May 5, 1996: Lazio-Napoli 1-0
- Dag Jenkins
- May 5
- 9 min read
Lazio dominate but Di Matteo is enough
The Biancocelesti win by a single goal but deserved more
Also on this day:
The season so far
It was Zdenek Zeman's second year in charge after the previous year's second place (although way behind champions Juventus). They had also reached the UEFA Cup quarter-final (unlucky exit to former Lazio Karl Heinz Riedle's Borussia Dortmund) and the semi-final of Italian Cup. So, they were trying to build on a positive year.
The summer market had brought defenders Guerino Gottardi (Neuchatel Xamax) and Alessandro Grandoni (Ternana) plus midfielder Massimiliano Esposito (Reggiana). The main changes were the players leaving. It was with great sadness that Lazio said goodbye to beloved Paul Gascoigne (Rangers for 4.3 million pounds) after 3 eventful years in Rome. Also leaving were defenders Roberto Cravero (Torino), Roberto Bacci (Torino) and midfielder Giorgio Venturin (Cagliari - loan).
Sergio Cragnotti had tried to sell Beppe Signori to Parma but the fans had literally taken to the streets in thousands in protest and "convinced" the owner to keep the striker.
So, all in all, a more sober transfer market than Cragnotti's previous ones.
In Serie A Lazio were currently 5th on 53 points. The Biancocelesti had won 15 (including Juventus 4-0, Sampdoria 6-3, Atalanta 5-1, Cagliari 4-0, Fiorentina 4-0 and Roma 1-0), drawn 8 (including derby, Inter and Milan away, all 0-0) and lost 9. Their most recent game was a 3-1 win away to Atalanta.
In Coppa Italia Lazio had scraped through on penalties against Chievo away, they then beat Udinese 1-0 in the last 16 but in the quarter finals lost 1-2 on aggregate to Inter.
In the UEFA Cup Lazio had knocked out Cypriots Omonia 7-1 on aggregate. Next up were Olympique Lyonnais and Lazio were beaten 1-4 on aggregate.
Napoli had finished 7th. They started with Vincenzo Guerini as manager but after six games he was replaced by Cané with Vujadin Boškov as technical director. Napoli had lost 1-5 to Lazio in Rome but won 3-2 at home. Top scorer was Massimo Agostini with 13 goals (9 in A).
This season the manager was Aldo Sensibile but the main man was technical director Boškov. The main new signings were: defender Roberto Ayala (River Plate), André Cruz (Standard Liege), Francesco Baldini (Juventus via Lucchese), Francesco Colonnese (Roma), midfielders Fausto Pizzi (Udinese) plus forward Arturo Di Napoli (Inter via Gualdo).
Leaving were: defenders Fabio Cannavaro (Parma), Luca Luzardi (Brescia), Gabriele Grossi (Vicenza), midfielder Freddy Rincón (Real Madrid) plus forwards Benito Carbone (Inter) and Franco Lerda (Brescia).
In Serie A, Napoli were in joint 11th place, with Cagliari on 38 points. The Partenopei had won 9 (including Lazio 1-0 and Inter 2-1 at home), drawn 11 (including Juventus 1-1 away) and lost 12. Their most recent game was a 1-0 home win on Sampdoria. Napoli were in mid-table limbo, seven points from the B zone and fourteen from Europe.
In Coppa Italia, the Azzurri had been eliminated immediately by Lecce 0-1 away in August.
Lazio were favourites today. They still had European qualification on their agenda while Napoli had little to play for.
The match: Sunday, May 5, 1996, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
A sunny and warm day welcomed Lazio for their farewell to their fans. A crowd of just over 45,000 turned up.
Lazio had to do without defender Alessandro Nesta plus midfielders Roberto Rambaudi and Diego Fuser.
Napoli were missing midfielders Fausto Pizzi and Alain Boghossian.
Lazio started well and had several chances to take the lead. Giuseppe Tagliatella, still hoping to be called up for Euro '96, denied Beppe Signori and Aron Winter (playing his last home game for Lazio).
Alen Boksic was particularly inspired and in the 19th minute he charged down the left, cut back inside and squared to Roberto Di Matteo, the Swiss born Italian controlled the ball at the edge of the area and fired a low mid-height shot into the right-hand corner, unstoppable and Lazio 1 Napoli 0.
