Signori better than Sosa?
Signori presents himself to the Lazio fans with a brace against Sampdoria. He could be better than Ruben Sosa after all.
Also on this day: September 6, 1958, Lazio Marzotto 2-1, Coppa Italia. Lazio beat Serie B Marzotto but not without difficulty and qualify for the Coppa Italia semi-final. Lazio Hero of the day: Humberto Tozzi
The season so far
The arrival of Sergio Cragnotti meant lots of money for the summer transfers. Four players from the Italy Under-21 that had been doing so well arrived (Beppe Favalli, Dario Marcolin, Mauro Bonomi, all from Cremonese, and Luca Luzardi from Brescia), plus Aron Winter (Ajax), Roberto Cravero (Torino), Diego Fuser (Milan) and Beppe Signori (Foggia) replacing Ruben Sosa who had decided not to renew his contract and had left for Inter. Furthermore, finally Paul Gascoigne had recovered from his injury. Leaving Lazio were Raffaele Sergio (Torino), captain Gabriele Pin (Parma), Claudio Vertova (Lecco) and Stefano Melchiori (Lecce).
Lazio had already played the first round of Coppa Italia beating Ascoli 5-0 on aggregate. Today was the first game of the campionato.
The match: Sunday, September 6, 1992, Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
The game opened in the 7th minute when Diego Fuser, in trying to clear the box, sent a perfect volley in the back of the wrong net following a corner taken by Roberto Mancini.
The Lazio fans were curious to see if the team would suffer the loss of Ruben Sosa and how Beppe Signori would adapt to the new reality; he soon showed what he could do not only once but twice. In the 19th minute, after Fuser missed a very easy chance, Lazio equalised. Thomas Doll lobbed the ball over the Sampdoria defence and Signori from an almost impossible angle beat Gianluca Pagliuca. Three minutes later, 2-1 for Lazio. Fuser entered the box on the right and from the byline put the ball into the middle for Signori who beat Pagliuca again.
Sampdoria reacted and in the 38th minute equalised with a thunderous free kick taken by Vladimir Jugovic, 22 metres from the Lazio goal.
In the 53rd minute Jugovic in the Lazio half passed to Mancini who left the ball to Mauro Bertarelli. Mauro Bonomi tried to clear but was ineffective, the Sampdoria centre forward dribbled past Valerio Fiori and was fouled. Mancini took the spot kick and it was 3-2 for the home team.
In the 75th minute there was a corner for Lazio. Giovanni Stroppa quickly passed the ball to Fuser who crossed into the box. Des Walker missed the header but Renato Buso did not, unfortunately for Sampdoria, putting the ball in the back of his own net. Sampdoria 3 Lazio 3.
In the end a good draw for Lazio and an excellent start for Beppe Signori.
Who played for Sampdoria
Pagliuca, Mannini, Lanna, Walker, Vierchowod, Invernizzi, Lombardo (88' Chiesa), Jugovic, Bertarelli (I) (70' Buso), R. Mancini, Serena
Substitutes: Nuciari, Sacchetti, Corini
Manager: Eriksson
Who played for Lazio
Fiori, Bonomi (68’ Marcolin), Favalli, Bacci, Gregucci, Cravero, Fuser, Doll (60’ Stroppa), Riedle, Winter, Signori
Manager: Zoff
Referee: Pezzella
Goals: 7’ Fuser (og), 19’ Signori, 22’ Signori, 38’ Jugovic, 53’ Mancini (pen), 75’ Buso (og)
What happened next
There was great optimism, but Lazio started slowly with four consecutive draws. The first win came in the fifth match thanks to a Signori hat trick. Yes, Signori, the guy who replaced Ruben Sosa. The Uruguayan had been one of the Lazio stars, but Signori was better, faster, younger and hungrier. And he scored loads of goals.
Lazio played well, Gascoigne, despite some ups and downs, gave a good contribution to the team. His goal in the dying moments of his first derby was legendary.
The Biancocelesti at the end of the first half of the season were 4th together with Juventus and Sampdoria. Could this be the year Lazio would qualify for the UEFA Cup? Lazio stayed between the 3rd and 4th place for most of the second half only to slip to fifth towards the end of the season. In the penultimate match a 4-3 victory against Napoli gave them the qualification. The last time they played in Europe was in 1977.
Lazio had a great potential, but only sporadically fulfilled it. The fans began to be impatient with Dino Zoff’s football and Lazio’s chronic lack of a game plan beyond leaving the decisions on what to do on the pitch to the players. Fortunately, Gascoigne, Thomas Doll, Winter, Signori and Riedle were of a high enough level to compensate.
Diego Fuser and Signori played the most matches of the season (38) and Signori had the most goals (32). He was the leading Serie A goal scorer with 26 goals. The last time a Lazio player won this trophy was Bruno Giordano back in 1978.
Dino Zoff was confirmed as manager for the next season.
Lazio 1992-93
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 51 |
Coppa Italia | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
Total | 40 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 78 |
Top Five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Fuser | 38 | 33 | 5 |
Signori | 38 | 32 | 6 |
Favalli | 36 | 32 | 4 |
Winter | 36 | 30 | 6 |
Bacci | 35 | 31 | 4 |
Top Goal Scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Signori | 32 | 26 | 6 |
Fuser | 11 | 10 | 1 |
10 | 8 | 2 | |
Winter | 8 | 6 | 2 |
Gascoigne | 4 | 4 | - |
Let's talk about Renato Buso
Renato Buso was born in Treviso on December 19, 1969.
He started his professional career in Serie C2 with Montebelluna but then in 1985 he made the big jump and signed for Juventus. He stayed with the Bianconeri for four years often used as back-up centre forward in case of problems with Aldo Serena, Ian Rush and Alessandro Altobelli. In 1989 he joined Fiorentina and gradually moved from being a centre forward to a winger, helping Roberto Baggio in the attack. He stayed for two years in Florence and also played the final of the UEFA Cup in 1990.
In 1991 he signed for the fresh champions Sampdoria, substituting Marco Branca, as reserve for Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini. He stayed for two years in Liguria but then he started having problems with Sven Goran Eriksson so he moved to Naples in 1993. Here he finished his transformation and became a complete right-winger. He stayed for three years scoring 11 goals before arriving at the court of Zdenek Zeman at Lazio. He was unlucky since he immediately went down with German Measles just as he was to start the preseason training. This meant that that year under Zeman he found little space but when the Bohemian was fired he was used more by Dino Zoff. The arrival of Eriksson at Lazio in the summer of 1997 meant that the time had come to move on.
In October he signed for Piacenza and stayed for three years giving a great contribution on the right wing, allowing the club to stay in Serie A for two years before, in his last season Piacenza, were relegated. In 2000 he joined Cagliari for a year before ending his professional career with Spezia in Serie C1.
Buso will always be remembered for his time with Italy’s Under-21 team. Managed by Cesare Maldini, Italy won the European Championship 1992 beating Sweden in the final. He contributed three goals, in the semi-final against Denmark and in the final.
Lazio Career
Season | Total apperances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
1996-97 | 18 (1) | 16 (1) | 2 |
1997-98 | 2 | - | 2 |
Total | 20 (1) | 16 (1) | 4 |
Sources
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