October 13, 1985: Lazio-Triestina 2-1
- Lazio Stories
- Oct 13, 2025
- 8 min read
Lazio go top
With a Garlini double the Biancocelesti join three other teams as league leaders
Also on this day:
The season so far
Lazio's new dawn under Giorgio Chinaglia had failed and they were back in Serie B. Despite changing manager twice (Paolo Carosi to Juan Carlos Lorenzo and finally to Bob Lovati/Giancarlo Oddi) Lazio came second bottom and made the drop. Chinaglia's financial partners had never materialized and he was in huge difficulty. Turbulent times on and off the pitch.
This year the new manager was much respected Gigi Simoni. Lazio had been obliged to sell their star players; Bruno Giordano (Napoli), Lionello Manfredonia (Juventus) plus Michael Laudrup had gone (Juventus - end of 2-year loan). Also leaving were keepers Massimo Cacciatori (Gubbio) and Fernando Orsi (Arezzo), defender Renato Miele (Triestina) and midfielders Giancarlo Marini (Genoa) and Joao Batista (Avellino).
Lazio had brought in some players more suitable to the new financial and sporting situation. A rare deal with Roma was made and in came goalkeeper Astutillo Malgioglio, three defenders arrived: Fabio Calcaterra (Inter-loan), Roberto Galbiati (Torino) and Giorgio Magnocavallo (Atalanta), a midfielder Domenico Caso (Torino) and two forwards, Giuliano Fiorini (Genoa) and Fabio Poli (Cagliari). The two forwards would later prove to be history changers for Lazio.
In the Coppa Italia, in August and September, Lazio had won two (Catania 1-0 and Monopoli 2-0) and drawn three (Atalanta 2-2, Taranto 0-0 and Sampdoria 0-0) but were eliminated on goal difference.
In Serie B the Biancocelesti had so far won 3 (Palermo 2-1 on debut, Campobasso and Arezzo 2-0, all at home), drawn 1 (recent 1-1 away at Sambenedettese) and lost 1 (Bologna 0-1 away). The Biancocelesti were currently joint 3rd on 7 points (with Ascoli, Cesena and Sambenedettese).
The previous season Triestina had finished 5th in Serie B, under former Lazio player Massimo Giacomini. The Alabardati had fought for promotion but fallen just short. The top scorer was Franco De Falco with 16 league goals. The squad included former Lazio, Vincenzo Chiarenza.
This season the manager was Enzo Ferrari. The main new signings were: goalkeeper Rino Gandini (Parma), defenders Leonardo Menichini (Ascoli), Renato Miele (Lazio), Franco "Gildo" Salvadè (Varese), midfielders Pasquale Iachini (Fiorentina), Angelo Orlando (Varese), Giampiero Scaglia (Varese), Stefano Strappa (Udinese-via Varese) plus forwards Gianfranco Cinello (Empoli) and Vincenzo Di Giovanni (Varese).
Leaving Trieste were: defenders Walter Biagini (Varese), midfielders Piero Braglia (Catania), Marcello Gamberini (Varese), Domenico Moro (Ancona) and Rosolo Vailati (Varese) plus forward Nicola D'Ottavio (Taranto). So quite a lot of coming and goings on the road between Trieste and Varese.
So far in the league Triestina had won the first 3 (Arezzo 2-1 on debut, Monza 1-0 at home, Campobasso 1-0 away) and drawn the last 2 (Cagliari 0-0 away, Catania 1-1 at home). The Giuliani were currently on 8 points. A solid start.
The Rossoalabardati were already out of the Coppa Italia as they had won 1 (Varese 1-0 away) drawn 3 (Rimini 2-2, Torino 1-1, Sambenedettese 1-1, at home) and lost 1 (Como 1-2 away) and finished 3rd out of six.
A difficult game for Lazio today against high flying Triestina. The Romans however wanted to make it four home wins out of four so far.
The match: Sunday, October 13, 1985, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
A sunny "Ottobrata romana" day attracted almost 50,000 spectators to the Olimpico.
Lazio had no absences apart from midfielder Fortunato Torrisi while Triestina were missing defender Ersilio Cerone, midfielder Pasquale Iachini and forward Franco De Falco.
The game was balanced from the start but it was Lazio who had the clearer chances. Unfortunately for the Biancocelesti their centre-forward Giuliano Fiorini was not at his best due to a chronic calf problem and he was unable to finish off at least two good chances.
The visitors threatened mainly on freekicks and two whistled just over the bar.
Lazio took the lead in the 37th minute with their other striker Oliviero Garlini. On a cross from Giorgio Magnocavallo from the left, the striker managed to anticipate his marker Maurizio Costantini and head past Guido Bistazzoni, 1-0.
It looked as if Lazio would get the break in front but in the 44th minute the Alabardati equalised. Gianfranco Cinelli teed up Vincenzo Di Giovanni in the area and the Sicilian blasted a powerful strike under the crossbar, 1-1 at halftime.
The second half continued to be even and entertaining. Lazio attacked more but another free kick by Stefano Strappa forced Astutillo Malgioglio into a difficult save.
In the 53rd minute Lazio made their first substitution bringing on Francesco Fonte for Claudio Vinazzani.
The Muli (Mules) responded seven minutes later replacing goal scorer Di Giovanni with Giampiero Scaglia.
From the 65th minute on, Lazio produced their maximum effort and pushed forward. They were rewarded in the 73rd minute when Boom Boom Garlini lived up to his nickname and got his brace. A long cross by Gabriele Podavini was headed backwards by Fiorini and prolonged to Garlini who let off a cracking low left footed volley which gave the keeper no chance, 2-1.
