October 30, 1994: Lazio Cremonese 1-0
- Simon Basten
- 10 hours ago
- 6 min read
Lazio go top
Thanks to a Casiraghi goal and a great game from Boksic, Lazio managed to break down the Lombard wall and go top of the table.
Also on this day:
The season so far
At the end of the 1993-94 season Sergio Cragnotti surprised everybody by giving the Lazio managerial job to Zdenek Zeman. The Czech coach had impressed the world with his incredible tactical organisation at Foggia. Two of his former players had been signed by Lazio during the summer: Roberto Rambaudi and Jose Chamot. They joined another former Foggia star Beppe Signori. Arriving were also Giorgio Venturin (Torino), Ivano Della Morte (Monza) and Daniele Adani (Modena). Leaving Lazio were Luigi Corino (Brescia), Luca Luzardi (Napoli), Dario Marcolin (Genoa on loan) and Claudio Sclosa (Cremonese, loan), all players that were considered unsuitable for Zeman’s style of play.
Dino Zoff, who had bored everybody to tears in recent years, was promoted to club President. In this way Cragnotti did not lose the charisma of the former World Champion, very important particularly for PR reasons.
So far Lazio were doing well. They were 3rd in the company of Juventus just two points away from leaders Parma. In Coppa Italia they had beaten Modena 9-1 on aggregate and had a little trouble getting rid of Piacenza (6-4 on aggregate). In the UEFA Cup they were in the second round and had played the first leg against Trelleborgs drawing 0-0 away.
The match: Sunday, October 30, 1994, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
It took a long time for the Biancocelesti to break down a marvellous defensive wall erected by Cremonese. And if Zdenek Zeman had realised in time that it was better to put Alen Boksic on the right wing and Gigi Casiraghi centre-forward, Lazio would probably have scored earlier.
The Croation preached in the desert. He tried to open up the Cremonese defence but when he did, Beppe Signori and Roberto Rambaudi were not up to par. In the 3rd minute the Alien tried a shot but his attempt went wide. The next Lazio chance arrived in the 40th minute when Aron Winter’s shot off a Rambaudi assist was saved by Luigi Turci. On the dusk of the first half, Andrea Tentoni had a chance of a lifetime all alone in front of Luca Marchegiani but his attempted lob was too high.
The way Lazio were playing was exemplified in the 46th minute. Boskic slalomed through the Cremonese defence like Alberto Tomba, but the rest of the team just stood still, one could presume, in admiration.
In the 57th minute Tentoni anticipated Marchegiani but his header went wide. Third opportunity for the Lombards in the 65th minute with Luigi Gualco whose volley off a corner went very close to the target. At this point enter Casiraghi and Lazio started to play football. Signori to Boksic all alone in front of the keeper but when he tried to shoot Turci had been quick enough and managed to parry. The keeper again was called to action on a Cristiano Bergodi header in the 70th minute, but could do nothing four minutes later when Boskic anticipated him on a Diego Fuser cross and managed to give a perfect assist to Casiraghi who made no mistake.
Lazio could have scored again in the 85th minute but a foul in the box on Signori was ignored by the referee. Two minutes later Turci anticipated Fuser as he was about to shoot at goal.
Biancocelesti top of the table with Juventus following Parma’s loss. Season looking very promising indeed.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Favalli (23’ Bergodi), Venturin, Cravero, Chamot, Rambaudi (63’ Casiraghi), Fuser, Boksic, Winter, Signori
Manager: Zeman
Who played for Cremonese
Turci, Garzya, Milanese, Pedroni, Gualco, Verdelli, Giandebiaggi, Ferraroni (85' Pirri), Chiesa (62' Florijancic), Sclosa, Tentoni
Substitutes: Razzetti, Cristiani, De Agostini
Manager: Simoni
Referee: Dinelli
Goal: 73’ Casiraghi
What happened next
The season continued relatively well. Lazio’s main ambition was a place in Europe in some way or form and to play good football. They managed to keep a high standard of play – 5-1 (Padova), 4-0 (Milan and Genoa), 4-1 (Inter) – despite an occasional pause (losing the derby for example). The team scored lots of goals, not surprising when one has Alen Boksic, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Beppe Signori in the squad. One could see that the Biancocelesti had enormous potential and if it were not for the occasional defensive blackouts, they could have done even better.
In a bit of a crisis with five games to go, they then won them all taking them up to second place behind Juventus.
The highlights of the season were four: a 7-1 win at home against Foggia, an 8-2 win against Fiorentina, a 3-0 away win against Juventus and the 2-0 win over that other team from Rome.
In the quarter finals of Coppa Italia they beat Napoli 3-1 on aggregate and faced Juventus in the semis. After losing the first leg at home 1-0, they were also 1-0 down in the second and in ten men, but they managed to equalise and almost made it to the final, but the woodwork denied the Biancocelesti and in the end a Roberto Baggio penalty handed the final to Juventus.
In the UEFA Cup, they had to wait to the very last dying seconds before getting the better of Trelleborgs FF from Sweden in the second round. In the third, against Trabzonspor, the first leg was in Turkey and Lazio managed to score their first two away goals and reached the quarterfinals winning the home leg too. The Biancocelesti were then paired with Borussia Dortmund of former player Karl-Heinz Riedle. The first leg saw Lazio win 1-0 thanks to an own goal. Dortmund won the return match 2-0 with a non-existent penalty at the beginning of the game and a Riedle goal two minutes from time. Lazio were unlucky with Signori out due to injury and a referee who clearly had problems with his eyesight (incredible penalty not given to the Biancocelesti).
Luca Marchegiani and Paolo Negro were the players with most appearances in the season with 48 while Casiraghi was the one with most matches in Serie A and Signori the highest scorer (17 in Serie A and 21 in total).
Sadly, this was the last season at Lazio for Paul Gascoigne. He came back after the terrible injury of 1994 and played 4 matches. But Zeman’s type of game was too limiting for him so he was sold to Rangers during the summer.
Let’s talk about Claudio Sclosa
Claudio Sclosa was born in Latisana (Udine) on February 28 1961.
He began his career with the youth teams of Torino and made it to Serie A. He played for the Granata from 1979 to 1982 when he was signed by Bologna who were playing in Serie B. He stayed there for a year and in 1983 played for Como, again in Serie B.
He returned to Torino in 1984 but was there for only a year before going first to Bari, again for a single season and then a couple of years with Pisa from 1986 to 1988, where he helped the Tuscan team to promotion and also scored seven goals.
He signed for Lazio in 1988 and played for six years with the Biancocelesti, his longest stint in a single club. He was a very strong midfield player, gutsy, always giving 100%. He played 154 games for Lazio (133 in Serie A and 21 in Coppa Italia) and scored a single goal, a big whack from outside the penalty box in Lazio Torino 2-1 in 1992.
His last two years in professional football were first with Cremonese in 1994 in Serie A and then for Pistoiese a year later in Serie B.
Once he quit football he became a sports agent. In 2011 he was head scout for Juventus in Piedmont and in 2017 he became head of the Inter scouts. From 2024 he has been coordinator of the Torino scouts.
Appearances and goals for Lazio
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
1988-89 | 23 | 15 | 8 |
1989-90 | 31 | 29 | 2 |
1990-91 | 32 | 30 | 2 |
1991-92 | 34 (1) | 31 (1) | 3 |
1992-93 | 25 | 21 | 4 |
1993-94 | 8 | 7 | 2 |
Total | 154 (1) | 133 (1) | 21 |
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