October 1, 2009: Levski Sofia-Lazio 0-4, Europa League
Lazio dominant under Mount Vitosha
Despite some defensive scares Lazio outclass Bulgarians with four unanswered goals
The season so far
The previous season had been Delio Rossi's last and ended on a triumphal note winning the Coppa Italia.
This year Lazio had chosen Davide Ballardini as their new manager. With the change in the dug out there came several changes to the squad. In the summer Lazio had brought in goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri, defender and future Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni (Mallorca-back from loan), midfielders Roberto Baronio (Brescia- back from loan), Eliseu (Malaga) plus striker Julio Cruz (Inter).
In the winter, two good defenders would be signed, Giuseppe Biava (Genoa) and André Dias (São Paulo) alongside midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger (Stuttgart) and striker Sergio Floccari (Genoa).
In the summer obviously some players had also left. Hugely disappointing goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo (who had been welcomed as the new messiah) went to Zaragoza on loan. Homegrown talent and Lazio fan, Lorenzo De Silvestri went to Fiorentina while versatile Luciano Zauri and striker Libor Kozak were loaned to Sampdoria and Brescia.
Later, out of contract Goran Pandev, after some fine years and final controversies, would go to Inter in the January winter session while defender Emílson Cribari would head for Siena on loan and Eliseu, after a poor few months, was sent to Zaragoza on loan.
For now Lazio's season had started in a dreamlike fashion. On August 8 in Beijing, the Biancocelesti had defeated José Mourinho's soon to be "Triplete" winning Inter 2-1 to lift the Italian Supercoppa for the third time. Goals by Francelino Matuzalém and Tommaso Rocchi sank the seemingly invincible Nerazzurri.
Lazio started Serie A on August 23 and had won the first 2 (Atalanta 1-0 at home and Chievo 2-1 away) but then lost 2 (Juventus and Parma both at home) and drew 2 (Catania away and Palermo at home). Lazio were currently joint 8th on 8 points (with Roma, Chievo and Milan).
In the Europa League the Biancocelesti had eliminated Swedish club Elfsborg 3-1 on aggregate to qualify for this group stage. They had then started badly losing 1-2 at home to Salzburg. Today was the second game while the other team in Group G was Villarreal.
Levski Sofia were Bulgarian Champions. They had won their 26th league title under Emil Velev. The top scorer was Georgi Aleksandrov Ivanov with 12 while Georgi Hristov got 10.
In their history they had also won 26 domestic cups and 3 Super Cups. In 2006-07 they made history by being the first Bulgarian side to play in the Champions League group stages. They had also reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners Cup three times and the UEFA Cup twice.
This season the manager was Serbian Ratko Dostanić. The Blues had been eliminated in the Champions League playoff by Hungarians Debrecen 1-4 on aggregate. To get there the Bulgarians had previously eliminated Sant Julia 9-0 (Andorra) and Baku 2-0 (Azerbaijan) but now had to play in the Europa league. Their top scorer from the previous season, Georgi Ivanov, had retired at 33 but was now assistant manager.
In the first game of this Europa League group they had lost 0-1 away to Villarreal.
A crucial game for both sides today if they wanted to have an Europa League cup run.
The match: Thursday, October 1, 2009, Georgi Asparuhov Stadion, Sofia
A 7 pm Thursday evening kick-off brought about 15,000 fans to the stadium built in 1960. In 1991 it was named after a former player, Georgi Asparuhov, who had died in a car crash in 1971.
Lazio were missing defenders Aleksandar Kolarov, Sebastiano Siviglia, Guglielmo Stendardo and Modibo Diakité, midfielder Cristian Brocchi and forward Julio Cruz. Midfielder Cristian Ledesma and forward Goran Pandev were recently excluded from the squad over contractual disagreements.
Lazio started with confidence, possibly too much. They kept possession and looked in control but occasionally lost concentration and allowed Joãozinho to cause them some problems on the left.
