Porto and history obstruct Lazio

As if needing to beat FC Porto by at least three goals to reach the final of the UEFA Cup was not daunting enough, S.S. Lazio will also have the burden of history to overcome following a 4-1 defeat in the first leg.

Four attempts
In four attempts, no Italian side has overturned such a deficit, although AC Milan pushed Real Madrid CF all the way in the quarter-finals of the 1963/64 European Champion Clubs' Cup. The two-legged meeting of then five-times winners Madrid and Milan, the holders, was a sumptuous one, bringing together many of the game's greats. Madrid played some irresistible football at the Santiago Bernabéu, Amancio Amaro, Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo di Stéfano and Francisco Gento easing them into a 4-0 lead.

Inter triumphant
Yet it was Milan who dictated the tie from that point, as Giovanni Lodetti struck in the 73rd minute to give the Rossoneri a glimmer of hope for the return match. The same player opened the scoring at San Siro a fortnight later, before José Altafini made it 2-0 on the night and 3-4 on aggregate. Yet the final goal never came and Madrid eventually reached their seventh final since the inception of the tournament in the 1955/56 season. To make matters worse for Milan, Internazionale FC beat Madrid 3-1 in the Vienna final.

Futile fightback
The San Siro saw another stirring yet ultimately futile fightback in December 1976. Despite breaking the deadlock through Fabio Capello, now the coach of AS Roma, Milan were beaten 4-1 by Athletic Club Bilbao in the first leg of their UEFA Cup third-round tie. At home the Italian side established a 3-0 lead, but Madariaga scored four minutes from time to make it 5-4 on aggregate to the visiting side, who eventually lost the final to Juventus FC.

'We can do it'
Other failures were less spectacular. Roma failed to make any inroads into Chelsea FC's 4-1 advantage in the 1965/66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, while SSC Napoli could only draw 1-1 against FC Torpedo Moskva after a 4-1 defeat in the same competition, now called the UEFA Cup, in 1975/76. Now it is Lazio's turn. Crestfallen following a 4-1 loss at the Antas stadium, coach Roberto Mancini has said his team "will give everything to reach the final - I believe we can do it".

Lazio confident
Claudio López, Enrico Chiesa and Simone Inzaghi will all play in attack, and Mancini said he hopes "it is a great night for the three of them". He continued: "They are fully motivated and know they can score three goals against Porto. We have to attack from the first minute but also be patient as this kind of tie can be decided in the last half an hour. We have identified the mistakes we made in the first leg and we have never been so convinced of our chances as we are now."

Outstanding turnaround
Arguably the outstanding turnaround of recent years came in the 1988 UEFA Cup final, when Bayer 04 Leverkusen recovered a 3-0 first-leg deficit to beat RCD Espanyol by the same margin at the Ulrich-Haberland stadium and then in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. If Lazio make the final tonight, it will rank as an equally great comeback.