October 21, 2004: Lazio -Villarreal 1-1, Europa League
- Lazio Stories
- 6 days ago
- 10 min read
Rocchi salvages late draw
On a difficult night Lazio strike late on against ten-man Villarreal
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had finished 6th and won the Coppa Italia. This year however everything had changed. In the midst of a financial crisis new owner Claudio Lotito had cut costs, agreed a long-term deal with state debt collectors and set up a new look team.
For a start Roberto Mancini had left for Inter. A lot of the star players also said goodbye: Jaap Stam (Milan), Stefano Fiore and Bernardo Corradi (Valencia), Sinisa Mihajlovic and Giuseppe Favalli (Inter), Demetrio Albertini (Atalanta), Claudio Lopez (América -México) and Guerino Gottardi (retired).
Arriving at Lazio were players of a "slightly" different calibre, many unknown. Lotito became famous for signing nine players on one day. Some are best forgotten but the players worth mentioning were defender Sebastiano Siviglia (Parma), midfielders Antonio and Emanuele Filippini (Palermo) and forward Tommaso Rocchi (Empoli). One particularly welcome return for the fans was Paolo Di Canio after 15 years away. A move to appease the fans faced with difficult times ahead.
The new manager was former player Domenico Caso, assisted by club legend Cristiano Bergodi.
In Serie A so far, Lazio had won 2 (Sampdoria 1-0 on debut and Brescia 2-0, both away), drawn 2 (Reggina at home and Atalanta away, both 1-1) and lost 2 (Milan 1-2 and most recently Chievo 0-1, both at home). They were 11th on 8 points (with Roma).
In this evening's competition, the UEFA Cup, the Biancocelesti had got through the playoff defeating Metalurh Donetsk 6-0 on aggregate.
This was the first match of the group phase which included Middlesbrough, Partizan Belgrade and Egaleo. A strange format with no home and away games but a single game against each.
The previous season Villarreal had finished 8th in the Liga, won the Intertoto Cup (Heerenveen 2-1 on aggregate) and reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals (Valencia 0-1 on aggregate). The manager was first Benito Floro until February and then Paquito Garcia. The top goal scorer was Sonny Anderson with 19 goals (12 in Liga).
This season the manager was Manuel Pellegrini, in his first European job. The main new signings were: midfielder Sebastián Battaglia (Boca Juniors) and forward Diego Forlán (Manchester United). Sonny Anderson had left for Al-Rayyan (Qatar).
The Liga had started on August 30 and so far Villarreal had played 7 games, winning 2, drawing 4 and losing 1.
The Copa del Rey would start a week today against Girona away.
Tonight, however, was a European game. It was not El Submarino Amarillo's first European game as they had eliminated Hammarby (Sweden) 5-1 on aggregate to get to this group stage.
The match: Thursday, October 21, 2004, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Not a big crowd for this first group game, just under 15,000.
Lazio were without goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi and the Filippini twins in midfield.
Villarreal were missing midfielder Marcos Senna (doping suspension) and their striker Diego Forlán who could not play in the cup games.
The Spaniards took the lead almost immediately. In the 4th minute José Mari who was not challenged, despite Lazio having numbers back, weaved his way in from the left and took a shot which beat Matteo Sereni, 0-1. A terrible start for the Biancocelesti.
Lazio could have equalised only four minutes later. Christian Manfredini had a shot parried by Pepe Reina and on the rebound Simone Inzaghi managed to miss a seemingly easy goal by sending the ball onto the post and out.
Lazio attacked for most of the half but had problems in the last third as the visitors were extremely tight, four defenders with two holding midfielders in front, César Arzo and Sebastián Battaglia and even the attacking midfielders, Santi Cazorla, Juan Román Riquelme and Roger García came back deep to give a hand. Lazio were unable to accelerate once they reached the area and systematically hit the yellow wall.
It was the visitors who were more dangerous as they found ample spaces on the break. José Mari had two shots go wide and Sereni saved well on Cazorla and Garcia.
For Lazio Goran Pandev was the biggest threat but first his strike from the edge of the box was saved and then the Macedonian was unable to get enough power with a close-range effort.
Towards the end of the half the Yellow Submarine could have doubled their lead had they not tried to walk the ball in and Sereni was reactive on a José Mari strike.
In the second half Lazio changed tactical setup and went from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 with striker Tommaso Rocchi replacing midfielder Manfredini.
Lazio now looked livelier but this induced the visitors to defend even deeper.
The Biancocelesti had shots with Massimo Oddo and Inzaghi but in general still had problems creating clear cut chances.
In the 58th minute Giuliano Giannichedda replaced Ousmane Dabo and in the 67th Paolo Di Canio took Anthony Seric's place. Lazio now played with a 4-2-3-1, Inzaghi up front and Pandev, Rocchi and Di Canio in support.