Lazio insisted and had more chances but Boksic shaved the post and shot over the bar.
Napoli looked as if they were just trying to limit the damage but did occasionally threaten, with a Renato Buso long range effort and a Fabio Pecchia close range shot but Luca Marchegiani saved.
Towards the end of the half Lazio had a huge chance to double their lead and possibly close the contest. The Biancocelesti were awarded a penalty when Roberto Ayala pulled down Beppe Favalli surging into the area from the left. Signori stepped up, his left foot was decent but Taglialatela was superb and dived to his right and parried away from near the left post. It was Signori's first spot kick miss after 12 consecutive on target. Half time Lazio 1 Napoli 0.
For the next 45 minutes the visitors replaced Arturo Di Napoli with Roberto Policano.
The second half however was similar to the first. Lots of goal scoring chances for Lazio, Di Matteo shot just wide, Gigi Casiraghi unmarked in front of goal presumed he was offside and shot half-heartedly straight on Taglialatela who then saved again one-on-one with Paolo Negro.
Napoli resisted thanks to their keeper and almost equalised in the 64th minute. Roberto Policano surged forward on the left and hit a low cross goal shot which hit the post.
In the 68th minute Boskov strangely took off forward Massimo Agostini for a defensive midfielder Mirko Taccola. Almost a signal the visitors were giving up. In fact, not much happened from then on.
Lazio were content with the win and Napoli seemed keen not to concede more. Lazio made two substitutions; in the 75th minute Guerino Gottardi for Favalli and in the 80th Massimiliano Esposito for Casiraghi while Napoli in the 70th had put on forward Carmelo Imbriani for defender Francesco Baldini.
The game slipped away without further excitement and Lazio clinched an important three points for their European race.
A deserved win for Lazio who if anything should have won by more goals.
The players did their traditional lap of honour to thank and say goodbye to the fans. For Aron Winter it was sadly forever while Alen Boksic was going to Juventus but would then be re-signed the following season.
Lazio were now joint 4th with Fiorentina who had lost 1-4 at home to Roma. The table read: Milan 70, Juventus 64, Parma 58, Lazio and Fiorentina 56, Roma 55, Inter 54.
Napoli were still joint 11th with Cagliari on 38 points.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Favalli (75' Gottardi), Di Matteo, Grandoni, Chamot, Signori, Winter, Casiraghi (80' M. Esposito), Marcolin, Boksic
Substitutes: Orsi, Bergodi, Piovanelli
Manager: Zeman
Who played for Napoli
Taglialatela, Baldini (70' Imbriani), Ayala, Cruz, Colonnese, Bordin, Buso, Pari, Pecchia, Agostini (68' Taccola), Di Napoli (46' Policano)
Substitutes: Infanti, Longo
Manager: Sensibile (T.D. Boskov)
Referee: Bolognino
Goal: 19' Di Matteo
What happened next
Lazio finished a positive joint 3rd (Fiorentina) and qualified for the UEFA Cup. In the last match the Biancocelesti won 2-0 away to Torino and ended up on 59 points while Parma lost 0-2 in Cagliari. A good season with numerous great wins but also too much inconsistency and unexpected defeats to challenge for Champions League positions. Top scorer was Beppe Signori with 26 goals (24 in A).
Napoli finished joint 10th, on 41 points with Cagliari and Udinese. In the last game of the season the Azzurri beat Udinese 2-1 at home. Top scorer was Arturo Di Napoli with 5 league goals (Napoli only scored 28 in 34 games). In the end Taglialatela did not travel to Euro '96 (Peruzzi, Toldo and Bucci).
The Scudetto was won by Milan for the 15th time. The four going down were Padova, Bari, Cremonese and Torino. Padova have never been back in Serie A since.
Let's talk about Vujadin Boškov
Vujadin Boškov was born in Begeč (Novi Sad) in former Yugoslavia, on May 16, 1931. Novi Sad is now in modern day Serbia.
His football playing career was spent mainly with Vojvodina (Novi Sad) where he played 185 league games with 15 goals between 1948 and 1960. In 1958 he suffered a leg injury which limited his appearances for a couple of seasons. The "Crevno-beli" achieved a 2nd place in 1957 and were runners-up in the domestic cup in 1951.
