Tuesday, November 6, 2007: Lazio Werder Bremen 2-1 Champions League
Rocchi brace keeps Lazio’s Champions League hopes alive
Lazio ended a run of four consecutive defeats with a deserved victory over Werder Bremen at the Stadio Olimpico. Rocchi struck twice in the second half, although a late penalty made for a nervous finish before both teams ended the evening with ten men
The season so far
In the previous season Lazio had qualified as third for the Champions League preliminary round so all the fans expected President Claudio Lotito to invest a little money in the team. He did not.
The big problem was that a new goalkeeper was needed. Lazio had to say goodbye to Angelo Peruzzi, who had decided to quit, and Matteo Sereni, who had refused to stay. A signing had been made, Juan Pablo Carrizo, a promising Argentinian, but due to passport problems he had to be loaned to River Plate. This meant that Lazio now had two keepers: 43-year-old Marco Ballotta and 21-year-old Fernando Muslera who had just arrived. Who would play?
There were four other new arrivals: Aleksandar Kolarov, Lionel Scaloni, Simone Del Nero and Mourad Meghni. Enough? The fans had big doubts.
The first game of the season was the Champions League qualifying round against Dinamo Bucharest. After drawing the first leg 1-1 at home, Lazio managed to win 3-1 in Bucharest and reach the group phase.
In Serie A the Biancocelesti did not have a memorable start. Eleven games had been played, four draws, 2 wins and five losses of which three consecutive including the derby. They were 15th and in trouble.
The first group game in the Champions League had seen Lazio draw away to Olympiacos. They then drew at home with Real Madrid and lost away to Werder Bremen. A win was needed today to keep their hopes alive.
The match: Tuesday, November 6, 2007, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
On 6 November 2007, Lazio welcomed Werder Bremen to the Stadio Olimpico for the fourth round of the Champions League group stage, desperately needing a positive result after four consecutive defeats between Serie A and Europe.
Delio Rossi responded by adopting an attacking approach, pairing Tommaso Rocchi with Stephen Makinwa and deploying Mourad Meghni in the role of attacking midfielder. With Goran Pandev unavailable through injury, the Biancocelesti needed their alternative attacking options to deliver.
Lazio started brightly and immediately put the German defence under pressure. Makinwa fired wide in the opening minute, while Rocchi missed a promising opportunity six minutes later after being played through by Meghni. Rather than passing to the unmarked Nigerian, who was in an excellent position in front of goal, the captain opted to shoot and wasted the chance.
The hosts continued to create opportunities. Guglielmo Stendardo tested Tim Wiese with a header following a long pass from Cristian Ledesma, while Luciano Zauri forced the German goalkeeper into a difficult save with a curling effort. However, Lazio suffered an early setback when Zauri pulled up with a muscle injury and had to be replaced by the young Lorenzo De Silvestri after just eighteen minutes.
The change did little to disrupt Lazio's attacking rhythm. Makinwa was denied by Wiese after another excellent pass from Ledesma, while Per Mertesacker intervened just in time to prevent Rocchi from finishing a promising move. The German side struggled to cope with the home team's pace and movement, and Lazio went into the interval frustrated not to have taken the lead.
Werder attempted to respond after the restart. Diego fired narrowly wide before Naldo struck a dangerous free kick that Marco Ballotta dealt with confidently. Yet Lazio soon regained control, and their pressure finally paid off in the 57th minute.
Massimo Mutarelli played the ball into Meghni, who was brought down by Naldo inside the penalty area. The referee, Ivan Bebek of Croatia, pointed to the spot. Rocchi stepped up but saw his penalty saved by Wiese. The striker, however, reacted quicker than everyone else, sliding in to turn the rebound into the net and give Lazio a deserved lead.
The goal lifted the home side, while Werder struggled to find a convincing response. Naldo threatened again with a powerful free kick, but Ballotta stood firm. Then, in the 68th minute, Lazio struck a second time. Meghni produced an excellent pass to send Rocchi through on goal, and the captain kept his composure to beat Wiese and complete his brace. The Olimpico erupted, and the Frenchman received a warm ovation when he was substituted for Christian Manfredini six minutes later.
At 2-0, Lazio appeared to have the match under control, but the closing stages proved considerably more complicated. Werder appealed for a penalty following an incident involving Emílson Cribari and Markus Rosenberg, but their protests were initially waved away.
Two minutes from the end, however, the referee awarded the visitors a spot kick after Cribari pulled back Per Mertesacker. The Brazilian defender received a second yellow card and was sent off, while Diego converted the penalty to reduce the deficit to 2-1.
Lazio now faced a tense finish with ten men, but Werder could not find an equaliser. In stoppage time, Diego was also dismissed after receiving a second booking for his protests, leaving both sides a man short when the final whistle arrived.