In the 6th minute Tommaso Rocchi tested the keeper and in the 10th Bizzarri was safe on a Joaozinho free kick.
In the 12th minute Francelino Matuzalem was sloppy and lost possession but the hosts counter foot ended with a shot that went wide.
Lazio realised they had to be more cynical and in the 22nd minute they took the lead. Mauro Zarate broke free and while Rocchi took away a couple of defenders the Argentine teed up Matuzalem on the right and the Brazilian scored with a low cross goal strike, 0-1.
The Bulgarians pushed forward, with Joãozinho still the most active. Lazio however looked as if they could turn up the level when they decided to.
Zarate had a shot parried away for a corner with the help of the post and a Matuzalem effort went just over the bar.
That moment came just before halftime when Rocchi set up Zarate whose low finish did not appear irresistible but found its way past Tsevetan Dimitrov anyway, 0-2 at the break.
For the second half the Blues had two novelties; defender Jordan Miliev for Elin Topuzakov and midfielder Boyan Tabakov for Darko Tasevski.
After the interval, the Sofians piled forward. Lazio should have seen it coming but were nevertheless caught out a few times. First Hristov had only the keeper to beat but was denied by an excellent Albano Bizzarri save and then Cédric Bardon incredibly missed from close range after a good one-two with Tabakov.
Ballardini sensed danger and in the 54th minute put on Ousmane Dabo in place of Roberto Baronio. Eight minutes later he also took off Zarate and introduced fresh-legged Pasquale Foggia.
The Neapolitan elf took five minutes to become a protagonist as in the 67th minute he produced a clever assist for Mourad Meghni who let loose an unstoppable long range shot, 0-3.
Foggia then tried a spectacular lob from midfield but Dimitrov was alert and tipped it over for a corner.
In the 72nd minute the Bulgarians tried changing forwards, bringing on Hristo Yoyok and taking off Hristov.
A minute later however they were punished again. Rocchi's marker Youssef Rabeh slipped allowing the Venetian striker to go round the keeper and score in the empty goal, 0-4.
The game was virtually over. Lazio took off Matuzalem and replaced him with Stefano Mauri.
Lazio now sat back and Bizzarri had to make two more saves to deny the hosts a consolation goal which they would have deserved. Final score, 0-4.
A good attacking performance but with some worrying lapses defensively. Fortunately Bizzarri was on form and Lazio's quality was too much for the home side in the end.
A good win for Lazio who were back on track in Group G. The table read; Salzburg 6, Villarreal 3, Lazio 3, Levski Sofia 0.
Who played for Levski Sofia
Dimitrov, Topuzakov (46' Miliev), Benzoukane, Rabeh, Minev, Sarmov, Tasevski (46' Tabakov), Bardon, Ze Soares, Joaozinho, Hristov (72' Yovov)
Substitutes: Vasilev, Dimitrov, Lucio Wagner, Baltanov
Manager: Dostanić
Who played for Lazio
Bizzarri, Radu, Lichtsteiner, Cribari, Perpetuini, Meghni, Baronio (54' Dabo), Eliseu, Matuzalem (74' Mauri), Zarate (62' Foggia), Rocchi
Manager: Ballardini
Referee: Ivanov (Russia)
Goals: 22' Matuzalem, 46' Zarate, 67' Meghni, 73' Rocchi
What happened next
Lazio had a poor season and finished 12th. For long periods however they were involved in the relegation battle. In the next 16 games they only won 2, drew 8 and lost 6 (including derby 0-1). They were 4th bottom and only two points from relegation (Catania).
On February 7 Lazio then played Catania and lost 0-1 at home and were sucked into the bottom three. At this point Ballardini was sacked and replaced by Edy Reja. Lazio beat Parma 2-0 away on his debut but then only picked up one point in the following four games. Meanwhile Ledesma was back in the squad having resolved his divergences with the club.