In 1961-62 he spent a season with Sampdoria in Serie A. The manager was Eraldo Monzeglio and the Blucerchiati finished 10th. Boskov played 13 league games with 1 goal (Venezia) and 1 game in the Coppa Italia but suffered from physical problems.
His last two years of career were as player-manager with Young Fellows Zurich in the Swiss league. He played 14 league games and scored 4 goals.
While still playing in Yugoslavia he won 57 caps for his country. He won a Silver medal at the Helsinki Olympic Games. He took part in two World Cups (1954, 1958).
At 33 he retired and returned to his original club in his homeland. Between 1964 and 1971 he was technical director at Vojvodina. The Tulips won their first ever league title in 1965-66.
In 1966 he also had a brief spell as co-manager of Yugoslavia. A job he took on full-time from 1971 to 1973. He then left his homeland in disagreement with the Tito regime.
In 1974 he moved to Holland and joined ADO Den Hag. He stayed with the Storks for two seasons, winning the KNVB domestic Cup in 1975. In the league they finished 10th and 6th.
In 1976 he joined Feyenoord for two seasons. "De club van der holk (The People's club) finished 4th and 10th. He then left Holland due to new laws coming in concerning non-European Community workers.
In 1978 he moved to Spain and took on the job at Real Zaragoza for a season. Los Blanquillos finished 14th in the top flight.
In 1979 he became Real Madrid manager. In his almost three years there the Blancos won one league title (1980) and a Copa del Rey (1980). The Merengues also reached a European Cup semi-final (1980, SV Hamburger 3-5) and a final (1981, Liverpool 0-1). He was replaced in March 1982 by Luis Molowny.
In 1982-83 he stayed in Spain but joined Sporting Gijón. He stayed two seasons with the Rojiblancos and finished 8th and 13th.
In November 1984 he arrived in Italy. He joined Ascoli in Serie A as technical director and stayed two seasons. Foreigners often took on the title of technical directors in those days with Italians officially acting as managers for bureaucratic reasons. In the first the Bianconeri were relegated but in the second bounced straight back up again, winning the Serie B league.
In 1986 he joined Sampdoria where he would stay six highly successful seasons. The Blucerchiati won a Scudetto (1991), the Coppa Italia twice (1988, 1989), an Italian Supercoppa (1992) and Cup Winners Cup (1990, Anderlecht 2-0). In 1992 Doria also reached the final of the European Cup but were defeated 0-1 in extra-time by Barcelona, thanks to a Ronald Koeman freekick. In those years Sampdoria had some great players including Pietro Vierchowod, Hans-Peter Briegel, Toninho Cerezo, Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli, Gianluca Pagliuca, Moreno Mannini, Giuseppe Dossena, Attilio Lombardo, Srečko Katanec just to name a few.
In 1992 Boskov joined Roma. The Giallorossi finished 10th and lost the final of the Coppa Italia to Torino on away goals (0-3, 5-2). In Rome he gave Francesco Totti his debut.
In October 1994 he joined Napoli for two seasons. The Partenopei finished 7th and 10th.
In 1996 he left Italy and moved to Switzerland. He was in charge of Servette (Geneva) for a season. Les Grenats finished 7th.
In 1997-98 he was back at Sampdoria. From the 9th fixture onwards he took over from César Luis Menotti and the Blucerchiati finished 9th.
In the second part of the 1998-99 season he was manager of Perugia in Serie A. He took over from Ilario Castagner who resigned in February. The Grifoni finished 14th.
He then became Yugoslavia manager again. The "Plavi" (Blues) or Brazil of Europe, qualified for Euro 2000 but were eliminated by Holland 1-6 in the quarterfinals. He resigned at the end of the tournament. This would be his last managerial job.
Boskov was a midfielder. He was central playmaker and was known for his fair play and correctness. In his whole career he was never booked let alone sent off.
It was as a manager however he had most success, winning silverware in three different countries and was manager in 1019 professional games. Apart from his victories however, he will be remembered for his character. He had a unique sense of humour and became famous for his ironic comments. This ability to dissolve post-match tension in interviews made him a favourite both with the journalists and the fans. Two of his famous quotes were "a penalty is when the referee whistles" and when he compared Ruud Gullit "to a deer coming out of the forest".
Boskov died in Novi Sad on April 27, 2014.
Since his death the FK Vojvodina training facility has been named after him and in 2022 he was posthumously admitted to the Italian Footbal Hall of Fame.
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