# 1997–98 SS Lazio season

The 1997–98 season was Società Sportiva Lazio's 98th season since the club's existence and their tenth consecutive season in the top-flight of Italian football.

## Season review

Lazio appointed a new coach in Sven-Göran Eriksson, snatching the Swede from an almost readied contract with Blackburn Rovers. Ex-Sampdoria man Eriksson brought playmaking secondary striker Roberto Mancini with him. In addition, he signed Vladimir Jugović and Alen Bokšić from Juventus, with Bokšić embarking on a second tenure at Lazio. Matias Almeyda also arrived at the club from Spanish side Sevilla, while wing-back Giuseppe Pancaro, signed from Cagliari, also proved to be a key player.
The new players managed to form an effective unit that was involved in the battle for the title until the 28th round, when they lost 1–0 at home to Juventus in a game that completely turned the tide for Lazio. The loss to Juventus had a detrimental effect on the team's form and led to a poor run of one point in six matches, dropping the team down to seventh. It was the club's worst league position for more than five years, but Eriksson was saved by the fact that the team had been seriously in the hunt for the scudetto for the first time, plus it reached the finals of both the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup. Lazio won the Coppa Italia, but stood no chance against Inter and on-song Ronaldo in the UEFA Cup final, eventually losing 3–0.
The 1997–98 season also saw the departure of club legend Giuseppe Signori, who failed to get on with Eriksson and was duly sold to Sampdoria as a long-overdue replacement for Mancini. Given the team's strong form at the time, his departure did not cause the same riots as happened when he was on the verge of being sold to Parma in 1995.
Lazio's best player during the season was arguably Pavel Nedvěd, the Czech winger scoring eleven goals and revelling in the confidence he got from Eriksson.

## Players
### Squad information

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Luca Marchegiani |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Paolo Negro |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Giovanni Lopez |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Dario Marcolin |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Favalli |
| 6 | DF | ARG | José Chamot |
| 7 | MF | ITA | Roberto Rambaudi |
| 9 | FW | ITA | Pierluigi Casiraghi |
| 10 | FW | ITA | Roberto Mancini |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Fernando Orsi |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Nesta |
| 14 | MF | ITA | Diego Fuser |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Pancaro |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 16 | MF | AUS | Paul Okon |
| 17 | DF | SUI | Guerino Gottardi |
| 18 | MF | CZE | Pavel Nedvěd |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Alen Bokšić |
| 20 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Grandoni |
| 21 | MF | YUG | Vladimir Jugović |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Marco Ballotta |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Giorgio Venturin |
| 25 | MF | ARG | Matías Almeyda |
| 26 | DF | ITA | Mauro Di Lello |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Mirko Laurentini |
| 28 | DF | ITA | Maurizio Domizzi |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Roberto Mancini | Sampdoria | |
| MF | Vladimir Jugović | Juventus | |
| FW | Alen Bokšić | Juventus | |
| MF | Matías Almeyda | Sevilla FC | |
| DF | Giovanni Lopez | Vicenza Calcio | |
| DF | Giuseppe Pancaro | Cagliari Calcio | |
| GK | Marco Ballotta | A.C. Reggiana | |
| GK | Flavio Roma | Fiorenzuola | loan ended |
| MF | Daniele Franceschini | Castel di Sangro | loan ended |
| FW | Marco Di Vaio | A.S. Bari | loan ended |
| FW | Alessandro Iannuzzi | Vicenza Calcio | loan ended |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Mark Fish | Bolton Wanderers | |
| FW | Marco Di Vaio | Salernitana | |
| GK | Carlo Cudicini | Castel di Sangro | end of contract |
| MF | Marco Piovanelli | Piacenza Calcio | co-ownership |
| FW | Igor Protti | S.S.C. Napoli | loan |
| GK | Flavio Roma | Foggia Calcio | loan |
| MF | Roberto Baronio | Vicenza Calcio | loan |
| MF | Daniele Franceschini | Foggia Calcio | loan |
| FW | Alessandro Iannuzzi | Lecce | loan |

#### Autumn

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Renato Buso | Piacenza Calcio | |
| FW | Giuseppe Signori | Sampdoria | co-ownership |

#### In

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 10 | FW | ITA | Roberto Mancini from Sampdoria |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Alen Bokšić from Juventus |
| 21 | MF | SCG | Vladimir Jugović from Juventus |
| 25 | MF | ARG | Matías Almeyda from Sevilla CF |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Pancaro from Cagliari Calcio |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 8 | FW | ITA | Renato Buso (on loan to Piacenza) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 11 | FW | ITA | Giuseppe Signori (on loan to Sampdoria) |

## Competitions
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 5 | Fiorentina | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 65 | 36 | +29 | 57 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 6 | Parma | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 55 | 39 | +16 | 57 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 7 | Lazio | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 53 | 30 | +23 | 56 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup |
| 8 | Bologna | 34 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 55 | 46 | +9 | 48 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round |
| 9 | Sampdoria | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 52 | 55 | −3 | 48 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |
* ↑ Fiorentina finished ahead of Parma on head-to-head points: FIO 1–1 PAR; PAR 1–2 FIO.
* ↑ Bologna finished ahead of Sampdoria on head-to-head points: BOL 2–2 SAM; SAM 2–3 BOL.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | L | W | D | L | W | W | D | L | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | D | W | L | D | L | L | L | L | L |
| Position | 1 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Cup
#### First round
#### Final
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Serie A | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup | UEFA Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Marchegiani | 51 | -40 | 33 | -29 | 8 | -6 | 10 | -5 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Pancaro | 34 | 1 | 23+1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Negro | 47 | 2 | 26+2 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Nesta | 49 | 2 | 30 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Favalli | 41 | 0 | 23+1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ITA | Fuser | 51 | 10 | 32 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Venturin | 44 | 2 | 17+9 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| 21 | MF | SCG | Jugovic | 42 | 6 | 27 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 18 | MF | CZE | Nedved | 43 | 15 | 21+5 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
| 10 | FW | ITA | Mancini | 52 | 9 | 31+3 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 3 |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Boksic | 38 | 15 | 17+9 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Ballotta | 5 | -7 | 1 | -1 | 3 | -5 | 1 | -1 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Lopez | 34 | 0 | 18+5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Marcolin | 31 | 2 | 6+12 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ARG | Chamot | 17 | 0 | 10+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | ITA | Rambaudi | 26 | 4 | 6+15 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ITA | Casiraghi | 44 | 7 | 19+9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 4 |
| 17 | DF | SUI | Gottardi | 32 | 4 | 10+9 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 20 | DF | ITA | Grandoni | 22 | 0 | 5+5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | ARG | Almeyda | 28 | 0 | 16+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | ITA | Di Lello | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Laurentini | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | ITA | Domizzi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | ITA | Signori | 13 | 10 | 3+3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Orsi |
| 16 | MF | AUS | Okon |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Buso | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/allenatori_squadra/1997/1134/

### Goalscorers

* Pavel Nedvěd 11
* Alen Bokšić 10
* Diego Fuser 8
* Roberto Mancini 5
* Roberto Rambaudi 4