Love letter to the Lazio shirt

Being a Lazio fan is tough. I can tell you, I grew up in Rome during the 90s and 00s and in my classroom, I was the only Lazio fan, the others were all Roma's supporters. It was a weird condition, especially the day after the derby: if Roma won they were all cheering together. If Lazio won no one talked about that great goal from Castroman, they comforted themselves and I enjoyed the victory by myself. These are things that affect you for your life.
We - I mean laziali my age - had to face the Alessandro Nesta's trauma of abandonment: he was the captain, the symbol, Lazio:Nesta=Roma:Totti. He was sold to avoid the bankruptcy and the relegation, but try to explain to a twelve years old kid what was the Cirio crack and that because of that he would not see Veròn playing for Lazio again. Roma had Totti, Montella, and Delvecchio for such a long time, while Lazio players change almost every season, you would not get attached too much to one of those or it will hurt your feelings like a summer love that didn't last. As I said being a Lazio supporter was though, and it is still even after the Coppa Italia derby and last seasons. Because being laziale is an identity that will carry on forever, full of misunderstanding, up and downs, evil and good. If everything is temporary and there is no room for a right side, the only thing that lasts is one: the biancoceleste shirt.
Here you can find a list of my favorite.

Away 1998-99, Puma

There some shirts that just trigger your memories. In 1998 I was six and during that football season, my Lazio related memories start. I remember watching the game against Milan with my dad, I don't' how I still remember the canceled goal to Vieri that would eventually let Lazio won the Scudetto. I recall the Mihajlović's free kicks and the struggle to pronounce his name. I remember me playing in the backyard pretending to be our captain Alessandro Nesta. But not just for me, for all the Laziali that black shirt represents the begging of two years of greatness when we touched the sky and immediately fall down. It's not just about the stunning colorway, the large cut or the cirio sponsor: this shirt has something unexplicable that just a laziale could recognize in his memories.

Home 1981-82, adidas

Before Lulic 71, the most popular tag on Roma's walls was "11 of B", in reference to the years that Lazio spent in the Serie B. For every Laziale the Serie B is like the original sin, you have to deal with it even if it is something that does not belong to you in any way and you never experienced it. You have to embrace it, to accept it to avoid fall in the provocations. But few know that in one of the Serie B season Lazio it was the only time that Lazio was sponsored by adidas. In those years Lazio was a small team, those were tough years, and also the shirt is not sensational, but it is a memento of our history.

Special edition 2014-15, Macron

In 2014 Macron decided to re-edit one of the most legendary shirts of all the history of football. The "flag" shirt was a memory from the '80s, worn for the first time in the season 1982-83 and for the second time in 1986-87, when Fiorini saved the team from the relegation in Serie C. The stylized eagle on the front is a masterpiece of design, it divides the shirt into two parts - one blue, one white - and it embraces the whole player with his wings. Also, the bold and shady fonts on the back is a rare gem for typography lovers.

European cups 1999-00, Puma

Season 99-00 is the apotheosis of every Lazio: the championship, the Coppa Italia, the Centenario and Juan Sebastian Veròn. Both the home and celebratory centenary of the company would deserve a place in this letter, but what I prefer is what the team used in its Champions League debut. Large white and blue strips with yellow details, but above all, the sponsor of Del Monte in the middle of the chest makes this shirt a madeleine for every Lazio's fan.

Home 1992-93, Umbro

Signori and Gascoigne are the players that pop into my mind when I think about the Lazio Umbro's era. A rattling better and an alcoholic but geniuses whit the ball. It's part of Lazio's identity: discursive, outlawed, arrogant characters. Yet this parterre of players - including Di Canio and Chinaglia - has always had the charm of the bandit from the golden heart in the field, the wrong man but who fights the right side. Being laziale is not easy, it is a bitty and undone condition exactly like the Umbro's 90's uniforms: unmoved in their geometric patterns, oversized collars, and wide but incredibly beautiful cut when dressing them is Paul Gazza Gaisgogne.