In the 72nd minute the Spaniards made their first change, Hector Font for Roger Garcìa.
Three minutes later came a potential game changer as José Mari got himself sent off. The forward, who had already scored at the Olimpico when playing for Milan, reacted to being held back by Giannichedda by elbowing the midfielder from Pontecorvo. The referee had no choice but to show the Andalusian striker from Seville the red card.
The game was now attack against defence. The Liga side put on another defender Josico in the 78th minute, taking off Cazorla.
In the 85th minute Lazio's constant pressure finally paid off. Inzaghi was the assist man and Rocchi chipped the ball over Reina to level the score, 1-1.
There was still time for one last substitution, defender Armando Sa coming on for midfielder Arzo to protect the point. Final score Lazio 1 Villarreal 1.
In the end both sides were reasonably pleased. Lazio had risked collapsing in the first half but then salvaged a point near the end undeniably favoured by playing in numerical superiority. Villarreal had shown to be superior and could have come away with the three points but a draw in Rome was still not to be scoffed at especially playing the last fifteen minutes plus injury time in ten men.
In the other game Middlesbrough had beaten Egaleo 1-0 away, therefore Boro topped the group for now.
Who played for Lazio
Sereni, Oddo, Siviglia, Negro, Zauri, Manfredini (46' Rocchi), Dabo (58' Giannichedda), Liverani, Seric (67' Di Canio), Pandev, S.Inzaghi
Substitutes: Casazza, Couto, Oscar Lopez, Muzzi
Manager: Caso
Who played for Villarreal
Reina, Javi Venta, Gonzalo, Alvarez, Alcantara, Arzo (88' Armando Sa), Battaglia, Cazorla (78' Josico), Riquelme, Roger (72' Font), Josè Mari
Substitutes: Lopez Vallejo, Pena, Cases
Manager: Pellegrini
Referee: Weiner
Goals: 4' José Mari, 85' Rocchi
Red Card: 75' José Mari
What happened next
Lazio had a difficult season. Between today's game and Christmas, they only won 1 (Bologna 2-1 at home), drew 3 (Inter 1-1 away, Siena 1-1 at home and Lecce 3-3 at home) and lost 4 (Livorno 0-1 away, Cagliari 2-3 at home, Juventus 1-2 away and Udinese 0-3 away). At the holiday break the Biancocelesti were 15th and looking very much like strong relegation candidates. They thus changed managers from Caso to former player Giuseppe Papadopulo.
His first game on January 6 was the derby and it was an unexpected 3-1 triumph, with Di Canio (16 years after his previous derby goal), César and Rocchi the scorers. Lazio on the waves of enthusiasm then won 3-2 away in Florence. They then slumped to four defeats and a draw (Palermo, Sampdoria, Reggina, Milan and Brescia) before three consecutive wins (Atalanta, Chievo and Parma) gave them some oxygen. Some more bad results followed but ultimately wins against Livorno at home and Bologna away and draws against Roma, Fiorentina and Palermo took Lazio to an agonized survival. Lazio finished 13th and top scorer was Rocchi with 17 goals (13 in A). Lazio then even qualified for the Intertoto Cup due to Livorno and Messina dropping out for various reasons.
In the UEFA Cup Lazio struggled too but the league was the clear priority. Lazio crashed out of the group losing to Middlesbrough 0-2 away and drawing with Partizan Belgrade 2-2 at home and Greeks Egaleo 2-2 away.
In Coppa Italia Lazio went straight out to Cagliari in November/January on away goals (1-2 in Sardinia, 3-2 in Rome).
A problematic first season under new owner Claudio Lotito but things could have gone even worse.
Villarreal had a good season in the Liga and finished 3rd. They beat both Barcelona (3-0) and Atletico Madrid (3-2) at home and drew (3-3) away to the Blaugrana.
In the UEFA Cup they finished 2nd in the group. They then beat Middlesbrough 2-0 and Egaleo 4-0 at home and drew 1-1 away to Parizan Belgrade. The Spaniards then eliminated Dynamo Kiev 2-0 and Steaua Bucharest 2-0 both on aggregate to reach the quarter-finals. Here their campaign ended as they were knocked out by AZ Alkmaar 3-2 on aggregate.
Their domestic cup run never took off as they went straight out to Girona 1-2.
All in all however a good season for the Yellow Submarine with an excellent 3rd place in the league only behind champions Barcelona and Real Madrid. Top scorer was Diego Forlán with 25 goals and Liga "Pichichi" (award from Marca sports newspaper for top goal scorer). Pichichi was the nickname of prolific Athletic Club Bilbao player Rafael Moreno Aranzadi who scored many goals (83 in 89 league games, 1911-1921) before the creation of the award in 1952-53.
