This week we celebrate Lazio’s birthday, great derby wins, a top of the table moment and we remember the great Enrique Flamini.
Matches of the Week
Date: Thursday, January 6, 2005
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Roma 3-1
Di Canio scores again against Roma 16 years later and contributes to a thrashing.
Date: Thursday, January 6, 1955
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Inter 3-2
Great game and great win for Lazio who put Inter in constant difficulty. Goals by Vivolo, Hansen and Burini
Date: Tuesday, January 6, 1998
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Roma 4-1, Coppa Italia
Lazio destroy Roma with goals from Boksic, Jugovic, Mancini and Fuser
Date: Sunday, January 9, 2005
Venue: Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence
Fixture: Fiorentina Lazio 2-3
After defeating Roma, the Biancocelesti continue on the waves of enthusiasm and win against Fiorentina. Di Canio, Pandev and Dabo the scorers.
Date: Sunday January 10, 1937
Venue: Stadio PNF, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Bari 3-1
Lazio beat Bari, thanks to Baldo, D’Odorico and Viani, and top Serie A at the halfway mark
Match In Focus
Date: Sunday January 9, 2000
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Bologna 3-1
Today was no ordinary date and match for Lazio. It was the 9th of January 2000. It was S.S Lazio’s 100th anniversary. The first and oldest club in Rome was celebrating its centenary.
The commemorations and celebrations had started at midnight and continued until shortly before kick-off and there were to be more to follow. A 15,000 strong parade had walked to the stadium from the square where Lazio were founded (Piazza della libertà). Nearby the Olimpico, in the adjacent Stadio dei Marmi, there had been a parachute display by Lazio’s parachute jumping team. The 80 sections of the Lazio sports club also paraded around the track. Lazio is the biggest sports club in Europe with over 10,000 athletes competing in all the various sports teams.
Today Lazio for the first time were wearing their centenary kit, tailored especially for the occasion. There was therefore great excitement and expectation for this Lazio-Bologna clash, but also added pressure and tension. The stadium was packed with a sell out crowd of 76,000 on a cold, cloudy day.
With a win Lazio could honour their history but also go top of the table as Juventus had only drawn at Parma in the earlier lunch time game.
In the early phases of the game Lazio seemed, perhaps understandably, somewhat overwhelmed by the occasion and Bologna were the more confident and threatening. The first chance fell to Beppe Signori, teed up by former Roma defender Pierre Wome, but his left footed strike came back off the crossbar.
In the 22nd minute Bologna’s manager Francesco Guidolin was sent off for going over the top in his protests as Lazio gradually grew into the game.
Lazio’s first opportunity came with a Pavel Nedved shot just over the bar followed in the 23rd minute by a Sinisa Mihajlovic freekick which was saved well by Gianluca Pagliuca. In the 27th minute Lazio had a colossal chance to take the lead when Sergio Conceição was fouled in the area for a penalty. Mihajlovic stepped up to take it but slipped just as he struck the ball and it flew high over the bar.
The game continued to be evenly balanced and Bologna’s Ingesson, Gian Carlo Marocchi and Wome held their own in midfield. Signori had a shot saved by Luca Marchegiani but the deadlock was broken just before halftime. In the 42nd minute it was again Nedved who threatened. His powerful strike came off the crossbar and fell perfectly for Marcelo Salas “El Matador” to nod in the easiest of headers. A difficult and tense first 45 minutes but Lazio 1 Bologna 0.
The second half got underway with the teams unchanged. Bologna immediately surged forward looking for the equaliser and they were soon rewarded. Two former Lazio players combined well with a perfect cross by Signori headed in by Kennet Andersson for 1-1.
From that point on it was all Lazio. They attacked constantly and ferociously, determined to celebrate history in style. Things were not looking good though as Salas limped off injured and Roberto Mancini wasted a huge goal scoring chance, with only the keeper to beat he was undecided between a lob and a low strike and, as is often the case when in two minds, ended up doing neither.
Everything changed with 15 minutes to go. Sergio Conceição put in a cross from the right and Nedved rose above the Bologna defenders and put a crashing header past Pagliuca for 2-1. Wild celebrations and Lazio were ahead on their special day. Bologna were weary, Lazio galvanized and things seemed under control. Lazio’s history however should have taught us that there’s always another twist in the story and more doses of suffering.
With seven minutes remaining Nedved got a second yellow card and was sent off and, with Nestor Sensini limping and all the replacements having been made, Lazio were in trouble. Sensini battled on but Lazio practically had to resist the last minutes plus injury time in 9 men.
Bologna pushed Lazio back but without creating any real chances just understandable anxiety and tension every time they attacked.
In the 90th minute Bologna were reduced to 10 men when defender Michele Paramatti received a red card. A psychological boost to Lazio who felt the win getting closer. In the 94th minute the party could finally and definitely get under way. Fabrizio Ravanelli entered the area and while preparing a shot stumbled but still made contact with the ball. What came out was a shot which caught Pagliuca off guard and slowly trickled into the net, 3-1 and game over. Ravanelli’s subsequent tears and him getting down on his knees in front of the fans (apparently for his ailing father) made it even more emotional.
Lazio went top of the table and made sure an already memorable day was a perfect one. The night was young and a whole evening of organized celebrations awaited the Lazio faithful inside the Olimpico.
