2003–04 S.S. Lazio season

Lazio
2003–04 season
Manager Roberto Mancini
Serie A 6th
Coppa Italia Winners
UEFA Champions League Group stage
Top goalscorer Bernardo Corradi (10)
Home colours

S.S. Lazio was still a club in turmoil during the 2003–04 season, and it was the last year before the squad was almost completely depleted of quality.

Season

Lazio had qualified for the UEFA Champions League thanks to a great team spirit during the difficult 2002–03 season. The Capitalia bank still controlled the club, and it tried to enhance the sale value of the club by bringing in Udinese midfielders David Pizarro and Martin Jørgensen to the club. The deal fell through however, due to a couple of undisclosed Lazio players refusing to move to Udinese as exchange for the transfer-targets. The reasoning behind the deal from Capitalia was that a great Champions League result should help them find an investor, and therefore the departure of the club in the Group Phase nearly got to be end of the club.

Prior to the season had Capitalia released enough funds to sign Demetrio Albertini, Luciano Zauri and Roberto Muzzi to the club, but at the same time key midfielder Diego Simeone left for Atlético Madrid, which turned out to be a blow for the midfield play in the 2003–04 season.

Lazio started off greatly, fending off newcomers Lecce 4–1 and Sampdoria 2–1 away from home. Talk of a title challenge faded afterwards, when the play got really inconsistent, and the goalscoring was not at the same level as in the year before. Expected star striker Claudio López had his worst season with the club, while Bernardo Corradi scored his accustomary ten goals. Jaap Stam and Stefano Fiore were the players who got the most fanfare, especially Fiore, following a sensational display against Juventus, when Lazio won the Coppa Italia.

In the end, despite beating both Juventus and Internazionale at home in the league, Lazio came up short in taking a vital fourth place that would have enabled the club to receive income from Champions League play. It ended up sixth, following a defeat at the hans of Brescia and an inspired Roberto Baggio. Inter clinched the final Champions League spot, and Lazio was doomed to sell several key players during the summer, if the club would even make it through.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Attackers

Serie A

Matches

Top Scorers

Results summary

OverallHomeAway
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsWDLGFGAGDWDLGFGAGD
34 16 8 10 52 38 +14 56 10 4 3 35 19 +16 6 4 7 17 19 −2

Champions League

Third qualifying round

Group stage

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.