A narrow escape from hell
Lazio draw in Bologna but Novara collapse, so the Biancocelesti avoid relegation
Also on this day: May 4, 1975, Lazio Fiorentina 1-0. Lazio managed to win in the last seconds despite the difficult situation and referee. Non Lazio player of the day: Giancarlo Antognoni
The season so far
Lazio came 4th the previous season so there was hope that the position could be repeated. There were quite a number of new signings including future legends Uber Gradella and Aldo Puccinelli plus Salvador Gualtieri, Italo Romagnoli and Otello Zironi. Lazio said goodbye to Umberto Busani, Luigi Milano and Evaristo Barrera.
However it had not been a good year for the Biancocelesti. Manager Geza Kertesz relied too heavily on Silvio Piola but did not organise a game plan so the players found themselves lost. After six games he was replaced by compatriot Ferenc Molnar, but the situation did not get any better and at the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 13th, on 12 points, together with Roma and Triestina. Only Bari were worse off (7 points) and had won just three games.
In February 1941, Molnar was sacked. The new manager Dino Canestri had the difficult task of avoiding relegation. Lazio had hardly ever left the penultimate position in the table (two teams were relegated), but with Canestri there had been a little light and Lazio had moved up a bit. However after the defeat in Milan with two games to go, Lazio were 15th on 24 points (goal difference -7), preceded by Novara on 25 (-8) together with Torino (-1), Genoa (-3) and Venezia (-8) while Livorno were on 26 (-13). In case of a tie between two or more teams, goal difference counted. Bari were already relegated.
The last dramatic match at the Olimpico saw Lazio beat Fiorentina 4-1. Two fantastic points and a good improvement in goal difference, now -4. But they were still 15th on 26 points and were preceded by Venezia (-8) and Novara on 27 (they had won 5-1 therefore on -4).
Lazio had to play at Bologna, who had just won the title, and there was the big clash between Venezia and Novara.
A win would have given safety to Lazio, but even a draw could have been enough.
The match: Sunday May 4, 1941, Stadio Littoriale, Bologna
Lazio had no choice but to give everything they had left in them and hope for the best. They started really well. In the 5th minute Salvatore Gualtieri offered a ball to Italo Romagnoli II who dribbled past Pietro Ferrari and shot towards the goal. Secondo Ricci managed to save into corner. On that corner Romagnoli had another chance but was again walled by Ricci. In the 10th minute Ferrari managed to save a good Giuseppe Baldo free kick. Immediately after Uber Gradella parried a shot from Amedeo Biavatti in the only foray into the Lazio half by Bologna in these early minutes.
Lazio’s determination paid off in the 22nd minute. Gualtieri took a corner, Ferrari cleared but Romagnoli managed to score with a slow but precise shot. Seven minutes later Lazio scored again. Free kick, Alberto Fazio to Luigi Vettraino, the ball hit the inside of the post and went in. 2-0 for Lazio.
What was happening between Venezia and Novara? Still goalless. At this point Lazio, Novara and Venezia all had 28 points but Venezia had a worse goal difference.
Bologna, who were champions, were playing at home and needed to show some pride, so they reorganised and slowly took over the game from Lazio. In the 41st Carlo Reguzzoni reduced the deficit.
At the beginning of the second half Bologna equalised. In the 47th minute Biavatti scored from a Reguzzoni assist. Despair for the Biancocelesti, but just then Venezia scored. Lazio and Novara had 27 points but the Biancocelesti had a better goal difference. All they needed to do was to hang on to the draw and hope.
And this is exactly what happened. Lazio built a wall in front of the goal but almost made it three in the 80th minute when on the counter attack Gualtieri passed the ball to Vettraino for the simplest of chances. The Lazio forward slipped though just when he was about to score. In the meantime Venezia had scored a second.
Three minutes later there was a massive confrontation in the middle of the pitch between players. Fists were thrown and the referee sent off Reguzzoni and Baldo for initiating the fight.
Nothing else happened in the game and Venezia scored a third.
Lazio were safe.
