1997–98 SS Lazio season

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.^[1]

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.

Squad at end of season^[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. 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

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. 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

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. 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)

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Serie A		Coppa Italia		UEFA Cup
				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

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