The 2-1 victory was vital for Lazio. Rocchi's double and Meghni's outstanding performance ended the losing streak and kept the Biancocelesti's hopes of progressing in the Champions League alive. The qualification situation remained difficult, but the team had rediscovered some of its confidence and attacking verve at precisely the moment it needed them most.
Who played for Lazio
Ballotta, Behrami, Stendardo, Cribari, Zauri (18' De Silvestri), Mudingayi, Ledesma, Mutarelli, Meghni (74' Manfredini), Rocchi, Makinwa (88' Scaloni)
Manager: D.Rossi
Who played for Werder Bremen
Wiese, Fritz (76' Harnik), Mertesacker, Naldo, Pasanen, Andreasen, Baumann (32' Jensen), Borowski, Diego, Rosenberg, Almeida
Substitutes: Vander, Vranjes, Carlos Alberto, Tosic, Schindler
Manager: Schaaf
Referee: Bebek
Goals: 57’ Rocchi, 68’ Rocchi, 88’ Diego (pen)
What happened next
In the Champions League Lazio were eliminated after losing the decisive game against Olympiacos at home. A pity, it was within their reach. But for such an inexperienced side, it was a very brave attempt.
Having to play three competitions with such a limited numbered squad was certainly going to be difficult and Lazio suffered. At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 14th and very close to the bottom of the table. Not much joy for the fans and a terrible start for Muslera who made quite a number of blunders.
Lazio in the end finished 12th. Not a season to be remembered with the exception of beating Roma in injury time. Lazio did not have the money to be competitive in Champions League and perhaps if they had played the UEFA Cup in the previous season (they qualified but due to Calciopoli they missed out), they could have had that little extra experience necessary that would have been very useful in the management of three competitions.
On November 11 2007 a Lazio fan, Gabriele Sandri, was shot dead by a policeman. At a service area along the A1 motorway a group of Lazio fans going to Milan to see the game against Inter had a fight with some Juventus supporters.
The highway patrol was on the other side of the motorway and could not really see what was happening. Sandri’s friends had nothing to do with the fight and had stopped for refreshments leaving their friend in the car who was having a nap. The police noticed this group of fans going back to the car. Policeman Luigi Spaccarotella took out his gun and fired two shots. His second killed Gabriele. Sandri was a popular DJ and a well-known Lazio fan. It was a terrible day.
Lotito in the end did sign players (Stefan Radu, David Rozenhal, Ousmane Dabo and Rolando Bianchi) but in the January window, too late to change the course of events. This was a missed opportunity.
In Coppa Italia Lazio were eliminated in the semi-final by Inter.
Rocchi was the player with the most appearances (48) and together with Pandev was the top goal scorer.
Lazio Jersey 2007-08
Image Sources: SS Lazio Museum (first), Charity Stars (second), BOLA Football Store (third), Football Kit Archive (fourth and fifth), Lazio Wiki (Ballotta).
The 2007-08 Lazio shirt marked a small but significant change in the club's visual history. For the first time since 1981, the official sponsor was absent from the Biancocelesti's shirt, restoring a cleaner look to the traditional colours. The main jersey retained its pale celeste shade, giving the team a classic appearance despite the increasingly commercial nature of modern football.
Puma remained the technical sponsor, supplying the shirts worn by Delio Rossi's team. The home kit featured the familiar light blue colour, while the white away shirt and navy-blue third shirt followed designs already used in the previous season. The latter two therefore represented continuity rather than a radical redesign.
The absence of a permanent sponsor did not mean that the shirts remained completely free of advertising throughout the campaign. On certain occasions, the players wore the logo of “So.Spe”, the charitable association founded by Suor Paola D'Auria, a well-known Lazio supporter.
Towards the end of the season, the name of Edileuropa, a company operating in the construction sector, also appeared on the shirts. These occasional partnerships gave the kits different looks depending on the match.
There were also subtle differences between the shirts worn on the pitch and those sold in shops. On the white away shirt, the Puma logo was printed on the match version, whereas the retail version featured a raised rubberised emblem. Such details are particularly interesting to collectors and help distinguish original match-worn garments from commercial replicas.
A separate navy-blue shirt was prepared for European competition. It continued the previous season's design, underlining the fact that the club's principal change was the removal of a permanent sponsor rather than a complete overhaul of the kit.
In retrospect, the 2007-08 shirt stands out for its simplicity. The pale celeste home kit preserved Lazio's traditional identity, while the absence of a permanent sponsor gave it an understated elegance. The occasional appearance of charitable and commercial logos added variety, but the defining feature remained the return to a largely sponsorless shirt after more than a quarter of a century.
Sources
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