This Week In Lazio History: February 10-16 | OneFootball

This week in Lazio history we witnessed some big wins, particularly the thrashing of Milan in the Coppa Italia semifinal. We also remember Francesco Gabriotti.

Date: Sunday, February 10, 1957 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Fiorentina 3-0 Lazio demolish Fiorentina thanks to Tozzi, Vivolo and Selmosson in their best game so far

Date: Thursday, February 11, 2016 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Verona 5-2 A big score line hides several problematic moments. Matri, Mauri, Felipe Anderson, Keita and Klose the scorers.

Date: Sunday, February 13, 1994 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Cagliari 4-0 A Signori hat-trick and a Gascoigne freekick thump Cagliari

Date: Sunday, February 14, 1982 Venue: Stadio Comunale, Ferrara Fixture: Spal Lazio 2-2 Lazio miraculously manage to draw in Ferrara despite the referee.

Date: Sunday, February 16, 2020 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Inter 2-1 Marvellous Lazio come from behind to beat Inter and become serious scudetto contenders

Match In Focus

Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Fixture: Lazio Milan 4-0, Coppa Italia, Semi Final, 2nd Leg

This was probably one of the best games Lazio have ever played. A magnificent display of strength that destroyed Milan. The game was already over after the first 15 minutes.

Lazio started the Coppa Italia campaign in December against Modena winning 2-0 away in the first leg and 1-0 at home in the return match. In the quarterfinals in January Lazio had to face Parma, by no means an easy game. A 2-0 at home in the first leg and a 1-1 draw in the return match allowed the Biancocelesti to reach the semi-finals and play Milan. Dejan Stankovic scored in both games against Parma, just before waving goodbye and joining Inter.

On February 5, Lazio played the first semi-final in Milan. After thirty seconds Christian Abbiati, in an attempt to clear the box, kicked the ball against Stefano Fiore and it ended up in the goal. Milan were in shock and Lazio scored again with Fernando Couto. The Milanese managed to pull one back with Filippo Inzaghi just before half time but went no further than that.

Milan needed to win at least 2-0 to reach the final.

Milan arrived in Rome with the need to win but Carlo Ancelotti was not really interested in the Coppa Italia and chose a type of B team to play Lazio’s best line-up. Andrij Shevchenko however was playing and in the 5th minute he immediately caused Matteo Sereni some problems. It was the only thing Milan managed to do in the entire game.

In the 11th minute Fabio Liverani saw Cesar move towards the goal on the left. Magnificent pass and a magnificent shot by the Brazilian who anticipated Christian Abbiati and scored. 1-0 for Lazio.

Four minutes later Stefano Fiore made a forty metre pass to Cesar on the left. The Brazilian saw Liverani unmarked in the box. Ball to Fabio, 2-0 for Lazio. Game over.

I said game over, but in reality it was only game for Milan because Lazio continued to push forward. Lazio were playing with a 4-3-3 formation with all the wrong players in the wrong positions, but somehow it worked. In the 35th minute, Beppe Favalli crossed from the left into the box, Bernardo Corradi chested the ball down to Fiore who made it 3-0.

Six minutes later Massimo Oddo crossed from the right into the box, the Milan defenders were static and Fiore scored his second. Apotheosis.

Any comment on the rest of the game would be pointless. Lazio deservedly would face Juventus in the final.

In Memory: Francesco Gabriotti

Francesco Gabriotti was born on August 12, 1914, in Rome.

He grew up in the Lazio youth sector winning a “Ragazzi” (Boys) national championship in 1929 and winning it a second time a year later with Alba. In 1932 he became part of the Biancoceleste first team squad where he stayed until 1937, making 27 appearances with six goals. He was a tactical winger, a bit ahead of his time as far as his role on the pitch was concerned.

In 1936 he was called up to be part of the Italy squad for the Olympic Games, together with teammate Giuseppe Baldo. In the first round the Nazionale beat the US 1-0 and Japan 8-0 in the second. The Azzurri won their semi-final against Norway and had to face the formidable Austrian team in the final for the gold medal.

Austria had only just made it to the final. In the quarters, they were winning 2-0 against Peru but the South Americans managed to equalise in the last 15 minutes of the game. In extra time, Peru scored five times, three were however disallowed. This was a big upset in a tournament that had already seen Germany beaten by Norway. The Austrians demanded a re-match because allegedly some Peruvian supporters had run onto the pitch, one of whom with a gun. Some of the players also stated to have been hit by the fans. As a consequence, the Olympic Committee and FIFA decided on a replay and summoned the Peru delegation so that they could present their defence. But they never turned up at the appointment, allegedly held back in traffic as there was a parade. The two boards, seeing that nobody showed up, gave the victory to the Austrians. It is unknown what really happened at the match, but many believe Germany and the Nazi party had something to do with it. Austria then beat Poland in the semis.

In the final, Italy, with both Gabriotti and Baldo in the team, beat Austria 2-1 in extra time.

Gabriotti returned as a hero, but his fame was short-lived. A couple of weeks after winning the gold medal he suffered a serious injury that put an end to a very promising career.

He died in Rome on February 11, 1987.

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