A few official matches in the week of July 22-28 in Lazio history as we remember one of the Microbes, Luigi Vettraino.
Matches of the Week
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2020
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Cagliari 2-1
Milinkovic and Immobile overturn Simeone’s goal to reach the Champions League dream.
Date: Tuesday, July 25, 2000
Venue: Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
Fixture: Bayer Leverkusen – Lazio 0-0, Friendly
Lazio hold the Germans to a goalless draw despite absences and little training.
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2020
Venue: Stadio Bentegodi, Verona
Fixture: Verona Lazio 1-5
Three goals from Immobile take him closer to the European Golden Boot.
Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Olympique Marseille, Intertoto Cup
Lazio played well but a Méité goal cancels out Di Canio’s opener to make Marseille the favourites ahead of the return game.
Date: Friday, July 28, 2006
Venue: Portman Road, Ipswich
Fixture: Ipswich Lazio 0-2, Friendly
A Rocchi brace gives Lazio a win in southeast England.
In Memory: Luigi Vettraino
In July 1932, the Lazio manager Karl Strumer organized a draft for the under-14s. This was something unheard of in Italy at the time. The Microbes, as they were called, were kids born in 1920 and 1921, trained twice a week, had tactical and behavioural lessons and started playing and winning around Italy.
They became so famous that on June 11, 1933, they were invited to Vienna for a game against Wacker. The match was played before a 45,000 crowd, gathered to watch the national Wunderteam play against Romania. It was a 40-minute game.
The Microbes managed to draw the match and with a bit of luck might have even won it. The tiny little Biancocelesti against the much bigger Austrian youngsters left the stadium to an enthusiastic crowd. For the Italian media, it was a triumph and when the kids arrived in Rome they were overwhelmed by fans, relatives and the entire Lazio first team.
Among the players in Vienna, there was the smallest of them all, only 1.34 metres and nicknamed Squirrel. His name was Luigi Vettraino.
Vettraino was born on September 21, 1920, in Rome and the story that has just been described is how he started playing for Lazio. He later grew to 1.60 metres and was the ideal attacking partner for Silvio Piola, the legendary Italian forward. The Squirrel was fast, imaginative, a good dribbler, powerful and acrobatic.
Unfortunately, in 1941 he got a very bad infection and had to stop playing. His career was over at just 26. He made 71 appearances with 18 goals for the Biancocelesti and died in Rome on July 25, 1998.
Vettraino was probably one of the greatest players Lazio have ever had and would have reached incredible heights if he had not been so unlucky.
Birthdays This Week
- Alessandro Grandoni, 22-7-1977, defender, Italy, 50 appearances, 1 goal (1995-98)
- Giancarlo Oddi, 23-7-1948, defender, Italy, 135 appearances (1967-75)
- Orlando Rozzoni, 23-7-1937, forward, Italy, 100 appearances, 41 goals (1959-66)
- Dino Baggio, 24-7-1971, midfielder, Italy, 62 appearances, 1 goal (2000-03)
- Joao Fantoni I, 24-7-1905, forward, Brazil, 113 appearances, 39 goals (1930-35)
- Ernesto Calisti, 25-7-1965, defender, Italy, 58 appearances, 1 goal (1984-86)
- Igli Tare, 25-7-1973, forward, Albania, 71 appearances, 5 goals (2005-08 and then sporting director 2009-2023)
- Antonio Bisigato, 26-7-1911, forward, Italy, 73 appearances, 13 goals (1932-36)
- Stephen Makinwa, 26-7-1983, forward, Nigeria, 56 appearances, 3 goals (2006-10)
- Maurizio Montesi, 26-7- 1957, midfielder, Italy, 7 appearances (1979-83)
- Giuseppe Baldo, 27-7-1914, midfielder, Italy, 187 appearances, 10 goals (1935-42)
- Lorik Cana, 27-7-1944, defender/midfielder, Albania, 111 appearances, 4 goals (2011-15)
- Vito D’Amato, 27-7-1959, forward, Italy, 87 appearances, 16 goals (1963-66)
- Goran Pandev, 27-7-1944, forward, North Macedonia, 191 appearances, 64 goals (2004-09)
- Sergio Petrelli, 27-7-1944, defender/midfielder, Italy, 68 appearances, 5 goals (1972-76)
- Ermes Muccinelli, 27-7-1927, winger, Italy, 93 appearances, 20 goals (1955-58)
- Pedro, 28-7-1987, forward, Spain, 101 appearances, 20 goals (2021-ongoing)
- Pedro Troglio, 28-7-1965, midfielder, Argentina, 41 appearances, 1 goal (1989-91)
This Article Was Written by Dag Jenkins & Simon Basten from Lazio Stories. More Information on the Above Matches and Players can be found on LazioStories.com.
