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Bob Lovati (1954-61)
Despite boasting an icon like Dino Zoff not between the sticks but rather on the bench as a coach and then behind the desk as a presidential figure, it’s Roberto Lovati who stands out as the most representative goalkeeper in Lazio’s history (though how about Angelo Peruzzi, Luca Marchegiani or Felice Pulici ?). Among those top candidates, Lovati was captain when Lazio lifted their first ever trophy, the Coppa Italia, in 1958 in the final against 1957 European Cup finalists Fiorentina. After featuring 135 times in goal over six seasons, he then went to on to serve as assistant coach, head coach (105 games, lifting Lazio’s first international trophy, the not-so-well-known Cup of the Alps, in 1971 against Basel), reserve-team coach, goalkeepers’ coach, head of scouting, talent scout and director. In 2014, President Lotito decided to name the club’s academy in honour of the white and sky-blue factotum.
Alessandro Nesta (1993-2002)
Some Lazio fans still haven’t forgiven him for the way he left the club in August 2002. It was pretty evident back then that the club was in dire financial trouble and had to sell its top players to survive bankruptcy. Later, it was disclosed that Nesta himself converted half of his unpaid €2m salary in shares so not to weigh too heavily on the club’s balance sheet.
Nesta was a product of Lazio’s academy and won the Primavera (reserves league) final in 1994 against Perugia in front of 40,000 fans. More than anything, he scored the decisive goal in the 1998 Coppa Italia final as Lazio came from behind to defeat Milan. That goal helped the Biancocelesti secure their first major trophy in 24 years, only the third in the club’s history at that point. Nesta never surrendered even when Lazio trailed Juventus by nine points in 2000 and looked destined to lose the Scudetto for the second consecutive season. He battled injuries and misfortune – sat out 150 games in 14 seasons but most importantly eight games for the Azzurri in three different World Cups, including the one won in 2006) – always coming back stronger than ever.
Paul Gascoigne (1992-95)
Even if he was sitting out the first unencrypted broadcast of an Italian football game on British TV (Sampdoria 3-3 Lazio, 6 September 1992), Paul Gascoigne embodied a completely new era for Lazio even before setting foot on Roman soil. As his signature was announced in 1991, Lazio hung up banners across Rome and nearby towns. This was going to be another sign of things to come as new president Sergio Cragnotti prepared his 10-year reign at the club with a vision named “Progetto Anni ‘90”.
It was not until September 1992 that he finally made his competitive debut in a home game against Genoa. And, apart from his famous jokes (his burp into a microphone), he really acquired cult hero status when equalising in the Rome derby from a header with just four minutes to go. Just one week later, he dribbled his way past four Pescara players, something he did again against Ancona in May 1993 while wearing a special protective mask before passing the ball to Karl-Heinz Riedle (possibly the first two world-class signings in Lazio’s history). Although it was only an assist, he jumped over the advertising boards and removed his mask in front of the jubilant crowd, just like he had scored the goal himself.
At the end of that season, Lazio qualified for Europe for the first time in 15 years. And they even started to sell No 10 shirts manufactured by Umbro in an era when football merchandising was still very far from becoming a regular entry in Italian football clubs’ revenues. The sight of Robbie Williams wearing that Lazio shirt and Take That watching at the Olimpico as Lazio defeated Roma and Gazza entertained fans in the stands is still breathtaking nowadays. No wonder, when president Lotito managed to bring him back to Rome for the Europa League game against Spurs in 2012, Lazio fans displayed this banner: “Lionhearted, headstrong, pure talent, real man – still our hero.”
Silvio Piola (1934-43)
It’s difficult to overlook strikers of the calibre of Lazio all-time top scorer and Golden Shoe Ciro Immobile, World Cup all-time top scorer Miroslav Klose or even 1990s goal poacher Beppe Signori. World champion Silvio Piola leads the chart of Serie A strikers of all time, banging in 274 goals during his heyday. And while most media outlets love to depict him in a Juventus shirt, he only spent two seasons with the Bianconeri, whereas it was during his Lazio spell that he enjoyed his most productive spell (159 goals in all competitions in nine years). In 1942, he even scored four against Juve (5-3), a feat which was only replicated by José Altafini in 1961 against the Old Lady in a 90-year span (in 1933 he had scored six in the same game as his Pro Vercelli beat Fiorentina 7-2, a record only equaled by Omar Sivori 28 years later). Piola famously scored a decisive brace in a derby against Roma sporting a flashy white head bandage – a romantic image which would be then recalled by Christian Vieri at Villa Park in 1999. When Piola returned to Rome as an opponent in 1949, Lazio’s then president Remo Zenobi acknowledged him with a gold medal.
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Giorgio Chinaglia (1969-76)
One thing is for sure – the 1974 Lazio side led by Chinaglia forever changed the level of competitiveness for football in Rome. Roma fans were left stunned when Lazio won the league at their second attempt after returning from Serie B just two years earlier – how could the Eagles dare to win? Chinaglia knew how to get under their fans’ skins.
When Roma fans tried to disrupt Lazio players’ sleep before the derby as they gathered outside Hotel Americana, those same players avoided calling the police as they silenced opponents by shooting lamp posts with … their own guns. Rome in the 1970s was a political powder keg and Chinaglia was often in the midst of trouble. Giorgio was a renowned troublemaker but, weirdly enough, as the Uefa Cup game with Ipswich Town famously turned nasty both on and off the pitch, Bobby Robson declared that Chinaglia was the only one who protected his players and staff from his Lazio teammates and fans’ assaults: “Credit to him if he we managed to avoid serious damage in the end.”
Long John scored 140 goals in 263 games for Lazio, famously netting the decisive penalty against Foggia on the penultimate day of the season as Lazio clinched the title on 12 May 1974 in front of 78,809 fans, still a stadium record. Chinaglia then left controversially for New York where he joined Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer with the Cosmos, before returning as club president in 1983 but was unable to avoid relegation and even a failed takeover bid in 2006 alleged to be a money laundering front for the Mafia. Despite passing away at home in Naples (Florida) in 2012, he was then flown to Rome where he was buried next to his paternal figure, coach Tommaso Maestrelli, and club captain Pino Wilson.
