THE VITALS:

Team: Lazio

Brand: Puma

Era: 1998-00 (Used for the 1998 Supercoppa Italiana match, 1998-99 Serie A Season and the 1999-00 Serie A season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

This classic shirt comes to you in excellent condition! I am convinced that this shirt is probably a remake due to how great the condition of the shirt is! While the club crest is embroidered, both the shirt sponsor and Puma logo are made using felt.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Large

Pit to Pit Measurement: 20.5 inches

Shirt Length: 32 inches 

Made by Puma in 1998; this dimensions of this shirt would also lend themselves to fitting someone who wears a size extra-large today!

DESCRIPTION:

Taking over from Umbro; Puma would begin their collaboration with Lazio by introducing the world to this legendary ‘Celeste’ home shirt! They would retain the dusky shade of sky-blue used by Umbro in their 1997-98 edition of the home shirt, however, Puma would stamp their own authority with the use of black accents on the collar and sleeves and a thick black strip going across the chest and sleeves! The cherry on the top would be placement of the Puma logo in the centre of the shirt, while the Cirio sponsorship also became synonymous with this fine shirt! This would be last Lazio home shirt to be bear the iconic sponsor, and this shirt would serve an incredible cycle for the club where they won the: Coppa Italia, Serie A, Supercoppa Italiana, UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup titles between 1998-2000! This would be the shirt last worn for the club by legends such as: Christian Vieri, Sérgio Conceição, Alen Boksic and Roberto Mancini!

THE SEASON(S):

Sven-Goran Erikkson’s debut season in charge of Lazio would be a mixed bag; while the club could only finish 7^th in the league, they were just 4 points shy of another 4^th place finish, and the team would reach 2 cup finals – winning the Coppa Italia but falling to Inter Milan in the 1998 UEFA Cup Final.

With Pavel Nedved and Alen Boksic scoring 15 goals each as the club’s top-scorer’s in 1997-98; Christian Vieri would be brought back to Serie A from his year stint at Atletico Madrid! The ‘Aquile’ would part ways with €25 million for his services, meanwhile he would be joined by the fellow high-profile captures of: Marcelo Salas, Siniša Mihajlović, Sérgio Conceição, Dejan Stanković, Iván de la Peña and Fernando Couto to replace the departing: Giuseppe Signori, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Vladimir Jugovic.

The new look Lazio would enjoy a less than brilliant start to the new season as they won just 3 times in their opening 11 games; however, from December 1998, the team became a force of nature as they won each of their next 9 games, and would enjoy a spell of 13 wins in their last 16 games, before a fateful pair of defeats in succession to Roma and Juventus in April 1999 allowed Lazio to surrender a 6 point lead at the top of the table and they would eventually have to settle for finishing as runners-up in 1998-99; missing out on the Scudetto by an agonising single point!

In the cup competitions, Lazio would surrender their defence of the Coppa Italia in the quarter final stage; however, that was almost forgotten as Lazio defeated Juventus to win the Supercoppa Italia and would win European silverware for the first time in their history when they won the last ever edition of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1999; defeating Real Mallorca in the Final on May 19^th 1999!

The preparations for the 1999-00 season would be without Vieri who moved on to Inter Milan transfer world record fee of €49 million! The club would invest the funds wisely as Argentine trio: Nestor Sensini, Diego Simeone and Juan Sebastian Veron were all signed as were the forward pairing of: Simone Inzaghi!

Learning from their slow start a year earlier; Lazio would start the new campaign unbeaten in their opening games – splitting 6 wins and 3 draws! This degree of consistency would set the tone for yet another incredible title tilt! The dream had seemed to be over on March 19^th 2000 when a 2-0 defeat to Hellas Verona left them 9 points adrift of Juventus! In a stunning reversal of 12 months earlier; Lazio would seal back-to-back wins over Roma and Juventus to negate the arrears to just 3 points; and then in the most incredible circumstances on the final day of the season, Juventus would be stunned 1-0 by Perugia amidst a horrendously waterlogged pitch meanwhile, Lazio would defeat Reggina 3-0 and would become champions of Italy for just the 2^nd time in their history!

The signal of Lazio’s intent in 1999-00 began with their fine 1-0 defeat of Manchester United to win the UEFA Super Cup! Their first ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League saw Lazio reach the quarter final; falling 5-3 to Valencia in a thrilling tie! The season would be capped off by a splendid domestic double as they defeated Inter Milan 2-1 over 2 Legs to reclaim the Italian Cup for the 2^nd time in 3 seasons!

The notable players that season were:

Marcelo Salas, Christian Vieri, Kennet Anderson, Alen Boksic, Roberto Mancini, Simone Inzaghi, Sérgio Conceição, Pavel Nedved, Ivan De La Pena, Atilio Lombardo, Dejan Stankovic, Juan Sebastian Veron, Diego Simeone, Dino Baggio, Matias Almeyda, Roberto Baronio, Giuseppe Pancaro, Jaap Stam, Fernando Couto, Guerino Gottardi, Massimo Oddo, Giuseppe Favalli, Alessandro Nesta, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Paolo Negro, Alessandro Nesta, Francesco Colonnese, Angelo Peruzzi, Luca Marchegiani