Coppa Italia final tomorrow: Lazio and Samp looking to win some silverware.

By: Francesco | May 12th, 2009

Tomorrow is a big day for Lazio and Sampdoria. Two sides who have performed under expectations throughout the season have a chance to salvage their season by winning a trophy, and more importantly, a place in the Europa League (I think the new name is so stupid) next season. Both sides have not won the Coppa in a long time (Lazio haven’t lifted it since 2004, Sampdoria since 1994; both sides have won it 4 times in their history).

The pre-match press conferences have been pretty much the same. Both Walter Mazzarri and Delio Rossi have stated that since it is a one leg final both sides will have to concentrate and nerves will play a big part. Both also have said that Lazio has a slight advantage since the game is being played at the Stadio Olimpico, however there will be around 20,000 Sampdoria fans in attendance. Also, a win will be the first ever trophy for both of these managers.

It would also be the first trophy for either club under the regime of their current owners. Claudio Lotito took over Lazio in the summer of 2004 right after their Coppa Italia victory and therefore has not experienced a trophy in his 5 years in charge. Riccardo Garrone took over Sampdoria in 2002 when they fell down to Serie B and led them back to the promised land. He has not seen any victories either, although the Primavera side did win the Primavera Scudetto and Coppa Italia last season.

Then there is the economic factor. The prize money for winning the Coppa Italia is around 3 million euro, while the winner will also participate in this August’s SuperCoppa in Beijing and that will net them another 2 million euro. And then there is the qualification to the Europa League, which will net you 10 million euro if you make it all the way but will also guarantee you around 5 million euro just for playing in the group phase. So both sides would love to put that money towards this summer’s transfer market. And of course, a lot of the Lazio and Sampdoria players have never won anything in their career to date, which makes it a lot more interesting and more special.

The game should be very interesting (and let’s not forget a game is always made interesting when Antonio Cassano is on the pitch) and everyone should be watching tomorrow.

The game kicks off at 2:45 PM EST and will be shown in the USA live on GolTV, and Rai Uno in Italy.

Here are some Coppa Italia promo videos for Sampdoria and Lazio showing their roads to the final: