A star is born

Dag Jenkins
Oct 4, 2023
3 min read

Season 1975-76

Game 1, Serie A

Sunday, October 5, 1975

Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa

Sampdoria-Lazio 0-1

A last-minute goal by 19-year old Bruno Giordano snatches the win

A Serie A opener with no clear favourites today.

The match

A sunny day in Genoa but with a northerly fresh breeze attracted a crowd of just over 30,000.

Sampdoria had defender Luciano Zecchini missing while Lazio were without midfielder Totò Lopez and attacking midfielder Vincenzo D'Amico.

Sampdoria attacked from the word go. It was clear from the start that Lazio were in for a difficult afternoon.

In the first ten minutes the Blucerchiati had three chances. In the 2nd Nello Saltutti forced Felice Pulici to save on a long-range shot, in the 6th Pulici repeated himself on a Sergio Magistrelli header and in the 9th Saltutti shaved the post.

Lazio showed their faces up front in the 12th minute when Luciano Re Cecconi went on a good run and crossed but Massimo Cacciatori came off his line and anticipated Renzo Garlaschelli and Bruno Giordano. In the 21st Giorgio Chinaglia had a lacklustre effort trickle wide of the post.

In the 26th minute Pulici was busy again on Paolo Tuttino and then Paolo Ammoniaci anticipated Saltutti giving away a corner.

In the 33rd minute Giordano showed good initiative but his shot was high.

In the 40th minute Pellegrino Valenti prepared the shot well but then sliced it wide.

At the other end Garlaschelli tried his luck from outside the box but Cacciatori saved and then again on the rebound, this time from Giordano. Half time Sampdoria 0 Lazio 0.

After a worrying opening ten minutes Lazio had reacted and the game had become more balanced.

In the second half Sampdoria came out firing again. In the 48th minute Pulici saved a Saltutti header, in the 50th minute Saltutti was in a perfect scoring position but hesitated thinking himself offside and first Pietro Ghedin and then Pulici avoided the threat.

In the 62nd a huge chance for the hosts as Pulici turned a Marco Rossinelli effort onto the crossbar.

Sampdoria pushed forward with Tuttino and Maurizio Orlandi particularly dangerous. In the 68th minute manager Corsini decided to button up bringing on defender Luigi Polentes for winger Garlaschelli. Sampdoria a few minutes later became even more offensive replacing midfielder Valente with forward Mario Maraschi.

Sampdoria continued to attack but Lazio seemed to be able to control them better and edged closer and closer to a hard-fought point.

Then in the 90th minute the unexpected happened. Bruno Giordano took advantage of a defensive blunder and blasted an unstoppable volley past Cacciatori, 0-1.

Giordano celebrated wildly. The Trastevere born Lazio fan was living his dream while the Ligurians' heads slumped in disbelief. There was barely time to kick off again that the referee blew for full-time. Sampdoria 0 Lazio 1.

An unhoped for two points for Lazio who would have been more than pleased with a point. They had young, rising star Giordano to thank but especially "Felix" Pulici who had made several excellent saves.

A winning debut for Lazio but Sampdoria understandably felt hard done by as they had done far more to win the game than the Romans.

Who played for Sampdoria

Cacciatori, Arnuzzo, Ferroni, Valente (71' Maraschi), Prini, Rossinelli, Tuttino, Bedin, Magistrelli, Orlandi, Saltutti

Substitutes: Di Vincenzo, Nicolini

Manager: Bersellini

Who played for Lazio

Pulici, Ammoniaci, Martini, Wilson, Ghedin, Re Cecconi, Garlaschelli (68' Polentes), Brignani, Chinaglia, Badiani, Giordano