Challenges

A Messiah or simply a scapegoat? For the Lazio fans, there is no doubt about it: their former number 10’s return as coach means the Messiah is coming, the one who will lift them up again, who will redeem the club after a dim season, put some order into the dressing-room and face up to Fabio Capello’s Roma. Persuaded that Mancio will become their new patron saint, they turn up in numbers – 3,000 altogether – to celebrate his first appearance in Formello, on 10 May 2002. As soon as they learn about his signing, they jam up his website with hundreds and hundreds of messages.

The media, however, don’t share their excitement: in the manager from Jesi, they see a scapegoat for a club that has been going through serious financial difficulties and that has been alienating its own supporters for months. Roberto Mancini, not yet 38, does not agree. He is persuaded that he is coaching a very strong team. He is confident about the future and he is sure that Sergio Cragnotti won’t sell his most valuable assets in order to balance the budget. The two came to an agreement at the end of April, in the president’s villa in Montepulciano. A two-year contract, for one billion lira per year.

Roberto is Lazio’s fourth manager within 15 months. He comes to replace Alberto Zaccheroni, who took the team to a sixth-placed league finish, missing out on Champions League qualification. Cragnotti would have preferred a more experienced manager – in fact he made a tentative approach to Eriksson, but the Swede politely refused, preferring to stay with the England national team. So it is Eriksson’s protégé Mancini who is put in charge of the team on 9 May.

Mancio is not promising anything, but he is convinced that this is the right season for a comeback. In a dignified manner, he lays down a challenge to the big clubs from the north. To some, this might look like conceit, or even a provocation by Mancini the rebel, since the two brightest stars in the Lazio firmament were sold during the summer: the captain, Alessandro Nesta, to AC Milan; and top goalscorer Hernan Crespo, to Inter. The reality is quite different, though: Lazio shine brightly, playing enjoyable football and winning matches. They only stumble against Chievo, on 15 September, in their first Serie A game; thereafter, they start building an incredible sequence of results. They go 16 consecutive matches unbeaten in the league, Coppa Italia and the Uefa Cup competitions. Their seven away wins are a club record. Lazio’s defence, even without Nesta, is among the best in the championship; their attack, even without Crespo, scores goals by the bucketload. At the mid-point of the championship, they total 36 points – one more that Eriksson’s Lazio had had the year they went on to win the championship. This puts them joint second in the league, together with Inter Milan. The leaders – and ‘Winter Champions’ – are AC Milan, with 39 points. It looks like big clubs from the north really are within reach (Juventus have already been overhauled, for now). And let us not forget Roma, Lazio’s eternal rivals, 13 points behind them. Mancini’s Lazio is a big surprise indeed, especially considering the huge financial hardships and internal upheaval that the club is going through.

On 13 January 2001, Sergio Cragnotti is forced to resign the club presidency by the bank consortium, headed by Capitalia, because of a huge hole in the budget, of over €100 million. After eleven years, the financier from Rome does not own the club anymore. The same banks enact a plan to rescue the team, firstly paying all the wages owed to the players (€16 million altogether), thereby avoiding their departure free of charge, as Lazio have been officially brought into default. Luca Baraldi is called in from Parma, and given the task of fixing the club budget. Roberto Mancini joins the board of directors, acting as a link between past, present and future.

What to do then, in such a difficult situation? Just like he did in the past, he must motivate his players, striking the right chords in their souls. He must find leaders in the dressing-room, who can work together with him. He must build a close group, one that will stick together through hardships, where everyone is important and no one feels left out. In a word, he must reshape the environment, just like he has done before.

Tactically, he sets the team up to be a quick-breaking side who, with just a few precise, direct passes, can travel the length of the pitch and create scoring opportunities – like Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal or Luigi Delneri’s Chievo. Before each game, his message is ‘Guys, we’re running the show here. And don’t forget: have fun.’ And the players do have fun, and so does the crowd.

In the Uefa Cup, Lazio get to the semi-finals, where they are defeated by the eventual winners of the competition, José Mourinho’s Porto. After the first leg ends 4–1 to the Portuguese team, Mancini’s men are unable to turn it around in the second leg. Once they are out of Europe, Lazio turn to the championship. Mancini plays it cool. ‘The championship?’ he says, ‘What about it? We mustn’t think of who is ahead of us, nor of who is behind. We are racing against ourselves. Up to now, our greatest strength has been this: going out on to the pitch aiming to win. We are makers of our own destiny, and we must remember that nothing is going to come for free. We only have what we have earned for ourselves so far; we never cheated and we have always been competitive against the great clubs. However, in football, two matches can be enough to change a whole season. I don’t know if we are going to win the championship, but if we carry on like this, we will surely be there, until the very end.’

