The Gentleman Ultra continues its popular series of nostalgic five-a-side teams. This time it’s Federico Farcomeni with his pick from the greatest players to ever wear the Lazio shirt.
Bob Lovati
Despite boasting an icon like Dino Zoff not between the sticks but rather on the bench as a coach and then behind the desk as a presidential figure, it’s Roberto Lovati who stands out as the most representative goalkeeper in Lazio’s history (or how about Angelo Peruzzi, Luca Marchegiani or Felice Pulici who famously stated that just “like the young children of Sparta, Lazio draws to her only those who are willing to suffer because when it’s about Lazio, there’s nothing easy”). Amongst all these top candidates, Lovati was captain when Lazio lifted their first ever trophy, the Coppa Italia, in 1958 in the final against 1957 European Cup finalists Fiorentina. After featuring 135 times in goal in the space of six seasons, he then went to on to serve as assistant coach, head coach (105 games, lifting Lazio’s first international trophy, the not-so-well-known Cup of the Alps, in 1971 against Basel), reserve team coach, goalkeepers’ coach, head of scouting, talent scout and director. In 2014, President Lotito decided to name the club’s Academy in honour of the white and sky-blue factotum. No wonder Lazio fans once displayed a banner stating “you write Lovati, but you read Lazio”.
Alessandro Nesta
Some Lazio fans still haven’t forgiven him for the way he left the club in August 2002. But it was pretty evident back then that the club was in dire financial trouble and had to sell its top players to survive bankruptcy. Later, it was disclosed that Nesta himself converted half of his unpaid two million euro salary in shares so not to weigh too heavily on the club’s balance books. Five months earlier, Lazio’s defence had literally crumbled in a 5-1 derby loss against Roma and Nesta, the Captain, left the sinking boat at half time. Both episodes could not mar his nine years in sky-blue, during which he lifted six trophies, laying his hands on both international awards won against Real Mallorca and Manchester United’s Invincibles in 1999.
Nesta was a product of Lazio’s Academy and won the Primavera (Reserves League) final in 1994 against Perugia in front of 40,000 fans. More than anything, he scored the decisive goal in the 1998 Coppa Italia final as Lazio came from behind to defeat AC Milan. That goal helped the Biancocelesti secure their first major trophy in 24 years, only the third in the club’s history at that point. Nesta never surrendered even when Lazio trailed Juventus by nine points in 2000 and looked destined to lose the Scudetto for the second consecutive season. The first goal scored at Vitoria Guimaraes in the UEFA Cup was an incredible coast-to-coast, so iconic of his perseverance throughout his career as he battled injuries and misfortune (sat out 150 games in 14 seasons but most importantly eight games for the Azzurri in three different World Cups, including the one won in 2006), always coming back stronger than ever.
Paul Gascoigne
Even if he was sitting out the first unencrypted broadcast of an Italian football game on British TV (Sampdoria 3-3 Lazio, 6 Sep 1992), Paul Gascoigne embodied a completely new era for Lazio even before setting foot on Roman soil. As his signature was announced in 1991, Lazio hung up banners across Rome and nearby towns displaying the motto “Io ci credo” (I believe) – after recruiting Dino Zoff from Juventus in 1990, this was going to be another sign of things to come as new President Sergio Cragnotti prepared his 10-year reign at the club with a vision named “Progetto Anni ‘90”.
Gazza sat out an entire season and it was not until September 1992 that he finally made his competitive debut in a home game against Genoa. And, apart from his famous jokes (his burp into a microphone led into a parliamentary interrogation), he really acquired cult hero status when equalizing in the Rome derby with a header with just four minutes to go – watching back that footage today, the sound of the Lazio crowd is deafening, so much louder than nowadays. Just one week later, he dribbled his way past four Pescara players, something he did again against Ancona in May 1993 while wearing a special protective mask before passing the ball to Karl-Heinz Riedle (possibly the first two world class signings in Lazio’s history). Although it was only an assist, he jumped over the advertising boards and removed his mask in front of the jubilant crowd, just like he had scored the goal himself. One tv commentator summarized that day perfectly when he said: “this was the show of a British player who is very much gifted with a fervid South American brilliance”.
