May 20, 1956: Lazio Genoa 2-0

Lazio Stories
2 days ago
8 min read

Catenaccio does not always pay dividends

Despite Genoa's over defensiveness, Lazio managed to win

The season so far

After the mediocre 1954-55 season, Lazio realised that they had to do more as far as transfers were concerned. So, for the current campionato Lazio spent a lot of money. In came forwards Arne Selmosson and Lorenzo Bettini from Udinese plus Ermes Muccinelli from Juventus, defenders Giovanni Molino (Torino) and Nicola Lo Buono (Trani). Roberto Lovati and Franco Carradori returned from their loan spells at Torino and Palermo. Leaving Lazio were legends Aldo Puccinelli and Romolo Alzani as well as Per Bredesen, Vittorio Bergamo and Renato Spurio. Carlo Parola left active football but stayed as assistant to manager Luigi Ferrero. The technical director was still Roberto Copernico.

The beginning was bad. After the first half of the season Lazio were 13th just three points above the relegation zone. They had won five games but three away from home, including a great win in Milan against Inter. Jesse Carver, who had previously managed Juventus, Torino and Roma, had come in as new technical director in place of Copernico but had also taken over the manager role since Ferrero had resigned after just one game. In the second part of the season, the Biancocelesti had improved and were now third. They had won the return derby (which initially had been postponed due to snow!) and beaten Juventus.

A win today would be important to consolidate the current prestigious standing.

The match: Sunday, May 20, 1956, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Genoa wanted a draw and they were going to get there no matter what. Man marking all over the pitch and the classic “catenaccio”. Lazio attacked but found it hard to get through the defensive wall put up by the Genoese.

The Biancocelesti were unlucky in the first half with two clear penalties ignored by the referee. The first on Pasquale Vivolo, a blatant foul, was placed outside of the box despite it being in the penalty area. For the second one, a Fosco Becattini foul on Ermes Muccinelli as clear as day, the ref decided to look the other way.

But football has its laws and over defensiveness does not always pay. In the 55th minute Arne Selmosson took a corner, the ball was cleared by the defence but it reached Renzo Sassi who tried a shot. Benedetto De Angelis, in an attempt to save his goal, instead kicked it into his own net.

Forced to attack, the visitors almost equalised a minute after the own goal. Attilio Frizzi crossed, Riccardo Carapellese tried a header but a massive save by Bob Lovati denied him the goal. In the 69th Lazio could have made it two when a defensive blunder gave Renzo Burini the chance all alone in front of the keeper but he could not do better than shoot straight at him.

Again Genoa with a chance on a Lovati mistake, Carapellese passed to Antonio Corso who despite the favourable position, kicked the ball over the crossbar.

With only a few seconds left, Vivolo dispossessed Becattini, passed to Lorenzo Bettini who, despite being surrounded by defenders, managed to get the ball to Selmosson. The Swede moved to the left and let go a precise shot that Renato Gandolfi could do nothing about, 2-0 for Lazio and game over.

Who played for Lazio

Lovati, Molino, Lo Buono, Sassi II, Sentimenti V, Carradori, Muccinelli, Burini, Bettini, Vivolo, Selmosson

Manager: Carver

Who played for Genoa

Gandolfi, Cardoni, Becattini, Corrente, De Angelis, Delfino, Frizzi, Firotto, Corso, Larsen, Carapellese

Manager: Magli

Referee: Campanati

Goals: 55' De Angelis (og), 90' Selmosson

What happened next

Third place was maintained (in the company of Inter) until the end of the season. An excellent result considering the poor start.

Selmosson was the player with most appearances (34) and the leading goal scorer together with Muccinelli (10).

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 Skoevde AIK and then coached 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.