Things then improved with wins at Cagliari and Siena at home, draws away to Milan and at home to Napoli and a win at Bologna away which gave the Biancocelesti some breathing space. More defeats followed but wins against Genoa and Livorno away and Udinese at home ultimately gave Lazio a more respectable position. The top scorer was Rocchi with 10 goals while only in A it was Floccari with 8.
More good news came from city rivals Roma throwing away the Scudetto. The Giallorossi were top with four games to go but then lost 1-2 at home to Sampdoria and were overtaken by Inter. A huge relief for Lazio fans who famously lifted the banner "Oh noooo…" when Inter scored and beat Lazio a week later (by then Lazio were virtually safe).
In the Coppa Italia the Biancocelesti reached the quarterfinals but lost 2-3 away to Fiorentina. To get there they had defeated Palermo 2-0 at home.
In the Europa League they were eliminated in the group phase. They beat Villarreal 2-1 at home but then lost the next 3 (Villarreal 1-4 away, Salzburg 1-2 away and Levski Sofia 0-1 at home). An awful campaign but Lazio unfortunately had other priorities.
The Scudetto was won by Inter who won the famous "Triplete" (Treble) under José Mourinho. The Nerazzurri won the Champions League defeating Bayern Munich 2-0 in Madrid and the Coppa Italia beating Roma 1-0 at the Olimpico. The Biscione however at least had not won the Italian Supercoppa….
Levski Sofia were also eliminated in Europa League. They then lost the next 3 (Salzburg 0-1 both home and away and Villarreal 0-2 at home). They picked up in the last game and beat Lazio 1-0 at the Olimpico.
In the Bulgarian league they finished 3rd behind champions Liteks Loveč and city rivals CSKA Sofia
Levski Sofia have since won one more league title (2025-26) and one more Bulgarian Cup (2021-22). They however did not make it into the 2026-27 Champions League 36-team group as they lost to AEK Athens 0-4 on aggregate in a playoff.
The 2009-10 Europa League was eventually won by Atlético Madrid who beat Fulham 2-1 in the final in Hamburg.
Let's talk about Federico Sevieri
Federico Sevieri was born in Rome on March 19, 1991.
He entered the Lazio academy as a boy and in 2009-10 was part of the first team squad first under Davide Ballardini and then Edy Reja. He made his debut starting in the Europa League home game against Levski Sofia. That would remain his only appearance.
In 2010 he joined Lumezzane (Brescia) in Lega Pro Prima Divisione (3rd tier) and stayed for two and a half seasons. He played 59 league games and the Rossoblu finished 6th and 8th twice, under manager Davide Nicola (two seasons) and Gianluca Festa.
In the winter of 2013 he was loaned to AJ Fano in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (4th tier) and played 13 league games. The Aquile finished 16th and relegated. His managers included Karel Zeman (Zdenek's son).
In 2013-14 he spent a season with Castiglione (Mantova) on loan in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (4th tier). He made 10 league appearances.
In 2014-15 he signed for Savoia (Torre Annunziata-Naples) in Lega Pro (3rd tier). He played 13 league games and the Torresi finished 20th and relegated. His three managers included former Roma player, Guido Ugolotti.
He then went down to amateur level and spent a year with Fiumicino, three with SFF Atletico (merger between Fiumicino and Fregene), a few months with Atletico Fiuggi (merger with SFF Atletico) and one year each with Albalonga (Albano Laziale-Rome) and Latina in Serie D, finishing 4th and 2nd (promoted after playoff).
Since 2021 he has played for Cynthialbalonga (merger with Cynthia-Genzano) in Serie D. The azzurri have finished 6th, 5th, 8th, 7th (as S.S.D Albalonga again) and 8th.
In his youth he played 3 games for Italy U16s and one for Italy U18s.
Sevieri is a midfielder. He never made it with Lazio although he had the satisfaction of playing for them in Europe. He has had a decent and long career in the third and fourth tiers of Italian football.
Lazio Career
Season | Europa League Appearances |
2009-10 | 1 |
Sources
Comments