October 28 is a date deeply engraved in each Lazio fan’s memory: the death of Vincenzo Paparelli. We also remember some epic matches against Juve, Milan and Roma.
Matches of the Week
Date: Sunday, October 29, 1995
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Juventus 4-0
Lazio bury Juventus with four goals in an epic win. Signori, Rambaudi and Casiraghi the scorers.
Date: Saturday, October 30, 1999
Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Fixture: Inter Lazio 1-1
Thanks to a last gasp Pancaro equaliser, Lazio add a good point to the tally
Date: Sunday, October 31, 1982
Venue: Stadio Comunale, Bari
Fixture: Bari Lazio 0-3
A 3-0 away triumph as Lazio leave the field applauded by both sets of fans
Date: Saturday, November 1, 1997
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Roma Lazio 1-3
Down to ten men after only seven minutes Lazio end up humiliating Roma with an unforgettable derby triumph
Date: Sunday, November 3, 2019
Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Fixture: Milan Lazio 1-2
Lazio defeat Milan in the league at San Siro after a long thirty years with goals by Immobile and Correa
Match In Focus
Date: Sunday, October 29, 1978
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Vicenza 4-3
Today was a clash between two teams trying to find form and consistency. But it was also a clash between two of the best strikers in the country, Bruno Giordano and Paolo Rossi.
It was a hot late October day in Rome and there were 40,000 spectators attending.
The game came alive after only three minutes when Lazio took the lead. Antonio Lopez with a low cross teed up Bruno Giordano who, taking advantage of loose marking, attacked the front post and beat Ernesto Galli from close range. Lazio 1 Vicenza 0.
The game was open without excessive tactical rigour. Lazio almost doubled in the 15th minute when the Vicenza defence failed to intercept a cross but Giordano was too surprised to react in time.
In the 18th minute the “Lane” drew level. They were awarded a penalty when Mario Guidetti burst into the area centrally and was clearly tripped by Lionello Manfredonia. Rossi scored with a low shot into the right corner despite Massimo Cacciatori going the right way. Lazio 1 Vicenza 1.
In the 20th minute the visitors lost Massimo Briaschi to injury and he was replaced by Paolo Rosi.
In the 21st minute Lazio went in front again. Vincenzo D’Amico from the halfway line sent a long ball to Giordano on the left just inside the area, the local Trasteverino let the ball bounce twice and then put a low left footed half volley in the opposite corner. Lazio 2 Vicenza 1.
Lazio again went close to a double advantage when Ciccio Cordova forced Galli to make a brilliant save and always looked threatening against Vicenza’s hesitant defence.
The lead however only lasted until the 40th minute. Rossi danced past a few opponents in midfield and passed to Valeriano Prestanti who put in a cross from the left and Guidetti completely unmarked headed the ball downwards and past Cacciatori. Lazio 2 Vicenza 2.
A minute later Vicenza scored again. Franco Cerilli beat his man Lopez on the left near the corner flag, cut in and sent a low cross into the middle. What followed was a classic Paolo Rossi goal, between two defenders he stretched out and got his toes to the ball and put it behind Cacciatori, who touched it but couldn’t stop it. Lazio 2 Vicenza 3. A sudden turnaround in an entertaining first half, a very unusual Serie A game, with distracted defences and lots of goals.
The second half started in similar style and in the 47th minute Lazio equalised. In a crowded area D’Amico found Renzo Garlaschelli who beat the keeper coming off his line. Lazio 3 Vicenza 3.
The game remained lively and could have gone either way. In the 55th minute however, Vicenza were reduced to ten men. Cerilli was given his marching orders for some unfriendly words against the man in black.
At this point Lazio took control and attacked continuously. They had two probable penalty appeals waved away and forced Vicenza to defend desperately. In the 75th minute the Biancocelesti replaced a tired D’Amico with Stefano Ferretti.
