September 10, 1996: Lens Lazio 0-1, UEFA Cup
A night of revenge
Chamot's late header and a magnificent Marchegiani give Lazio a precious UEFA Cup victory despite playing for an hour with ten men, avenging the 1977 defeat
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had arrived third with an excellent final rush. A lot of players had left the club during the summer transfer window: Aron Winter (Inter), Alen Boksic (Juventus), Marco Di Vaio (loan to Bari), Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea) and Cristiano Bergodi (Padova). Coming in were defender Mark Fish (Orlando Pirates) who had played really well in the African Nations Cup, midfielders Roberto Baronio (Brescia), a rising star, Paul Okon (Club Bruges), Pavel Nedved (Sparta Prague) and forwards Renato Buso (Napoli) and last year’s top scorer, together with Beppe Signori, Igor Protti (Bari). Manager Zdeněk Zeman had been confirmed.
Lazio so far had played two official games: a 1-0 win at Avellino in Coppa Italia and a 1-0 defeat in the first Serie A fixture at Bologna. Today was the first leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 64 at Lens. There was history with the French club. In 1977 Lazio had won the first leg 2-0 at the Olimpico but in the return match after 90 minutes Lens were 2-0 up. In extra time the Biancocelesti collapsed and Lens scored 4 more goals. Time for revenge?
The match: Tuesday, September 10, 1996, Stade Felix Bollaert, Lens
Nineteen years after one of the darkest European nights in Lazio's history, the Biancocelesti returned to Lens and finally settled an old score.
The circumstances were very different from 1977, when Lens had destroyed Lazio 6–0 after extra time in the UEFA Cup, but the memory of that humiliation was still present when Zdeněk Zeman's side walked onto the wet pitch at the Stade Félix-Bollaert on September 10, 1996.
Zeman made several changes. Mark Fish was dropped, with Paolo Negro moving into the centre alongside José Chamot. Alessandro Nesta switched to the right, while Giuseppe Favalli came into the team on the left. With Pavel Nedvěd and Pierluigi Casiraghi suspended, Marco Piovanelli played in midflied and Igor Protti was brought into the attack.
The Lens coach, Slavo Muslin, opted for an attacking formation with three forwards, hoping to exploit Lazio's defensive uncertainties.
The French side immediately put Lazio under pressure.
After only three minutes, Vladimir Šmicer found himself with room to shoot and forced Luca Marchegiani into a superb save. The Lazio goalkeeper was called into action again shortly afterwards, producing another excellent intervention to keep out a dangerous free-kick from Frederic Meyrieu.
Lens continued to attack and Aboubacar Camara came close with an acrobatic effort which flew narrowly wide.
Lazio survived the initial storm and gradually began to find space on the counter-attack. Diego Fuser tested the Lens goalkeeper while Protti also came close, but the visitors were primarily concerned with remaining compact and avoiding another defensive collapse.
Then, after half an hour, came the incident that changed the match.
Favalli, who had already been booked in the 27th minute, committed another foul only three minutes later. The Scottish referee Rowbotham showed him a second yellow card and Lazio were reduced to ten men.
It was an extremely harsh blow. Zeman immediately sacrificed Protti and sent on Guerino Gottardi, effectively abandoning any attacking approach and concentrating on survival.
The second half therefore became a different game as Lens threw everything forward.
Vladimir Šmicer again tested Marchegiani almost immediately after the restart, but the goalkeeper was equal to it. Tony Vairelles then found himself in a dangerous position, only for Marchegiani to close him down brilliantly.
Lazio did manage occasional counter-attacks. Piovanelli combined with Beppe Signori before Roberto Rambaudi headed towards goal, while Fuser later broke forward and forced another save.
But for long periods the game was played almost entirely in Lazio's half.
Marchegiani became the Biancocelesti's last line of defence.
He saved from Christophe Delmotte, dealt with another dangerous Vairelles effort and repeatedly intervened as Lens searched desperately for the opening goal. The French side were getting closer, but their finishing was increasingly poor.
Their best opportunity came when Vairelles found himself with an almost open goal but somehow sent the ball wide.
Lazio were surviving — and beginning to believe that perhaps the night could end differently from 1977.
There was also controversy. Signori appeared to have been brought down by Jimmy Adjovi-Boco when the French defender was the last man, but Rowbotham allowed play to continue. The referee also booked Nesta for an incident which appeared to warrant little punishment.
Then, with ten minutes remaining, came the moment Lazio had been waiting for.
Signori won a free kick and delivered a beautiful ball into the Lens penalty area.
Chamot rose above the defence and produced a magnificent header, sending the ball beyond Nadon and into the net.
Lazio had scored with their first truly decisive opportunity of the second half.
The irony was perfect. After spending almost an hour defending desperately with ten men, it was a defender who gave the Biancocelesti the victory.
The goal also represented a small piece of redemption. The ghosts of that 6–0 defeat in 1977 had finally been exorcised.
Lens continued to push forward during the final minutes, but Lazio held firm. Marchegiani completed an extraordinary performance, while the players in front of him threw themselves into every challenge.
Final score: Lens 0–1 Lazio.
It was hardly a classic performance from Zeman's team. They had been under pressure for long periods, were fortunate on several occasions and relied heavily on their goalkeeper. But football is not always about aesthetics.
This was a victory built on resilience, discipline and Marchegiani's brilliance.
