October 17 1993: Lazio -Piacenza 1-0
A win but not much else
Lazio struggle but win with a last minute Signori penalty
The Season so far
Lazio had arrived 5th the previous year and the objective was to improve on that position.
Dino Zoff had been confirmed as manager but some interesting additions had been made to the squad. Lazio finally invested in a goalkeeper and brought in Luca Marchegiani from Torino. In defence a young full-back, Paolo Negro, arrived from Brescia. In midfield a relatively unknown Roberto Di Matteo came from Aarau while former Roma, Fabrizio Di Mauro arrived on loan from Fiorentina. In attack Lazio welcomed Pierluigi Casiraghi from Juventus.
Making space for the new entries Lazio also sadly said farewell to -9 and promotion hero defender Angelo Gregucci (Torino) and to popular German striker Karl-Heinz Riedle (Borussia Dortmund). Also leaving were keeper Valerio Fiori (Cagliari) and midfielder Giovanni Stroppa (Foggia).
This was the 8th league game of the season. On their debut Lazio had drawn 0-0 at home against Zdenek Zeman's Foggia (it was also the first Pay-tv game in the history of Italian football). Lazio had then won 1 (Parma 2-1 at home), drawn 3 (including the recent 0-0 away to Milan) and lost 2 (Cremonese 0-1 and Cagliari 1-4 away). The Biancocelesti were currently 10th, on 6 points with Foggia. Not a great start.
In Coppa Italia things had started badly too as on October 6 Lazio had lost 0-2 at home to Serie C side Avellino. The return game would be on October 27.
In the UEFA Cup at least Lazio had got through the first round by beating Lokomotiv Plovdiv (Bulgaria) 4-0 on aggregate. In the round of 32 Lazio would play Boavista (Portugal) on October 20 and November 4.
Piacenza were newly promoted. The Biancorossi had finished 3rd in Serie B under Gigi Cagni. The top scorer was Antonio De Vitis with 19 league goals. It was their first time in Serie A.
This season Cagni was still in charge. The main new signings were: defender Cleto Polonia (Verona) and forward Marco Ferrante (Parma).
Leaving were: Fabrizio Fioretti (Verona) and forward Fulvio Simonini (Virtus Chianciano). Another forward Filippo Inzaghi was loaned out again (last year Leffe, this year Verona).
Not a great transfer market to try to avoid relegation.
So far "Il Piace" had won 1 (Lecce 2-1 at home), drawn 3 (including Milan 0-0 at home) and lost 3 (including Torino 0-3 at home on debut). They were currently 12th (with Genoa, Roma, Udinese and Atalanta) on 5 points.
In the Coppa Italia they had won the first leg against Perugia 3-1 at home.
A game today between two teams in difficulty but while Piacenza's problems were expected, Lazio's were not.
The match: Sunday, October 17, 1993, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
A cloudy day with occasional rays of sun gathered just over 40,000 at the Olimpico. The two teams wore black armbands to commemorate the recent passing of Sampdoria president Paolo Mantovani. He had made Sampdoria great but was originally from Rome and a Lazio fan.
Lazio were missing defender Mauro Bonomi and midfielder Fabrizio Di Mauro. Lazio had five players back from injury (Favalli, Cravero, Fuser, Gascoigne and Signori)
Piacenza had defender Roberto Chiti and forward Antonio De Vitis unavailable.
The game was immediately one way traffic but plodding and predictable. Lazio attacked but Piacenza were hermetically closed in front of keeper Massimo Taibi. The Biancocelesti looked slow while the visitors were reactive and won almost all the 50-50 challenges.
For Lazio the only light was Paul Gascoigne but he found little collaboration from his teammates especially Aron Winter and Roberto Di Matteo in midfield. Up front Beppe Signori was lively but received very little service. In the 28th minute however he freed himself on the right and let off a powerful strike which Taibi saved well on the front post.
When after about 30 minutes Gascoigne ran out of steam the Biancocelesti went even flatter.
Piacenza poked their noses out and had a shot by Antonio Carannante comfortably saved by Luca Marchegiani and another by Marco Ferrante, who turned well on Robero Cravero, a couple of metres wide.
In the 38th minute Lazio then had a dangerous shot by Di Matteo but Taibi stretched low and tipped it behind for a corner.
Just before halftime both sides lost a player through injury, Beppe Favalli for Lazio replaced by Roberto Bacci and Carannante for Piacenza replaced by Massimo Brioschi. Halftime: very much 0-0.
In the second half things did not change but Signori saw more of the ball which could only be positive. Beppe-gol immediately forced Taibi into an instinctive save over the bar after a clever back heel by Gigi Casiraghi.
In the 51st minute Cravero had a header from a Signori corner but it was parried away by Taibi and then Casiraghi headed high soon after.
