Top 30 Winning Upsets (1980-2026) - Part Two
- Dag Jenkins
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
We continue with our top 30 games in which Lazio upset the odds to clinch surprise victories.
Lazio played Juventus on December 12, 1993. Lazio were growing as a club under new owner Sergio Cragnotti but Juventus were always a strong force. Juventus were currently 3rd, two points behind leaders Milan, while Lazio were 7th but this was a battle between traditional power and renewed ambition.
Juventus had Giovanni Trapattoni as manager and players such as Angelo Peruzzi, Jürgen Kohler, Dino Baggio, Antonio Conte, Andreas Möller, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Gianluca Vialli.
Lazio won 3-1 with a Kohler own goal, Alen Boksic and Paul Gascoigne while Andrea Fortunato had momentarily equalised for Juve.
A great afternoon and a demonstration Lazio were now a force to be reckoned with, even by Juventus.
Lazio played Fiorentina on March 5, 1995. Lazio were 3rd on 34 points while Fiorentina were 6th on 31. The away game had finished 1-1 and a balanced game was expected today.
What made this game special was obviously the score line.
Fiorentina, coached by Claudio Ranieri, had players such as Francesco Toldo, Marcio Santos, Rui Costa, Francesco Baiano and Gabriel Batistuta.
Lazio won 8-2 with four goals by Gigi Casiraghi and one each by Paolo Negro, Roberto Cravero, Boksic and Marco Di Vaio while the Viola responded with Rui Costa and Batistuta with the score already on 5-0.
A game for the history books.
Lazio played Juventus on May 7, 1995. Juventus were top of the table while Lazio were 5th, 16 points behind. Juventus were flying towards the Scudetto (+8 on Parma) and had already won in Rome 4-3 in December.
Juventus' manager was Marcello Lippi and they had players such as Peruzzi, Didier Deschamps, Angelo Di Livio, Paulo Sousa, Roberto Baggio, Del Piero, Ravanelli and Vialli.
Lazio won 3-0 with late goals by Roberto Di Matteo, Boksic and Giorgio Venturin. The Bianconeri dominated for almost the whole match but were denied by Luca Marchegiani and then stunned by goals against the run of play.
Juventus went on to win their 23rd Scudetto and in 1996 won the Champions League with pretty much the same squad.
A 3-0 away win at Juventus, a once in a lifetime result.
Lazio played Juventus on October 29, 1995. Juve were reigning champions. This season Juve were 2nd, one point behind Milan, while Lazio were 5th.
Marcello Lippi's Juventus had kept the league winning squad pretty much intact with the likes of Peruzzi, Ferrara, Carrera, Conte, Sousa, Deschamps, Vialli, Del Piero and Ravanelli. They had also added Pietro Vierchowod, Vladimir Jugovic and Attilio Lombardo.
Lazio won 4-0 with a Casiraghi double, Beppe Signori and Roberto Rambaudi.
Seven months later Juventus would win the Champions League in the same stadium.
Today however on a sunny autumn day came an epic drubbing for the Old Lady to remember.
Lazio played Milan on January 5, 1997. Milan were reigning champions. In 1995-96 they had won the Scudetto under Fabio Capello.
This season the Rossoneri were not doing as well. They started with Oscar Tabarez but after eleven games Arrigo Sacchi had returned and they were 7th on 21 points. Lazio however were doing worse under Zdenek Zeman and were 10th on 19 points. The Biancocelesti had lost five league games and were also already out of the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup (Tenerife 4-5).
Milan still looked impressive on paper. The Devil had players such as Paolo Maldini, Michael Reiziger, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Demetrio Albertini, Marcel Desailly, Zvonimir Boban, Edgar Davids, Dejan Savicevic, Roberto Baggio, George Weah, Christophe Dugarry and Marco Simone.
Lazio swept Milan away 3-0. Goals by Beppe Signori, Gigi Casiraghi and Alessandro Grandoni gave Lazio a moment of joy in a difficult season. Zeman would then be sacked three weeks later, after a draw and two more defeats and replaced by Dino Zoff. Tonight, however, was the Bohemian's final night of glory.
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