For tomorrow night's European Cup Winners' Cup finalists, Serie A side Lazio, the longest week in their recent club history got off to a poor start yesterday morning when the Milan stock exchange suspended trade in club shares due to a spectacular drop in price. From a Friday close rate of 7.033#, the Lazio shares crashed within minutes to rate a miserable 2.22#.
The reason for the drop in price is soon explained. Lazio, due to meet Spanish side Real Mallorca at Villa Park, in tomorrow night's final, suffered a possibly definitive reverse in their cliff-hanger Italian League title contest with AC Milan when they were held to a 1-1 draw on Saturday away to Fiorentina. That same day AC Milan beat Empoli 4-0 to overtake them and go one point clear with just one game to play.
In a situation not dissimilar to the Premiership photo-finish which saw Manchester United lift the English title last Sunday, the Lazio-Milan contest will go right down to the wire next Sunday when Lazio are at home to Parma and Milan away to Perugia. Looking at the respective fixtures, the neutral observer might be tempted to conclude that it is already all over, with new leaders Milan having the easier of the two games.
In truth, one of the most dramatic Italian title contests in years is far from finished. In normal circumstances, Lazio would face a difficult home tie against Parma. Next Sunday, however, the circumstances are clearly not normal since Parma, winners of both the UEFA Cup and the Italian Cup in the last fortnight and already certain of their place in the Champions League next season, have little or nothing to play for.
Furthermore, Parma showed all the understandable signs of a side that had already finished its season when beaten 1-0 at home to relegation battlers Piacenza last Sunday. All of which means that Lazio might reasonably expect a much easier task than Milan who are away to Perugia, a side who need to win to be certain of avoiding relegation.
The single biggest question mark concerning Lazio in tomorrow night's final must inevitably concern their state of mind. After a spring in which they dominated Serie A with a 17-match unbeaten run which took them six points clear at the top of the table, they now find themselves overtaken inside the final furlong.
It must be hard for the Lazio camp not to have the uneasy feeling that they have let slip their first league title success in 25 years and only their second ever in club history.
Just at the moment, no one could suggest that Lazio were 100 per cent single-mindedly concentrated on the Cup Winners' Cup.
Lazio's league title distractions could present Real Mallorca with an opportunity and an advantage. Certainly the Rome club will have to play to the best of their formidable abilities to beat a Mallorca side whose presence in this final is no fluke.
Real Mallorca are certainly surprise finalists in their first year of European club competition, but their success is no flash in the pan, as underlined by their current second place standing behind Barcelona in the Spanish league contest.
While Lazio's galaxy of international stars (Serbs Sinisha Mihajlovic and Dejan Stankovic, Czech Pavel Nedved, Chilean Salas, Portugal's Sergio Conceicao, Argentinian Matias Almeyda, Croat Alen Boksic, Italians Roberto Mancini, Christian Vieri and Alessandro Nesta etc) are known to football fans worldwide, Mallorca have built a successful team on previously unsung heroes such as central defenders Elena Sierra Marcelino (Newcastle bound) and Argentinian Gustavo Siviero, Cameroon midfielder Lauren and recently capped Spanish international striker Dani.
At the heart of the Real Mallorca success story is Argentinian coach Hector Cuper, a man whose footballing philosophy seems to be more Italian than the Italians themselves with his defensive orientation.
When Mallorca struggled back into Division One two seasons ago, after five years in Division Two, men such as current Real Madrid manager, John Toshack, and current Spanish national team manager, Antonio Camacho, were offered the job as club coach. Both men politely said no, doubtless imagining that they would be in charge of a side whose major seasonal objective would be nothing more than Division One survival.
Against a nervous Lazio side constructed to play attacking football, Mallorca may well make things difficult. By Thursday morning, Lazio's difficult week could look even more uphill. Stand by for a further suspension of trading in Lazio shares.