Nineteen years after Lens had inflicted one of Lazio's most humiliating European defeats, José Chamot headed the Biancocelesti to victory in the same stadium. Lens had finally been avenged.
Who played for Lens
Nadon, Sikora, Dehu (60' Adjovi-Boco), Regis, Delmotte, Debeve, Foe, Meyrieu, Vairelles, Camara (66' Brunel), Smicer
Substitutes: Marichez, Arsene, Dallet
Manager: Muslin
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Nesta, Chamot, Favalli, Fuser, Marcolin, Piovanelli (83' Baronio), Rambaudi, Protti (33' Gottardi), Signori
Substitutes: Cudicini, Fish, Franceschini
Manager: Zeman
Referee: Rowbothan
Goal: 84’ Chamot
What happened next
After eight Serie A games Lazio were 14th just a couple of points above the relegation zone. But the situation improved and five games later they were only 2 points away from third place. In January Lazio beat Milan 3-0 and everybody thought that they had recovered. But two home defeats in the next two games meant a further debacle. President Sergio Cragnotti sacked Zeman and called Dino Zoff to solve the season. Zoff was President of the club at the time, but he left the presidency and put his tracksuit back on.
Zeman was heartbroken. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Tenerife. In the first leg of the round of 32 Lazio had beaten the islanders 1-0. There was optimism for the second leg. The Biancocelesti had scored the opening goal, then fell behind twice but managed to come back only to melt away and lose 5-3. The Czech was the great culprit. Signori stated at the end of the game “Scoring three away goals, no team in the world would have been kicked out”. Diego Fuser was even more drastic: “This time it’s not the player’s fault, the blame must be sought elsewhere. As for the tactical attitude, ask the coach. It is useless to bring players who do not follow him in training. Those who do not listen must stay at home”. The Zeman bubble had burst.
After being fired Zeman said: “Without Lazio I’m a destroyed man, I have never done so badly. I’m disappointed but not with myself. I’ve always given everything I had to Lazio. I must have made a few mistakes: the main one was that I wasn’t convincing enough”.
In the 16 games under Zoff Lazio lost just twice, hence the team was not that bad. They managed to reach 4th place and a place in the following year’s UEFA Cup. A miracle.
Marchegiani was the player with most appearances (40) and Signori top goal scorer with 15 goals.
Lazio Jersey 1996-97
Image Sources: Football Kit Archive except fourth player and last two goalkeeper shirts which were reproduced with AI.
The 1996–97 home shirt retained the same basic design used by Lazio the previous season. The most obvious change was the sponsor: Banca di Roma was replaced by Cirio, reflecting the club's new commercial partnership.
The shirts worn by the players also featured blue velvet-effect lettering for the names and numbers. Interestingly, two different fonts were used for the players' names during the season: one was more pronounced but used thinner characters, while the other was less pronounced with thicker lettering. This means that match-worn shirts from the same season can differ subtly depending on when and in which competition they were used.
There were also differences between match-worn shirts and those sold commercially. From this season onwards, the distinction between the Umbro logo on the retail shirts and the versions actually worn by the players disappeared. Both match and retail versions featured the Umbro and S.S. Lazio badges embroidered directly into the fabric rather than printed.
Perhaps the most historically interesting addition to the 1996–97 shirts was the introduction of the first fabric Lega Calcio patch.
The circular patch featured the league's football-and-tricolour emblem, together with the words “LEGA CALCIO” and “1946–1996”, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the organisation's foundation. Initially, these patches were sewn onto the shirts, either by hand or machine. Only in subsequent years did the system move towards heat-applied patches.
The introduction of patches and increasingly sophisticated player personalisation also changed the work of the club's kit staff. From the mid-1990s, the kit managers increasingly used a press machine to apply names, numbers and patches to the shirts.
The 1996–97 season also saw the return of yellow as Lazio's away colour.
Unlike the home shirt, the away kit had a completely different design. It was predominantly yellow, with a large representation of the club crest incorporated into the front of the shirt. A dense repeating graphic motif covered the fabric, giving the shirt a distinctive appearance.
The collar was blue, echoing the home shirt, but featured a much wider opening. The sleeves were decorated with broad blue bands containing white and light-blue stripes, while the lower front of the shirt carried a small, centrally positioned embroidered “S.S. Lazio” inscription.
The player names and numbers on the away shirt also used a different personalisation system from both the home and third shirts.
The third shirt was arguably the most distinctive of the three.
It was blue and became known at the time as the “Nuvola” — “Cloud” — shirt, because of the graphic across the chest, which resembled a bank of clouds.
The design was produced with long sleeves, although that version was not commercially marketed. There was also another difference between the match-worn shirt and the official replica: on the match version, the small “S.S. Lazio” inscription at the bottom of the shirt was yellow and embroidered, while the Umbro logo was also embroidered rather than printed.
The “Nuvola” therefore provides a good example of how the shirt worn by Lazio's players could differ from what supporters were able to buy in the shops.
There was also a lighter blue version, more simple in design.
The goalkeeper designs were also products of their era.
They still showed the influence of the “Campos effect”, named after Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos, who became famous for designing his own brightly coloured, surf-inspired goalkeeper kits. Lazio's goalkeeper shirts retained some of that flamboyant aesthetic, although by 1996–97 they were beginning to move towards a more restrained and sober appearance.
That made the goalkeeper kits an interesting bridge between the spectacular designs of the early 1990s and the increasingly streamlined goalkeeper shirts that would appear towards the end of the decade.
Sources
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