In the 87th minute Lazio’s pressure was rewarded. On the umpteenth corner Pino Wilson was pushed by Felice Secondini as he was about to go for a header. The referee was close by and pointed to the penalty spot. A clear foul or compensation for the previous two? Who knows? The fact is Giordano stepped up and scored with a powerful low strike which went in off the post. Lazio 4 Vicenza 3 (and Giordano 2 Rossi 2).
Lazio easily played out the last few minutes to clinch a memorable win. In Italian football in those days, it was very rare to have such high scoring games. An entertaining afternoon, Lazio winning and Giordano holding his own against Rossi, a day to remember.
The day calcio died
It was a gloomy Sunday late morning when we entered the Stadium on October 28, 1978. The environment was not exactly friendly between the clubs but one has to also remember what was happening in the country. In 1979 there were 269 armed organisations in Italy and over the single year there had been 659 terrorist acts. And the battle between the two groups of supporters reflected this climate of violence.
About an hour before the game Vincenzo Paparelli, married with two children, was sitting in Curva Nord having a sandwich. From the Curva Sud, Giovanni Fiorillo fired two flares towards the Lazio Curva. They zig zagged over the top. For the third attempt, the Roma supporter lowered his aim. The flare hit Paparelli in the eye. His wife, sitting next to him, cried “Vincenzo don’t die, we have two children”. A fan tried to take the flare out of his head but only partially succeeded. He was quickly transported to the ambulance but he died on arrival at the hospital.
What happened then was complete chaos. The Lazio fans did not want the game to go on but the police decided that it was best to play for security reasons.
The players did not really know exactly what had happened, but they did sense that something tragic had taken place. Captain Pino Wilson went under the Curva Nord to try and calm people down, hence learnt the awful news. In a climate of warfare with few Lazio supporters left in the stands, the game was played. Paparelli’s son Gabriele in a recent interview stated that the Captain “told me he felt it necessary to go out there that day to try and calm the Lazio supporters. And he said that if they hadn’t played, there would have been more than just one death”.
The game was a farce. Neither team wanted to play. Lazio scored after 6 minutes, Roma equalised ten minutes later. The ball ended up in Curva Nord twice and both times the fans did not want to give it back. They wanted the match to stop. Giordano and Wilson were forced to go under the stands to reclaim the ball.
A terrible day, calcio would never be the same again.
The police quickly identified the culprit: Giovanni Fiorillo, a Roma fan. But he disappeared. Apparently, he escaped to Switzerland. He turned himself in after 14 months. He was condemned to six years and ten months of jail. He died on March 24, 1993.
Gabriele Paparelli said “During primary school I changed three schools in just five years. I practically lived without points of reference. I didn’t socialise. My classmates were indifferent to me, in fact I often willingly isolated myself by distancing myself from the school context. I attended the Donatello state middle school in Villaggio Breda. On my desk I often found the writing “10-100-1000 Paparelli”. Once I identified the author. I locked him inside the classroom. He was a kid like me. Twelve, maximum thirteen years of age. I asked him why he wrote it. He couldn’t give me a plausible answer. He only said that he was a Roma fan and that Paparelli was a Lazio fan who died at the stadium in the derby. And for him this was enough to justify that writing. Basically, he didn’t even know why he had done it”. But this was not enough. Continuous prank calls throughout the years. No respect for the dead nor for the living. No justification for the chant which occasionally is still shouted to this day by the Roma fans.
Birthdays This Week
- Dario Marcolin, 28/10/1971, midfielder, Italy, 111 appearances, 2 goals (1992-00)
- Alvaro Gonzalez, 29/10/1984, midfielder, Uruguay, 146 appearances, 7 goals (2010-15)
- Alberto Bigon, 31/10/1947, midfielder, Italy, 65 appearances, 13 goals (1980-82)
- Gaetano Legnaro, 31/10/1947, defender, Italy, 47 appearances, 1 goal (1970-72)
- Libero Marchini, 31/10/1913, midfielder, Italy, 22 appearances, 5 goals (1936-38)
- Armando Del Debbio, 2/11/1904, defender, Brazil, 88 appearances, 2 goals (1931-35)
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.