The Giuliani tried to remedy the setback by putting on midfielder Franco Salvadè for defender Maurizio Braghin. Lazio however managed to control the situation without too much trouble. In the 88th minute they slowed the game down by bringing on young Francesco Dell'Anno for Fabio Poli. The final whistle saw a jubilant crowd celebrate an important win over fellow promotion candidates.
A solid display by Lazio with standout performances by match winner Garlini and midfield maestro Mimmo Caso.
Lazio were now top of the table on 9 points (with Brescia, Cesena and Sambenedettese).
Triestina had played well but were now 6th on 8 points (with Ascoli).
Who played for Lazio
Malgioglio, Podavini, Calisti, Galbiati, Calcaterra, Magnocavallo, Poli (88' Dell'Anno), Vinazzani (53' Fonte), Fiorini, Caso, Garlini
Manager: Simoni
Who played for Triestina
Bistazzoni, Bagnato, Chiarenza, Dal Prà, Costantini, Menichini, Di Giovanni (60' Scaglia), Strappa, Cinello, Romano, Braghin (78' Salvadè)
Substitutes: Gandini, Orlando, Zanin
Manager: Ferrari
Referee: Leni
Goals: 37' Garlini, 43' Di Giovanni, 73' Garlini
What happened next
Despite this decent start Lazio had an awful season on and off the pitch and the two were obviously connected. Giorgio Chinaglia was forced to leave and returned to the States in December. In February Franco Chimenti became president and it was a turbulent season with late or unpaid wages amid confusion and uncertainty. Poor Gigi Simoni did the best he could but Lazio finished 11th, after even risking relegation at one point (a 3-2 away win at Catanzaro in the penultimate game finally blew away all worries). In the end Lazio W11, D14 and L13. One positive note was Oliviero Garlini who despite Lazio's poor season was top Serie B goal scorer with 18.
As bad as things seemed they got worse. The following season's 1986-87 promotion dream was already shattered in the late summer. Lazio player Claudio Vinazzani was accused of being involved in the "Totonero-bis" match fixing scandal. On August 6 Lazio were sentenced to relegation to Serie C. The owners, the Calleri brothers, risked giving up and leaving while 8,000 fans caused urban warfare under the Football Federation headquarters. The players, already in pre-season training in Gubbio, decided to stay on for now, awaiting the final CAF verdict (the appeal).
On August 26 the appeal court changed the verdict to a lighter nine-point docking in the following season's Serie B. It was still a harsh sentence with two points per victory and especially considering the scant evidence against Lazio, but it meant survival and some hope for the future. So here started the epic -9 season…
Triestina finished 5th again. After today the Muli won 12, drew 13 (including Lazio 0-0) and lost 7. They finished only one point from the last promotion slot (Empoli who came 4th but were upgraded due to 3rd placed Vicenza's involvement in the Totonero scandal). The top scorer was Iachini with 8 league goals.
The three promoted were Ascoli, Brescia and Empoli while going down were Monza, Catanzaro, Perugia and Pescara.
Let’s talk about Oliviero Garlini
Oliviero Garlini was called Boom Boom Garlini by Lazio fans because he often scored doubles (Boom Boom being a pun taken from the nickname of the boxer Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini). He was a good centre-forward and scored some spectacular goals for Lazio in his second year, this also earned him the phrase "Oliviero bomber vero".
Born in Stezzano on March 4, 1957, Garlini started his professional career in Como in serie A in 1975-76 but a year later he was sold to Empoli in Serie C. Despite scoring a lot of goals, his career never really took off, at least initially. After a year at Empoli, he played two years for Nocerina, contributing to their promotion into Serie B, and one year at Fano in Serie C1.
Garlini then started to play for Cesena where he found some stability and stayed four years. Cesena got promoted in his first year and in Serie A he became Walter Schachner's attacking partner. He played 119 league games with 25 goals.
Lazio signed him for the 1984-85 season, which was a very negative one but, despite being behind Giordano and Laudrup in the attacking pecking order, he still managed to play 24 games (20 in A) even though he scored just one league goal (Cremonese). The next year was in Serie B but now he was the main man in the centre of the attack. Despite another annus horribilis for Lazio, he was top goal scorer in Serie B with 18 goals.
Lazio had very little money and needed to cash in, so they sold him to Inter. He played one year for the Nerazzurri with 20 league games and 4 goals (including one against Roma!!!) before going back to Serie B with Atalanta and helping them win promotion to Serie A with 18 goals.
His last four years of football at Ancona (B), Ascoli (A), Ravenna (C2) and finally Corbetta near Milan (Interregionale- 4th tier) saw him score less and less and he finally quit football in 1992.
In 1999 he was called by his friend Alessandro Altobelli to be team manager of Padova but then had to resign following a dramatic mistake. In the match between Padova and Varese in Serie C1, with Padova winning 2-0, the manager Adriano Fedele called for the substitution of the only under-21 player left on the pitch. The problem was that the Serie C1 rules that year stated that at least one under-21 player had to be on the pitch at all times. The substitution cost them the game and the points lost ultimately led to relegation. Garlini theoretically was in charge so he was the guy who had to resign.
Garlini then became a coach and worked with the Dalmine (Bergamo) youth teams from 2004 to 2011.
From 2011 he was in charge of amateur club A.C Bergamo Longuelo's youth academy.
Garlini played 67 games for Lazio (20 in Serie A, 38 in Serie B and 9 in Coppa Italia) and scored 19 goals (1 in Serie A and 18 in Serie B).
Garlini died in Bergamo, on May 8, 2025.
Lazio Career
Season | Total | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1984-85 | 24 (1) | 20 (1) | - | 4 |
1985-86 | 43 (18) | - | 38 (18) | 5 |
Total | 67 (19) | 20 (1) | 38 (18) | 9 |
Sources
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