The evening that followed was in essence what being Laziale is all about; style, sportsmanship, passion, romance and class. There was nothing overboard, exaggerated or tacky about it. There were of course speeches, goals on the megascreens, songs and chants but there was a celebration of history. The founders were remembered and the images of all the greats in Lazio’s history were displayed on banners by the crowd. Players of the past and present were driven around the track in vintage cars for a lap of honour accompanied by Louis Amstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ soundtrack. There were some theatrical reenactments of moments connected with Lazio’s origins and history with some harmless digs at city rivals Roma. There were more parachute jumps and fireworks plus endless singing by the fans. There was even a football match between the 1974 scudetto heroes and a mixed all stars team. On one side Felice Pulici, Vincenzo D’Amico, Renzo Garlaschelli, Giorgio Chinaglia and others against Gabriele Podavini, Giuliano Fiorini and Fabio Poli and many others. A wonderful day and night to celebrate a century of “Lazialità”.
In Memory: Enrique Flamini
Enrique Domingo Flamini was born in Rosario, Argentina, on April 17, 1917. He arrived in Italy to play for Lazio in 1939 from Argentinian club Racing Avellaneda. In Argentina he was nicknamed ‘El Flaco’ (thin in Spanish) for his slim physique. In Italy he was known as Enrico or Flacco (a distortion of Spanish).
In his first year at Lazio he impressed for his sheer determination but also for his speed and shooting accuracy. In his first season he played 26 league games with 5 Goals. One of them was in a derby winning triumph beating Roma 1-0 on the 26th May (?!?!). Over the next three seasons he would play 87 league games with 6 more goals.
With the worsening of the World War II situation in 1944 he returned to South America to play for Peñarol in Uruguay. The following year he played in Brazil for Cruzeiro.
With the end of the war he returned to Europe and to Lazio. In the 1946-1947 season he was again representing the blue and white Eagles of Rome. He stayed for six consecutive seasons making 158 appearances and scoring 27 goals (reaching double figures in two seasons 1949-50 and 1950-51).
In 1952 he went to Reggiana in Serie C but would only play 3 times. The following season he was back at Lazio but he would not play again. His career ended in 1954-55 when he played 3 games for Terracina, a small coastal town near Rome, in Serie D.
His competitive career had basically ended in 1952 and what a career it was. At Lazio he played 272 games in Serie A, with 43 goals, 11 games in Coppa Italia, with 1 goal 2 games in the Latin Cup and 2 in the Mitropa Cup. So, a grand total of 287 appearances and 44 goals.
His love affair with Lazio did not end when he hung up his boots. In 1960 Flamini started coaching in the Lazio youth sector. In 1960-1961 he was also joint first team manager with Jesse Carver for a brief period. The following year he was deputy manager and then he went back to work in the youth sector for ten years. In the 1970-71 season he was again called to help out and again acted as deputy manager to Bob Lovati after Juan Carlos Lorenzo was sacked. At Lazio he was later in charge of the talent scout staff and continued to be involved in the running of the youth sector. Maybe not on the level of Bob Lovati but Flamini, in various roles, dedicated the major part of his life to Lazio.
Flamini started off his career as a striker but later developed into a classy midfielder. He had style both on the pitch and off it and was always immaculately dressed, with perfectly gelled back hair. On the field he was quick, hardworking, had an excellent left foot and scored goals, even when he played further back as a playmaker. At Lazio he is considered to be one of the greats. He played for Lazio for ten seasons and then stayed at the club in training roles.
He died in Rome in 1982.
Adios y Gracias “Flaco”.
Birthdays This Week
- Attilio Lombardo, 6/1/1966, midfielder, Italy, 63 appearances, 5 goals (1999-01)
- Pasquale Vivolo, 6/1/1928, forward, Italy, 121 appearances, 33 goals (1953-58)
- Claudio Garella, 7/1/1955, goalkeeper, Italy, 41 appearances (1977-78)
- Ragnar Larsen, 7/1/1925, midfielder, Norway, 57 appearances, 14 goals (1951-53)
- Roberto Rambaudi, 7/1/1966, forward, Italy, 143 appearances, 17 goals (1992-98)
- Alessandro Abbondanza, 8/1/1949, forward, Italy, 30 appearances, 7 goals (1971-72)
- Riza Durmisi, 8/1/1994, defender, Denmark, 19 appearances (2018-19)
- Giuseppe Favalli, 8/1/1972, defender, Italy, 401 appearances, 6 goals (1992-04)
- Stefano Mauri, 8/1/1980, midfielder, Italy, 303 appearances, 47 goals (2006-16)
- Santiago Gentiletti, 9/1/1985, defender, Argentina, 33 appearances, 1 goal (2014-16)
- Lucas Leiva, 9/1/1987, midfielder, Brazil, 198 appearances, 4 goals (2017-22)
- Vedat Muriqi, 9/1/1994, forward, Kosovo, 49 appearances, 2 goals (2020-22)
- Renato Ferrarese, 10/1/1918, defender, Italy, 36 appearances (1939-45)
- Claudio Simoni, 11/1/1959, defender, Italy, 14 appearances (1980-81)
- Alessio Romagnoli, 12/1/1995, defender, Italy, 101 appearances, 3 goals (2022 onwards)
- Arturo Vianello, 12/1/1958, defender, Italy, 26 appearances, 1 goal (1984-85)
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.