At the end of that season, Lazio qualified for Europe for the first time in 15 years. And they even started to sell number 10 shirts manufactured by Umbro in an era when football merchandising was still very far from becoming a regular entry in Italian football clubs’ revenues. The sight of Robbie Williams wearing that Lazio shirt and Take That watching at the Olimpico as Lazio defeated Roma and Gazza entertained fans in the stands is still breathtaking nowadays. No wonder, when President Lotito managed to bring him back to Rome for the Europa League game against Spurs in 2012, Lazio fans displayed this banner: “Lionhearted, headstrong, pure talent, real man – Still our hero.”
Silvio Piola
It’s difficult to overlook strikers of the caliber of Lazio all-time top scorer and Golden Shoe Ciro Immobile, World Cup all-time top scorer Miroslav Klose or even 1990s goal poacher Beppe Signori. But World Champion Silvio Piola leads the chart of Serie A strikers of all time, banging in 274 goals during his hey days. And whilst most media outlets love to depict him in a Juventus shirt, he only spent two seasons with the Bianconeri, whereas it was during his Lazio spell that he enjoyed his most productive spell (159 goals in all competitions in nine years). In 1942, he even scored four against Juve (5-3), a feat which was only replicated by Jose Altafini in 1961 against the Old Lady in a 90-year span (in 1933 he had scored six in the same game as his Pro Vercelli beat Fiorentina 7-2, a record only equaled by Omar Sivori 28 years later). Piola famously scored a decisive brace in a derby against Roma sporting a flashy white head bandage – a romantic image which would be then recalled by Christian Vieri at Villa Park in 1999. When Piola returned to Rome as an opponent in 1949, Lazio’s then President Remo Zenobi acknowledged him with a gold medal. As the centenary of his birth approached, Lazio celebrated the anniversary in 2013 wearing a special kit (pale blue shirts, white shorts and black socks).
Giorgio Chinaglia
Where do we start with Long John? When he stole milk bottles from the doorsteps of terraced houses in Swansea before turning up for training? Or when he punched Roma fans in cinemas before screenings? “Giorgio Chinaglia è il grido di battaglia” (Giorgio Chinaglia is our battle cry) chanted fans during games. One thing is for sure – that 1974 Lazio side led by Chinaglia forever changed the level of competitiveness for football in Rome. As both clubs embraced mediocrity, Roma fans were left stunned when Lazio won the League at their second attempt after returning from Serie B just two years earlier – how could the Eagles dare to win? Chinaglia knew how to get under their fans’ skins just by showing his leg from inside the tunnel or pointing the finger at them after scoring the winner in a derby, inspiring Paolo Di Canio to do the same in 1989 and 2005.
When Roma fans tried to disrupt Lazio players’ sleep before the derby as they gathered outside Hotel Americana, those same players avoided calling the police as they silenced opponents by shooting lamp posts with…their own guns. Rome in the 1970s was a political powder keg and Chinaglia was often in the midst of trouble as Roma fans constantly tried to intimidate his wife on the streets. Giorgio was a renowned troublemaker but, weirdly enough, as the UEFA Cup game with Ipswich Town famously turned nasty both on and off the pitch, Bobby Robson declared that Chinaglia was the only one who protected his players and staff from his Lazio teammates and fans’ assaults – “credit to him if he we managed to avoid serious damage in the end”.
Long John scored 140 goals in 263 games for Lazio, famously netting the decisive penalty against Foggia on the penultimate day of the season as Lazio clinched the title on 12 May 1974 in front of 78,809 fans, still a stadium record to this day. Chinaglia then left controversially for New York where he joined Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer with the Cosmos, before returning as club president in 1983 (unable to avoid relegation) and even a failed takeover bid in 2006 (alleged to be a money laundering front for the Mafia). Despite passing away at home in Naples (Florida) in 2012, he was then flown to Rome where he was buried next to his paternal figure, coach Tommaso Maestrelli, and club captain Pino Wilson.
words by @fedefarco