They had to wait for 74 years, but finally, they made it. On May 12, 1974, a Giorgio Chinaglia spot-kick certified Lazio’s first Scudetto win since their birth in 1900, as the Biancocelesti beat Foggia 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.
They clinched the title with one matchday still to go, cancelling the heartbreak of the previous season, when Lazio had thrown away their chances in the very last lap – falling to Napoli in Matchday 30 while Juventus beat Roma to win Serie A.
This time, they knew they could not fail converting their match-point. Foggia needed at least one draw to stay in the fight to avoid relegation. The result was a tense match where the Apulians mostly minded about preventing Lazio from playing their game.
However, everything changed around the one-hour mark when the Satanelli (“Little Devils”) defender Francesco Scorsa committed a handball in the box from a Renzo Garlaschelli cross. Lazio’s quick-tempered captain Chinaglia kept his cool and buried the spot to put his side 1-0 ahead – but the job was far from done.
Two minutes later, Garlaschelli was shown his marching orders by the referee and so Lazio had to grit their teeth and defend their slim until full time with one man down. The ref had to work hard to keep things under control as, when he commanded a free kick on 88 minutes, the Stadio Olimpico believed he had blown for full time and stormed the pitch to celebrate the Biancocelesti.
It would take just two more minutes, though. When the referee did finally call it a game, the pitch invasion was legitimate and well-deserved. The miracle had happened.
Under the guidance of a clever, fatherly coach whose name was Tommaso Maestrelli, a wild bunch of quarrelsome, gun-toting (!) players who only two years before were playing in Serie B, who pretty much hated themselves, and had been torn apart by internal feuds, had managed to rise to the occasion and bring the white-and-azure side of Rome to unprecedented footballing heights.
Well, there was a stolen title that should’ve been Lazios in 1914-1915 season pre ww1. If any team made it to the final legitimately was Lazio yet the title was given to Genoa. It is still the biggest injustice in Italian football. Either give it to both or none and considering Genoa are still considered champions 111 years later should clearly tell you that Lazios name should be AT LEAST equal.
Now imagine the repercussions and just thinking back now… the lads who won in 74 were the ones who officially crowned Lazio as the best, yet that should’ve happened 2 generations earlier. Not only would this give a title to Lazio before pro vercellis AS Roma, imagine all the players that would’ve put on Lazio shirt after ww1 could’ve entered the pitch KNOWING their predecessors won it, they can too. That barrier only came down 60 years later, SIXTY ‼️ when will this be corrected?
Meanwhile to stay on topic of this article… Maestrellis pistoleri were something never seen before and never will again 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️