Sunday May 1, the big match at the Stadio San Paolo. Milan won, Napoli collapsed and the scudetto was theirs.
Milan were not particularly interested in the scudetto in 1988-89 and concentrated on the European Cup. They were almost knocked out by Red Star Belgrade in the second round. After a 1-1 draw in Milan, in the second leg they were 1-0 down with 30 minutes to go. But a thick fog meant the game had to be abandoned and replayed. Milan drew 1-1 and then won on penalties. In the semi-final they had to play against Real Madrid. After a 1-1 draw away in the first leg, they crushed Real 5-0 in Milan and then went on to win the final 4-0 against Steaua București.
After winning the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 1989, in Serie A they started slowly and after the first half of the season they were fifth, four points behind leaders Napoli. But by mid-February they had caught up with the Neapolitans and on February 25 they were first after winning in Rome and Napoli losing to Inter. The two-point lead was reduced to one after a loss against Juventus but with four games left, Milan still held the slim lead. A week later however, Milan were held to a goalless draw at Bologna and Napoli took advantage of a coin hitting Alemao at Bergamo hence were awarded the win and joined them at the top. In the penultimate game Milan went to Verona whilst Napoli were in Bologna. The Neapolitans closed the game after 15 minutes with a 3-0 lead, Milan were winning 1-0 at the end of the first 45 minutes. But in the second half things changed. The Rossoneri appealed for two penalties that the ref ignored, got nervous, and Verona equalised. Milan lost it completely, got three red cards, and the home side scored towards the end of the game. Napoli had a two-point lead and kept it, winning their second scudetto. The Rossoneri however had a huge consolation prize in winning their second European Cup in Vienna against Benfica.
The following season Milan arrived second in Serie A behind Sampdoria, they again won the UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup, but Sacchi, tempted by the Italian Federation, did not renew his contract.
He signed as Italy's new manager in 1991. The Azzurri qualified for the World Cup in the USA and were in a Group with Ireland, Norway and Mexico. They surprisingly lost the first game against Ireland and after 20 minutes in the second match against Norway, goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was shown the red card for having touched the ball with his hands outside of the box. Disaster was looming but a great game from Beppe Signori allowed Italy to win. The 1-1 draw against the Mexicans meant that the Azzurri arrived third and had to play against Nigeria in the Round of 16. 1-0 down, in ten men due to an absurd Gianfranco Zola red card, with 100 seconds left in the game, Italy were almost out of the competition. But then Roberto Baggio equalised and in the extra time scored again. The Azzurri qualified for the quarter finals where they beat Spain 2-1. In the semi’s against Bulgaria Baggio scored a brace and Italy won 2-1. Final versus Brazil. But there was a problem. Baggio was injured. He really should not have played the final, but he did despite being in terrible conditions. The game was decided on penalties and Baggio missed the decisive one.
Sacchi continued as head coach and took Italy to the European Championship in the UK in 1996. But Italy were eliminated in the group phase and that was basically the end of his experience with the Nazionale.
In December 1996 he went back to Milan taking over from Oscar Tabarez. But the Rossoneri were coming down from their long winning cycle and past their best they finished 11th. He left and took a year off. In 1998 he signed for Atletico Madrid but was sacked after seven months. He decided to retire but came back in January 2001 as Parma manager but after less than a month was forced to resign due to health problems.
He then became technical director for Parma for a couple of years, worked for Real Madrid from December 2004 to December 2005 and in 2010 was nominated technical coordinator for the Italy national youth teams. He left in 2014.
Since then he has done a bit of punditry for Mediaset but not full-time.
Sacchi was an innovator. His 4-4-2 was certainly helped by having the best players on the planet – Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Franco Baresi, Roberto Donandoni, Carlo Ancelotti – but his idea of football changed the way teams played in Italy. Milan played like the Dutch in the 1970s, high pressing, offside trap, high defensive line. He was strict and made the players work hard and had an obsessive attention to details. Not all his players loved him, but until he got results, all was OK. When he did not, there were problems. He was unlucky in the final against Brazil, but in the end playing with an injured Baggio was his decision.
He must be considered one of the best coaches ever and, to quote Rafael Benitez, “the coach who has revolutionised football in the past 50 years”.
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