The Chilean manager Pellegrini would go on to coach several European clubs including Real Madrid, Malaga, Manchester City, West-Ham United and Betis Sevilla while of the players Reina would play for Lazio, Josè Mari for Milan, Forlán for Atlético Madrid and Inter and Cazorla for Arsenal. Riquelme and Battaglia would return to and be successful with Boca Juniors.
Let’s talk about Domenico Caso
Domenico Caso, better known as Mimmo, is one of the Lazio heroes of the -9 Serie B championship. A great midfield player, at the beginning of his career he was a right winger, but later on was a playmaker in front of the defence.
Caso was born in Eboli, near Salerno, on May 9, 1954. He started his career in the Fiorentina youth teams and debuted in Serie A on October 29 1972. He stayed six years in Florence and won a Coppa Italia in 1975. He played 133 league games with 23 goals.
In 1978 he signed for Napoli but it was not a successful year for him and he only played 15 games with 1 goal. In 1979 he moved to Milan to play for Inter. He stayed two years, won a scudetto in his first and changed role, from right wing to playmaker. With the Nerazzurri he made 57 league appearances with 2 goals.
In 1981 he signed for Perugia in Serie B and stayed two seasons (62 league games, 8 goals). He then moved to Turin and played for Torino in Serie A for another couple of years. These would be his last in Serie A and he made 36 league appearances with 1 goal.
In 1985 he signed for Lazio in Serie B and experienced it all, from hell to heaven. During his three years in Rome he saw it all. Lazio went from being favourites for promotion under Giorgio Chinaglia to financial collapse and almost Serie C. And this was only his first year. In his second, the club was recovering financially but were penalised 9 points for an alleged involvement in match fixing. The team managed to do well but then physically and mentally collapsed towards the end of the season. With seven minutes from the end of the last game against Vicenza, Lazio were virtually in Serie C. Then Giuliano Fiorini scored and the Biancocelesti managed to get to a playout with Campobasso and Taranto. After losing to the latter due to a goal in blatant offside, they beat Campobasso with a Fabio Poli goal and avoided relegation. In 1987-88 Lazio then finally achieved the agonised promotion to Serie A.
Interviewed in 2013, Caso remembers the eve of the game against Vicenza. “Fiorini and I shared the room and we could not sleep due to the tension. We chatted until 7 in the morning with the Doctor, Alfredo Carfagni”.
Caso played 94 games in Serie B for Lazio with 7 goals and 16 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal.
After Lazio, Caso signed for Latina in Serie C2 for a year and then played his last season in 1989-90 for Orceana again in the fourth tier.
At 20 he won his one and only Italy cap, in an away friendly against Yugoslavia.
Once Caso stopped playing he became a manager and was in charge of Fiorentina youth teams. In 1992 he became the manager of the Lazio primavera and was very successful. In 1995 he won a scudetto and launched the careers, amongst many others, of Alessandro Nesta, Marco Di Vaio and Flavio Roma. He had a serious health problem in the victorious year but managed to beat the cancer.
In 1997 he ventured to Foggia as head coach in Serie B but could not avoid relegation. His other experiences at Chievo and Pistoiese also did not go well. In 2002 he was called to be head coach of the Italian Under-18 Nazionale and a year later went back to Lazio as manager of the Primavera team.
Following the financial crisis of 2004, Claudio Lotito became president. He inherited a team with no manager and few players. The team was temporarily given to Mimmo Caso for the pre-season training in Japan. Lazio had to fulfil a contract so off they went. In Japan Caso got on well with the players (and he was also cheap), so Lotito confirmed him. The beginning of the season was problematic. Lazio were clearly in difficulty: badly organized, no game plan, problems between Caso and Paolo Di Canio and poor quality of some of the players. Lazio immediately lost the Supercoppa final against Milan, but they did manage to pass the UEFA Cup playoff against Metalurh Donetsk and reach the group stage, only to fail without winning a game. In Serie A things did not go well. In 16 games Lazio won four, drew five and lost seven. They had 17 points, just four clear of relegation zone when in December Caso was fired and replaced by Giuseppe Papadopulo.
In 2006 he was made Ternana manager but could not avoid their relegation to Serie C. He then managed the youth teams of Cisco Roma, Voluntas Spoleto, Virtus Lanciano and Reggina.
Mimmo Caso was a great player and probably deserved more. He will forever be remembered at Lazio as one of the -9 heroes and for giving a great contribution to the return to Serie A.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie B | Serie B Playouts | Coppa Italia |
1985-86 | 34 (5) | 29 (4) | - | 5 (1) |
1986-87 | 47 (3) | 38 (3) | 2 | 7 |
1987-88 | 29 | 25 | - | 4 |
Total | 110 (8) | 92 (7) | 2 | 16 (1) |
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