Top 30 Winning Upsets (1980-2026) - Final Part, Top 5
- Dag Jenkins
- Jul 25
- 3 min read
We come to our final post on the top winning upsets from 1980 to 2026 with our top five.
On August 8, 2009 Lazio played Inter in Beijing, China. Inter were Italian Champions while Lazio had won the Coppa Italia. Inter were overwhelming favourites.
The manager was José Mourinho and that season the Nerazzurri would go on to win the "Triplete" (Scudetto, Champions League and Coppa Italia). They had players such as Júlio César, Maicon, Javier Zanetti, Lúcio, Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o to name a few.
Lazio stunned Inter 2-1 with second half goals by Francelino Matuzalem and Tommaso Rocchi while Eto' pulled one back for the Nerazzurri. Lazio then defended stoically and won their 3rd Supercoppa. A huge shock.
On January 15, 1989 Lazio and Roma played the first league derby since 1985. Roma were strong favourites.
Roma had played a European Cup final in 1984, finished 2nd in Serie A in 1986 and 3rd in 1988 while Lazio had been in Serie B from 1985 to 1988.
Roma were currently 5th on 15 points and had players such as Franco Tancredi, Fulvio Collovati, Sebastiano Nela, Bruno Conti, Giuseppe Giannini, Lionello Manfredonia, Daniele Massaro and Rudi Völler. Lazio were 9th on 10 points but only one above the relegation zone.
Lazio won 1-0 with a goal by Paolo Di Canio. The lad from Quarticciolo then ran under the Curva Sud and pointed his index finger at the Roma fans in a gesture similar to Giorgio Chinaglia's many years earlier. A derby victory after ten years and a delightful surprise.
Lazio played Manchester United in Montecarlo on August 27, 1999. Manchester United had won the Champions League (Bayern 2-1) while Lazio had won the last ever Cup Winners Cup (Mallorca 2-1). Manchester United were confident of winning, perhaps too confident.
Alex Ferguson's Red Devils had players such as Jaap Stam, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole and Ted Sheringham to name a few. They would win the Premier League again and the Intercontinental Cup that season.
Lazio won 1-0 with a goal by "El Matador" Marcelo Salas and could have won by a wider margin.
An immense satisfaction for Lazio. One thing was winning the Cup Winners Cup another was beating European Champions Manchester United.
Lazio played Milan at San Siro on September 3, 1989. Lazio had finished 11th the previous season while Milan had won the league in 1988 and were current European Champions. This was only the second league fixture. On their debuts Milan had won 3-0 at Genoa while Lazio had lost 0-2 at home to Sampdoria.
Milan, with Arrigo Sacchi as manager, had players such as Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco Van Basten. Lazio's forward duo was Alessandro Bertoni and Amarildo...
Lazio won 1-0 thanks to a freakish Maldini own goal. It would be another 30 years before Lazio beat Milan away again in Serie A. Milan would then win the European Cup again, the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.
A major upset today.
Lazio played Inter on May 5, 2002. This was the last game of the season and Inter were top of the table with a one-point advantage on Juventus and two on Roma. The other games were Udinese vs Juventus and Torino vs Roma. Lazio were having a mediocre season and were 7th. They had replaced Dino Zoff after three games with Alberto Zaccheroni, lost both derbies (0-2 and 1-5..) and had a terrible Champions League campaign
Inter's scudetto was considered almost a formality. The manager was Héctor Cúper and players included Francesco Toldo, Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Marco Materazzi, Clarence Seedorf, Alvaro Recoba , Christian Vieri and Ronaldo. The stadium was almost all pro-Inter as most Lazio fans preferred the Nerazzurri to win it rather than risking their hated city rivals to snatch it.
Lazio won 4-2. Inter went ahead twice first with Vieri and then Gigi Di Biagio but Lazio equalised twice with Karel Poborský and then won it with Diego Simeone and Simone Inzaghi.
The general verdict was that Inter had frozen or assumed it was a done deal and Lazio had won without even trying too hard. Juventus won 2-0 in Udine and won the title. Lazio even squeezed into the UEFA Cup.
The 5th of May 2002 a day to remember albeit more for Interisti than Laziali.
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