Top 100 Players in Lazio History: Positions 21-30
- Lazio Stories
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Getting close to the top ten. In the meantime here are the positions 21-30 with some very legendary players.
Mihajlovic is a legenda at Lazio. He played from 1998 to 2004 winning a scudetto, the Coppa Italia twice, an Italian Super Coppa, a Cup Winners Cup and a UEFA Super Cup.
An atypical defender, he was strong, had a great sense of position and was able to read the game like no other. What he lacked in defensive abilities, he made up for by being a playmaker who built Lazio’s game from the back.
Excellent taker of free kicks, often journalists used to ask him “who is better at free kicks, you or Roberto Carlos?” “He was good, very good, but I was better” he would always reply.
Mihajlovic always remained a Lazio fan as he often stated in interviews. The last time he came to play Lazio as Bologna manager in August 2022, after the 2-1 defeat he was asked how upset he was and he replied that as a Lazio fan he was never as upset as losing against other teams.
Fernando Saraceni is a Lazio legend. One of their earliest players, he was part of the team that reached the National Championship finals in 1913, 1914 and 1923 as well as the eleven that won three games in one day in 1908.
A forward, later on in his career he progressively moved back to defence. Saraceni was little but very fast and had a powerful shot. He was also an excellent athlete, swimmer and long jumper. He won everything that could be won in the centre south regions those years and was a fan favourite.
He continued to work for Lazio and was one of its directors. In 1928-29 season he was manager for ten games.
Lucidio Sentimenti is one of the most famous goalkeepers in Italian football and consequently a legendary figure in Lazio history.
He was not particularly tall (only 1.70) but had a great sense of position and what he lacked in height he made up for with his athleticism. He was also a very modern goalkeeper and often used his feet to save goals.
His only fault was that he was sometimes a little over confident that some shots were going over the crossbar or wide, and sometimes they did not. Lazio supporters at one point convinced the management to have an optician thoroughly check his eyesight.
Lucidio was not only a goalkeeper, but he occasionally took penalties. Lazio has had a tradition of legendary goalkeeps. Lucidio Sentimenti IV is certainly one of them.
He played for Lazio from 2001 to 2004.
Jaap Stam must be considered one of the greatest defenders of all time. Strong, powerful, fast, mean, he had all the qualities a defensive player needed. He also looked frightening at times!!!!
In his career he won a Dutch Championship (PSV Eindhoven 1996-97), three Premierships (1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01 with Manchester United), a Champions League (1998-99 with Man U), an Intercontinental Cup (1999 again with Man U), two KNVB Cups (PSV Eindhoven in 1995-96 and Ajax in 2006-07), a FA Cup (1998-99 with Man U), a Coppa Italia with Lazio (2003-04), a Super Coppa (2004 with Milan), and four Johan Cruyff Shields (1996 and 1997 with PSV, 2006 and 2007 with Ajax). That is a lot of silverware!!!
Jaap Stam is very fondly remembered at Lazio and together with Pino Wilson and Alessandro Nesta, he is one of the strongest centre backs Lazio have ever had.
Born a forward but later in his career he moved behind the attackers, Morrone was a Biancoceleste idol for many years and once he quit football he worked with the youth teams for over a decade.
He was a fantastic football player. Magnificent dribbler, he had a powerful shot and great vision. The chronicles indicate that his best game was against Mantova in 1963 when he was marked by Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, one of the most ruthless defenders the world has ever seen. That match he drove the German nuts, pure magic. He never made it to the Italian National team and that was a pity. As manager he was a great teacher of football, always up to date with what was happening.
He played for Lazio from 1960 to 1964 and from 1966 to 1971.
Franco Nanni is one of the heroes of the Lazio scudetto of 1974.
A great dynamic midfielder whose main characteristic was his cracking shot from outside the penalty box which earned the nickname “bombardino” (little bomber).
His rise to fame took place on November 12, 1972, when his powerful shot from 30 metres gave Lazio a win in the derby. From then on Little Bomber would be in all Lazio fans' hearts.
Tommaso Maestrelli gave him the job of man marking the opponents playmaker and he did that brilliantly. He also had quality and could play the ball, similar to Nello Governato.
Salas was not a giant centre-forward at 1.74 but was strong and tenacious. He was very skilful with a surgical left foot and superb aerial ability with great elevation. He was a prolific striker throughout his career but could also play for his attacking partners. In Rome with Lazio he won a Scudetto, a Coppa Italia, Italian Supercoppa twice, a European Cup Winners Cup and a European Super Cup, all in three years (1998-2001) and the trophies could have been more. Despite his relatively short spell in Rome he is one of the most popular players in Lazio’s 126-year history.
Lazio had loads of players that could be defined as the scudetto winners, but Roberto Mancini was the one who changed the Lazio mentality. Rome is not an easy city in which to play football, especially at Lazio. To win one needs common intent: players, club, fans, media, all have to row in the same direction, otherwise a win is impossible. The arrival of Mancini at Lazio in 1997 changed everything and the Biancocelesti started to win.
Mancini was a flamboyant forward with great footballing intelligence. He was not a number 9 but not a number 10 either, somewhere in the middle. He had a very strong personality and was a leader on the pitch and in the changing rooms. He arrived late in his career after having played 15 years from Sampdoria and played for three seasons (1997-2000) winning a scudetto, twice the Coppa Italia, a Super Coppa and a Cup Winners Cup.
Pavel Nedved was one of the greatest players ever to have worn the Lazio jersey.
A fighter who played mainly on the left side from midfield up, but he could use both feet indifferently.
With Lazio he won a scudetto, the Coppa Italia twice, the Super Coppa twice, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup (scoring the winning goal in the final) and the UEFA Super Cup.
He arrived in 1996, fresh finalist with the Czech Republic of Euro 1996. It took a while to adapt to Italian football but once he did he became one of the best midfield players in Europe. Letting him go to Juventus was probably one of the biggest mistakes Sergio Cragnotti made.
He won the Ballon D’Or in 2003.
He played for Lazio from 1972 to 1977 and then in the 1981-82 season
Lazio have the fortune to have had some legendary goalkeepers: Bob Lovati, Ezio Sclavi, Idilio Cei, Lucidio Sentimenti IV, and more recently Angelo Peruzzi and Luca Marchegiani. But with all the due respect for all of these legends, Felice Pulici stands out as probably the best keeper the Biancocelesti have ever had. He arrived in 1972 amongst a lot of scepticism, but soon conquered everybody. An excellent keeper, he was, in a team of extremes, the moderate one, the man in the middle of the storm of personalities that characterised Tommaso Maestrelli’s group of players. His calm and ability made him a protagonist of the 1974 scudetto. He is also remembered for one of the most incredible performances as a keeper where he literally saved everything possible. It was Lazio Roma on November 28, 1976. The Biancocelesti did not play well but managed to score with Bruno Giordano towards the end of the first half. Before and after, Roma bombarded Lazio with shot after shot, cross after cross, but there was nothing they could do against Pulici. He said that that day he felt a superhuman strength, as if something was lifting him to heights that were humanly impossible. Four days later Maestrelli died. He was a great goalkeeper and a wonderful person. And despite the fact that he did not grow up in Rome, he was in love with Lazio. “Lazio gets inside you, it captures you, it chooses you”, he used to say.
Comments