Who played for Bologna
Ferrari. P, Fagotto, Ricci, Montesanto, Boniforti, Marchese, Biavati, Sansone, Sdraulig, Andreoli, Reguzzoni
Manager: Felsner
Who played for Lazio
Gradella, Ferrarese, Monza II, Fazio, Ramella, Baldo, Gualtieri, Pisa, Romagnoli II, Flamini, Vettraino
Manager: Canestri
Referee: Ciamberlini
Goals: 22’ Romagnoli II, 29’ Vettraino, 43' Reguzzoni, 47’ Biavati.
What happened next
At the end of the season there was the Coppa Italia to play. Lazio won the first round against Triestina, the second against Milano and the quarterfinals against Spezia, all three away from home. The semi-final against Venezia, again away from home, however proved fatal and Lazio lost 3-1.
Lazio 1940-41
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 30 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 38 |
Coppa Italia | 4 | 3 | - | 1 | 10 |
Total | 34 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 48 |
Top five appearances
Players | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Flamini | 34 | 30 | 4 |
Romagnoli | 32 | 28 | 4 |
Gualtieri | 31 | 27 | 4 |
Monza | 30 | 26 | 4 |
Vettraino | 26 | 23 | 3 |
Top goal scorers
Players | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Piola | 10 | 10 | - |
Vettraino | 8 | 6 | 2 |
Romagnoli | 6 | 2 | 4 |
Zironi | 4 | 4 | - |
Let's talk about Luigi Vettraino
In July 1932, the Lazio manager Karl Strumer organised a draft for the under 14s. This was something unheard of at the time in Italy. The Microbes, as they were called, kids born in 1920 and 1921, trained twice a week, had tactical and behavioural lessons, and started playing and winning around Italy. They became so famous that they were invited to play on June 11, 1933 in Vienna for a game against Wacker. The match was played before a 45,000 crowd, gathered to watch the national Wunderteam play against Romania. It was a 40-minute game.
The Microbes managed to draw the game and with a bit of luck might have even won it. The tiny little Biancocelesti against the much bigger Austrian youngsters left the stadium to an enthusiastic crowd. For the Italian media it was a triumph and when the kids arrived in Rome they were overwhelmed by fans, relatives and the entire Lazio first team.
Among the players in Vienna, there was the smallest of them all, only 1.34 metres and nicknamed Squirrel. His name was Luigi Vettraino.
Vettraino was born on September 21, 1920 in Rome and the story that has just been described is how he started playing for Lazio. At 18 he was part of the team that was invited to play in Germany in the Easter of 1938. The scores of the three friendlies were: Neustadt-Lazio 1-4, Berlin Representatives-Lazio 0-5, Mannheim-Lazio 1-6. In this game Vettraino scored a hat trick.
His debut in Serie A took place on October 9 of that year and he played six times that season. He became a first team player the next season and was Silvio Piola’s ideal attacking partner. Vettraino was still small, 1.60 metres, but he was fast, imaginative, good dribbler, powerful and acrobatic. Despite becoming famous he never gave up his day job, a doorman for Immobiliare, a real estate company.
Unfortunately in 1941 he got a very bad infection and had to stop playing. It took him a long while to get back on the pitch and he did so in the local War Tournaments with Fulvio Bernardini’s team Mater. Once the conflict was over he returned to Lazio but he never played. His physique was not the same as it was, the illness had had devastating effects. He played in some Rome teams but de facto his career was over at just 26.
Once he stopped he continued to be in the Lazio orbit and was part of the travelling management staff for the youth teams in the 1980s.
He played 64 games in Serie A for Lazio with 14 goals and 8 times in Coppa Italia with 4 goals.
He died in Rome on July 25, 1998.
He was probably one of the greatest players Lazio has ever had and would have reached incredible heights if he had not been so unlucky.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
1938-39 | 14 (1) | 13 (1) | 1 |
1939-40 | 30 (8) | 27 (7) | 3 (1) |
1940-41 | 25 (8) | 23 (6) | 2 (2) |
1941-42 | 3 (1) | 1 | 2 (1) |
Total | 72 (18) | 64 (14) | 8 (4) |
Sources