#OnThisDay: 22nd December 2001, Bologna came back away at Lazio
22nd December 2001, 16th Matchday, Rome, Stadio Olimpico
LAZIO-BOLOGNA 2-2
LAZIO: Marchegiani; Negro, Nesta, Couto, Pancaro; Poborsky (56′ Mendieta), Giannichedda, Liverani, Stankovic; Crespo, Lopez (73′ Fiore). Coach: Zaccheroni.
BOLOGNA: Pagliuca; Gamberini, Falcone, Castellini; Zaccardo (87′ Wome), Pecchia, Olive, Tarantino (63′ Della Rocca); Zauli; Nervo, Cruz (91′ Bellucci). Coach: Guidolin.
Referee: Paparesta of Bari.
Goalscorers 19′ Lopez (L), 35′ Lopez (L), 41′ Cruz (B), 76′ Zaccardo (B).
Red Cards: 66′ Stankovic (L) second yellow card.
Bologna gave the fans a nice Christmas present with a deserved draw despite an injury crisis. Francesco Guidolin’s Bologna were sixth ahead of Alberto Zaccheroni’s Lazio but without the in-form Matteo Brighi who was suspended and the injured Giuseppe Signori, Tomas Locatelli, Fabio Macellari and Salvatore Fresi who pulled up in the warm-up so the side started at the Olimpico with a lot of youngsters. Cristian Zaccardo started and had to test himself against Dejan Stankovic. Alessandro Gamberini started at the back while Carlo Nervo was played out of position in attack to prevent Julio Cruz from being too isolated with the Argentine forward not having scored in two months. It didn’t look it would be easy from the start as Claudio Lopez was lively and Karel Poborsky relentless as Castellini and co were placed under some early pressure.
Lazio’s first chance came in the fifth minute as Lopez found Hernan Crespo who missed a clear chance with his header. The former Valencia player was doing well as he looked to work his way back into the starting line-up. It was Lopez who opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Paparesta didn’t whistle on two dubious challenges on Lamberto Zauli and Cruz with Stankovic finding his run and Cruz beat Gianluca Pagliuca to his left. He doubled the lead in the 35th minute. Crespo put Castellini on the floor and he knocked it back to Poborsky but his mis-hit fell to the number seven who found the net. Everything seemed set for Lazio to take the three points and the Bologna fans had little hope ahead of Christmas. Julio Cruz then changed everything in a minute and it was all to play for again. Luca Marchegiani stopped his first effort but he found the net with his second as he beat Alessandro Nesta to fire home from a Massimo Tarantino ball.
It was a completely different story after the break. Bologna kept the ball and put a tired Lazio side to the sword. There were chances for Fabio Pecchia, Zauli and Della Rocca to level. The deserved equaliser came 15 minutes from the end as Cristian Zaccardo was the hero with his first Serie A goal coming from his header as he celebrated his birthday and Christmas. The goals can be watched here.
