Chamomile draw
The two teams cancel each other out in a goalless and eventless draw
The season so far
Lazio had been promoted to Serie A the previous season and the objective for the 1963-64 season was to stay in the first tier. The Biancocelesti started off pretty well and after 12 games were fifth after beating Mantova 2-0 at home. Then Lazio lost 7 consecutive games before drawing at home 0-0 against Spal and beating Milan away. They then lost two games away and drew the derby. Before the match against Modena at home, Lazio were in a deep crisis with many problems and just two points above the relegation zone. But they managed to beat Modena, draw against Messina and then win away to Juventus (3-0!!!). The situation had improved and the team made sure it stayed that way.
The match: Sunday, May 24, 1964, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The previous Sunday the Biancocelesti had drawn at home against title contenders Inter with a pretty gutsy performance, so the fans expected to see the same spirit in the game against Sampdoria. They would be disappointed.
The two teams basically nullified each other. On the rare occasions they managed to get past the opposing midfield, they found a strong defensive wall that did not allow either of the contenders to get near the goal.
In the 9th minute an Orlando Rozzoni shot was parried by Franco Sattolo who did the same in the 15th on Mario Maraschi free kick. In the 28th minute Giancarlo Morrone dribbled three players but could not get past the Sampdoria keeper. The Blucerchiati did very little in the first half, just a couple of shots from Paolo Barison that gave Idilio Cei nothing to worry about.
The first twenty minutes of the second half were slow and boring. In the 65th minute there was a clear foul in the penalty box on Morrone, but the referee, probably half asleep, felt it would be upsetting to liven up the contest. In the 75th minute Cei anticipated Maryan Wisinieski and, immediately after, Graziano Landoni’s shot was only just wide. The biggest chance for Sampdoria came in the 79th minute when Vincenzo Gasperi had a moment of hesitation that Barison did not exploit. In the 88th minute a Bruno Mazzia header was saved into corner by Franco Sattolo and from the subsequent corner an acrobatic attempt by Rozzoni came to no avail.
A goalless and boring game.
Who played for Lazio
Manager: Lorenzo
Who played for Sampdoria
Sattolo, Vincenzi, Tomasin, Delfino, Bernasconi, Morini, Wisnieski, Tamborini, Toschi, Frustalupi, Barison.
Manager: Ocwirk.
Referee: Genel
What happened next
Lazio were safe and in the last game of the season they lost to Bologna. The potential was there, but in the end the Biancocelesti could not go further than an 8th place.
Pierluigi Pagni was the player with most appearances (35), Morrone and Mario Maraschi with the most goals (5).
The 1963-64 season had a strange ending for Italian football. At the end of the season Inter and Bologna were tied at the top of the table with 54 points each. It was the first and only time in Italian football history that there was a need for a playoff to determine who would win the scudetto. Bologna had had three points deducted during the course of the season due a doping scandal. But the Rossoblu were able to prove that the samples had been tampered with and so had been given back the deducted points.
The first and only scudetto playoff took place on June 7 1964. Bologna beat Inter 2-0.
Lazio 1963-64
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 34 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 21 |
Coppa Italia | 1 | - | - | 1 | - |
Total | 5 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 21 |
Top five appearances
Players | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Pagni | 35 | 34 | 1 |
Landoni | 34 | 34 | - |
Cei | 32 | 32 | - |
Morrone | 32 | 31 | 1 |
Maraschi | 31 | 31 | - |
Zanetti | 31 | 30 | 1 |
Top goal scorers
Players | Serie A |
Morrone | 5 |
Maraschi | 5 |
Let's talk about Graziano Landoni
Graziano Landoni was born in Legnano, near Milan, on November 29, 1939. He started playing football in the youth teams of Legnano and Gallaratese. He made his professional debut in Serie C with Pro Vercelli together with his future Lazio teammate Mario Maraschi. He impressed and in 1959 joined Messina in Serie B where he stayed for a couple of seasons.
In 1961 he signed for Lazio, who had just been relegated to Serie B for the first time. The manager Carlo Facchi decided to play him at midfield on the right and with the task of play making but also defending. This would be his position for the rest of his career.
It was a jinxed season. Managers coming and going, Lazio’s too many ups and downs and then there was the famous ghost goal. Lazio had to play Napoli at the Stadio Flaminio on March 4 1962. It was a big match, if Lazio had won the immediate return in Serie A would be downhill from then on. In the 76th minute the referee, Iginio Rigato, gave a free kick to Lazio. Gianni Seghedoni with a splendid shot put the ball in the back of the net. The Lazio players and fans celebrated, the Napoli players despaired. Rigato laughed. “It’s not a goal, the ball went out”. There was a hole in the net and he claimed the ball went right through it. Lazio protested but there was nothing the players could do. The Rai TV footage proved the referee’s mistake and Lazio appealed to the Lega Calcio, but the game’s result remained 0-0. The ref never admitted his mistake. Lazio missed out on promotion by one point, Napoli went into Serie A thanks to that point.
They did not miss out the next season and Landoni was one of the protagonists of Lazio’s return to Serie A under the management of Juan Carlos Lorenzo. Lazio’s first season in Serie A was OK, but what really impressed everybody was Landoni. He was considered one of the best midfield players of Serie A. He was blond, a serious chap, great sportsmanship, powerful, all characteristics that made him a fan favourite. He was made skipper of the team and perhaps his only fault was that at times he seemed a bit slow. A modern midfielder, perhaps ahead of his time.
When Lorenzo left to manage Roma, the new head coach Umberto Mannocci could not stop the club from selling Landoni and cashing in on a player with a big monetary value (Lazio were always in financial difficulty in those years). Hence Landoni left Lazio and signed for Atalanta.
Despite playing a lot in Bergamo, he was never able to replicate the form he had shown at Lazio and after a year he was sold to Catania. Here he went into a crisis, both physical as well as psychological, and had a number of problems with manager Carmelo Di Bella. A year later he was sold to Palermo. Landoni improved, and his second year with the Rosaneri helped reach promotion to Serie A. He then played briefly for Ternana on loan but was promptly called back to Sicily. His last year at Palermo saw him again having contrasts with Di Bella so in 1971 he was sold to Piacenza in Serie C. In November he went back to the South and played in Serie B with Sorrento. His last professional season was then with Grosseto in Serie D.
With Lazio he played 34 times in Serie A (one goal), 65 in Serie B (4 goals) and 3 games in Coppa Italia.
Once he quit football he became a manager. Starting from 1973-74 at Grosseto, he managed a number of Tuscan and Sicilian teams over almost twenty years as well as Parma and Benevento, always in the second, third or fourth tiers.
When he gave up managing, he settled in Palermo.
Lazio Career
Season | Toal appearances (goals) | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1961-62 | 32 (2) | - | 30 (2) | 2 |
1962-63 | 36 (2) | - | 35 (2) | 1 |
1963-64 | 34 (1) | 34 (1) | - | - |
Total | 102 (5) | 34 (1) | 65 (4) | 3 |
Sources