Gascoigne too had a chance but his header went wide as it turned out to be neither an assist nor a goal attempt.
In the 55th minute Paolo Negro tried his luck from the distance but it was saved in beach mode by Taibi with a flashy dive.
In the 63rd minute Winter had a good effort but his low right-footed volley shaved the right post.
In the 67th minute the visitors took off midfielder Daniele Moretti and introduced Giuseppe Ferazzoli.
Both sides were tired and nerves frayed. On the hour-mark Settimio Luci was sent off for time wasting when he was already on a yellow and a few minutes later Luca Luzardi joined him for retaliating after being fouled.
In the 82nd minute Gascoigne was taken off for Dario Marcolin. The Englishman clearly lacked match fitness but had still been one of Lazio's brighter players.
The referee Racalbuto then decided he had had enough of Gigi Cagni's protests from the touch line and sent him packing. Not content, he then gave Roberto Cravero his marching orders too for a second yellow after a foul in midfield. Lazio down to nine men and Piacenza in ten.
Just as Lazio were losing hope they were awarded a penalty. In the 90th minute Signori was tripped up by Agostino Iacobelli and Racalbuto, about a couple of metres away, had no doubts. The diminutive blonde striker impeccably placed the ball to Taibi's left, 1-0.
A precious win for Lazio but it had not been pretty. Lazio had too many players off form and had looked rusty and monotonous. All in all however they just about deserved the win for sheer will power. They had not played well but had more chances than Piacenza who limited themselves to playing for a point, which they came very close to taking.
Lazio were now on joint 8th on 8 points (with Cagliari and Cremonese) while Piacenza were joint 15th on 5 points (with Atalanta and Reggiana)
Lazio now had a mid-week European game against Boavista and then there was the Roman derby.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Favalli (41' Bacci), Di Matteo, Luzardi, Cravero, Fuser, Winter, Casiraghi, Gascoigne (82' Marcolin), Signori
Manager: Zoff
Who played for Piacenza
Taibi, Polonia, Carannante (43' Brioschi), Iacobelli, Maccoppi, Lucci, Suppa, Papais, Ferrante, Moretti (67' Ferazzoli), Piovani
Substitutes: Gandini, Di Cintio, Turrini
Manager: Cagni
Referee: Racalbuto
Goal: 90' Signori (pen)
Red Cards: Lucci, Luzardi, Cravero
What happened next
In the autumn market session Lazio signed highly rated Croatian forward Alen Boksic from Olympique Marseille while Thomas Doll went back to Germany and joined Eintracht Frankfurt.
In the end Lazio improved and had a good season, in Serie A at least, finishing 3rd and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. They then won 15 (including Juventus 3-1, at home, Inter 2-1 away, Roma 1-0 and Piacenza 2-1), drew 7 (including Roma 1-1 a week from today) and lost 5.
In the Coppa Italia they went out in the first round against Avellino, only managing a 0-0 draw in Irpinia. In the UEFA Cup they beat Boavista 1-0 at home but then lost 0-2 in Portugal.
In Serie A however a positive 3rd place. Boksic had impressed while top scorer was Signori with 23 goals, all in the league. He was also Serie A top scorer.
Piacenza finished 15th and relegated. They then won 5 (including Foggia 5-4, Roma 1-0, Inter 2-1 at home), drew 11 (including Juventus 0-0 at home) and lost 8. The top scorer was Gianpiero Piovani with 10 league goals.
In Coppa Italia they lost 1-0 in Perugia so went through. They then surprisingly knocked out Milan 2-1 on aggregate but in the quarters lost 3-4 on aggregate to Torino.
Piacenza then bounced straight back up by winning Serie B and spent the following five years in A. They were in A again between 2001-03 but are now in Serie D.
The 1993-94 Scudetto was won by Milan for the 14th time. Piacenza went down with Udinese, Atalanta and Torino. The Coppa Italia was won by Sampdoria (Ancona 6-1 on aggregate)
Let's talk about Lazio Jersey 1993-94
Image Sources: BOLA Football Store (main), Football Kit Archive (second and goalkeeper). Third shirt recreated using AI.
The technical sponsor was Umbro while the main sponsor was Banca di Roma.
The home shirt was a slightly lighter blue than the previous seasons. It was a polo shirt with a white collar and cuffs (both rimmed with a thin light blue and dark blue line). The shorts were white with two dark blue and a light blue vertical stripe down the sides.
The away shirt was the same as the previous season. A bright yellow polo shirt with dark blue collar and cuffs. The shorts were yellow with a dark blue horizontal stripe round the bottom. The socks were also yellow.
The third shirt was a dark blue v-neck with a light blue collar and cuffs.
The goalkeeper shirts were very eye-catching with several bright colours in a complex pattern.
Sources
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