Rolling right along
Lazio cresting in stock market, Italian standings
Posted: Friday February 26, 1999 11:23 AM
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Lazio, led by Christian Vieri (left) and Marcelo Salas, has the best offense in the league with 44 goals in 22 matches. Allsport UK/Allsport |
MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Every time Lazio strikers Christian Vieri
and Marcelo Salas score winning goals, the Roman club finds itself
richer in points and cash.
The only Italian club quoted on the Milan stock market, Lazio
has been capitalizing on the team surge to first place in the Serie
A standings and financier Sergio Cragnotti -- the owner-president --
is hoping that the upward trend of the company shares can continue
through the end of the soccer season.
Cragnotti, who carried out one of the most expensive transfer
campaigns in Italy's soccer history to sign Salas, Vieri, Sergio
Conceicao, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Dejan Stankovic, said in a recent
interview that the first league title for Lazio since 1974 was in
sight.
The costly transfers have paid off in terms of goals as Lazio
has the best league offense with 44 goals in 22 matches. Salas, the
Chilean striker nicknamed "El matador," has contributed 11 goals.
Mihajlovic and Vieri added six goals each and Stankovic four.
Following a difficult start, due to injuries of key players such
as Vieri and defender-captain Alessandro Nesta, Lazio has produced
10 wins and one draw in the last 11 matches, gaining sole
possession of the league leadership following last Sunday's 1-0
home victory against title contender Inter Milan.
Lazio's first place in the overall standings coincided with an
impressive rally of the club shares of about 30 percent in a few
days.
Lazio shares, which were quoted at 3 euros at the beginning of
the season, closed at 7.1 euros on the Milan market at midweek.
Lazio enters week 23 of the 34-round Serie A campaign with 45
points, two ahead of Fiorentina and AC Milan which are tied in
second place. Parma is fourth overall, with a four-point gap from
the leader.
Over the weekend, with four games played on Saturday and five on
Sunday, Lazio is on the road against underdog Vicenza and could
take advantage of tough matches which may slow down its pursuers.
AC Milan, which combined good luck with a more consistent play
this season following two disastrous years, takes on AS Roma at
Rome's Olympic stadium while defending league champion Juventus is
at Milan, against Inter.
Inter, still without its long injured star-striker Ronaldo, and
Juventus, missing injured Alessandro Del Piero and suspended
Uruguayan defender Paolo Montero, trails Lazio by 11 and 12 points
respectively and seem out of contention for the title.
However, the match in Milan is rich in rivalry and classy
players and will definitely test the chances of Inter and La Juve
in the upcoming Champions Cup quarterfinals.
Fiorentina, still missing its injured star-striker Gabriel
Batistuta, plays Salernitana which badly needs points to escape the
relegation area.
Without Batistuta, the top league scorer who is out with a knee
injury, Fiorentina had one loss and one draw in the two last
rounds, surrendering the league leadership it had been holding
since the start of the Serie A.
Fiorentina's veteran coach Giovanni Trapattoni was running short
of forwards as unpredictable Brazilian star Ronaldo is a
questionable starter in Salerno following a bad bruise.
Saturday's program, including teams competing in the UEFA and
Champions Cup next week, features Roma-Milan and Piacenza-Bologna
in the afternoon and Inter-Juventus and Parma-Perugia at night.
Sunday's program is Bari vs. Cagliari, Empoli vs Sampdoria,
Salernitana vs. Fiorentina, Venezia vs. Udinese and Vicenza vs.
Lazio.
Lazio enters Sunday's round with a record of 13-6-3 compared
with Vicenza's 4-8-10.
Vicenza has the worst league offense with only 11 goals scored
and a less than impressive home record of 4-4-2.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, Lazio's Swedish coach, said he hopes to get
some help from hometown rival Roma to stop AC Milan, which has a
11-match unbeaten streak.
"It's quite unusual for a Lazio official, but I'll be
supporting Roma Saturday," the coach said.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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