On 12 May 1974 SS Lazio beat Foggia 1-0 on the penultimate day of the Serie A Championship and won the title of Italian Champion for the first time. 50 years after the historic event, Rai Teche is publishing on RaiPlay, starting today Thursday 9 May, a collection of precious archive materials that tell the story of the Biancocelesti’s achievement: “1974: Lazio with the Scudetto”
A dream journey into a story that is cloaked in legend thanks to the charisma and luminous aura that has always enveloped the protagonists of an unexpected victory: a Gascon team, reckless on the pitch and in life, courageous men, surrounded by an adverse destiny like all heroes, and a coach, Tommaso Maestrelli, who is still called “maestro” today by all the fans who remember him with immense love in the team anthem. An extraordinary man, a cutting-edge technician but above all an ever-present point of reference for his boys, an affectionate father who understood and embraced and who knew that sometimes talent is capricious and undisciplined.
A unique collection of indelible and extraordinary images that belong to universal memory: the memorable actions, the goals of the striker Chinaglia, the eve of the finish line and the final party; the interviews of Domenica Sportiva, the sports pages of the news programs of those days conducted by the unforgettable Maurizio Barendson are just some gems of this collection which also includes sections of great journalism created by excellent personalities from the world of sport such as Alfredo Pigna and Gianni Minà.
Among the many proposals also “Myths of today: the Lazio of ’74”: Maestrelli and Chinaglia tell the story of the journey from Serie B to Serie A up to the final triumph. The special, constructed with extraordinary materials from the Rai archives and hosted by Marco Mazzocchi, is enriched by a telephone call from Vincenzo D’Amico who shares memories and anecdotes about the team’s training sessions.
Also unmissable are the most intimate moments, those behind the scenes that truly reveal the soul of the protagonists: the training sessions at Tor Di Quinto, the card games between the president Umberto Lenzini and the coach Tommaso Maestrelli and a coach trip for the team and the coach in the aftermath of his return to Serie A, almost a prophecy of the beginning of that journey in stages destined for immortality.
Finally, a tribute to Tommaso Maestrelli: Gianni Minà interviews the coach in 1975 upon his return to the field after months of illness. Tears, love, hope and applause surround the man who built a dream from nothing. The coach finds a moment of joy in the midst of that sea of affection and expresses his feelings like this: “The results, the victories, the championship are beautiful things, but from a human point of view I believe that these are the most beautiful things that one can receive after having carried out a job full of sacrifice, of a spirit of self-sacrifice, of all that work that is necessary to lead a football team”.