As a matter of fact, Lazio do not win the championship, but they rank fourth and so achieve the main target for the club: access to the pre-qualifying rounds of the Champions League. ‘It is a fair end, although we deserved a lot more’ is Mancio’s analysis. ‘Our regrets grow because of the penalties we missed, the goals we conceded in injury time, and more broadly because of other faults on our side, but we still showed we were no less than those who ranked above us in the league.’

‘Their result is truly a miracle, taking into account how the team has changed and what happened on a broader level,’ says Baraldi, the club’s managing director. ‘The credit goes to Mancini.’ The newspaper Corriere della Sera declare Mancini Lazio’s key man, over and above any of the players, giving him a 9 in their ratings and commenting, ‘His team management was a work of art; he relaunched players who seemed over and done with. The most enjoyable football in Serie A.’

Mancini prefers to give all the credit to his players. ‘I am proud of what the guys did, how they interpreted the championship, despite all its difficulties,’ he says. ‘And my gratitude is extended to our fans, who have always stood by us.’ Those fans naturally don’t want their manager to leave, although apparently Inter Milan remain interested in Mancio, just like when he was a player. Around 1,500 of the White-and-Blues supporters turn up in Formello on 22 May 2003 to cheer the team and persuade Mancini to stay. A banner reads, ‘Our jerseys are wet with blood and sweat … thank you, Mancini club.’

‘I will do all I can to make him stay,’ swears Luca Baraldi, who is handling the recapitalisation of the White-and-Blues, not an easy job, given the club’s numerous debts and the few buyers. The managing director’s plan is to offer Mancini a contract until 2008, €2.5 million per year, and total freedom in his transfer dealings. The manager says, ‘I love it here in Rome, and so does my family. I really like the people, I fit in rather well, and if the club behind me is a strong one, and backs up my technical plans, I am ready to stay.’ He wants guarantees on the transfer market though; he wants to be sure that he will not lose Stankovic and Stam. He wants to manage a team capable of winning.

In the end, Mancini gets all the assurances he has been asking for and signs his new contract. On 2 July, the team arrives in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, for the first part of a training camp which will then continue in Vigo di Fassa, Trentino. Stankovic is still there (though he will be sold to Inter Milan in January), as is Stam. Lazio’s first action of the new season takes place on 13 August, in a Champions League qualifier against Benfica. The game ends 3–1 to Lazio, and on 27 August, on neutral ground in Oporto, the White-and-Blues seal their qualification with a 0–1 scoreline in the second leg. So Lazio are through to the first group stage. ‘Without this result, nothing we did last season would have mattered,’ the coach comments. ‘We feel really proud of this achievement, it was really important for us to get here.’

On the eve of the first league game of the season, Mancini takes an even bolder stance, saying, ‘This scudetto is Lazio’s, followed by Inter Milan and AC Milan.’ And, talking about his team, he adds, ‘I have great players. Important men have left, but they were replaced just fine. In order to win, you must want it; only if you are persuaded of your own goals, can you reach them. We have a good chance in all the tournaments we are taking part in.’

However, the only trophy Lazio will gain is the Coppa Italia. In the Champions League, they are drawn in Group G, with Sparta Prague, Beşiktaş and Chelsea, and on 9 December they are out of the competition after two bad defeats against Claudio Ranieri’s Blues. In the league, their dreams fade until, by the end, they rank only sixth. ‘Considering their play, Lazio deserved a better ranking,’ opines Mancini. ‘But it is also true that, when you make a lot of mistakes, you end up paying for them. Unfortunately, some seasons just work out wrong, and this is one of them.’

After the frustration of the league season, on 12 May 2004 it is time for happiness, as Lazio draw with Juventus in Turin. On the back of their first-leg win at the Olympic Stadium, the 2–2 result secures them their fourth Coppa Italia title. It is Mancini’s second trophy of the kind as a manager, and the eighth of his footballing career. The White-and-Blues supporters sing his name loud. He waves at the stand behind the goal, and afterwards, in the press room, he admits, ‘This is a special victory, after two difficult years for the club, for us, for our fans and for Sergio Cragnotti, who is going through a rough time. At moments like these, results make us feel a little happier and help us face up to the difficulties in a better way.’

He denies that this might be his last appearance on the White-and-Blue bench, although practically everyone is now talking about his move to Inter Milan. Both Real Madrid and Tottenham made quite tempting offers, but in the end he said yes to Massimo Moratti, the president who wanted him way back, when he was still playing.