Scarf of the day #14 Lazio
I am not a Lazio fan at all and in fact Roma are my Italian team. When I lived in Rome, I supported Roma but went to both Lazio and Roma games. My Roma scarf got thrown away in the scarf purge years ago, but this one has been sitting in a drawer for years and has seen the light of day for the first time in ages.
There are a lot of reason s why I don't like Lazio as a club, but when I lived there in the 1998/99 season they did have a fantastic team.They finished 2nd in the league, but won the last ever European Cup Winners Cup at Villa Park and Super Cup. They finished 2nd to Milan on the last day of the season, but beat Juventus on the last day the year after. Sven Goran Erikson was the manager and there was a glittering array of talent in the squad. Lombardo and Mancini will be well known to Premier League fans and Nesta, Nedved and Vieri will be known to most fans, but Marcelo Salas who won the Capocannoniere, Almeyda and De La Pena were also top class. The team were a joy to watch, even if the terraces weren't always the most pleasant place to stand.
Some of the games that I remember the best are a 5-2 win over Sampdoria and a 2-0 victory over Fiorentina that I saw in the away end and a 6-1 drubbing of Salernitana - I did get to see most of their home games.
However, my favourite game in that season was a 3-1 home defeat to Juventus. A wet day in Rome was really lit up by Juve and especially Zidane and a young Thierry Henry. Henry got a brace, which enjoyably silenced the Laziale. with Amorouso getting the other and Mancini a consolation goal for the Bianco-Celeste.
Just to be fair, here's a video of the 5-2 win over Samp too. I had forgotten how good Mihajlovic was at free kicks, but he got a hat trick in this game. I don't remember Collina being that tall either!
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