Roma’s hero, Lazio’s villain / Image by youtube.com
It was always going to be an exciting match between the two of Italy’s most contested clubs and the 145th Derby della Capitale sure did live up to the expectations.
Fiercely-contested clash between Lazio and Roma in the Round 15 of the Italian Serie A ended in Giallorossi’s favour, who capitalized against Lazio to claim three giant points courtesy of second-half goals from Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan.
First Half
Tempers flared from the moment kick-off whistle was heard as we witnessed no less than four fouls on both ends of the pitch within an opening minute of the match.
The host side of Lazio appeared to have set their foot upfront within the opening stages of the match attempting through the Serbian talent Sergej Milinkovic-Savic on the 5-minute mark when his right-footed shot from the centre of the box went missing the target.
Biancocelesti had more ball in possession and were close to catching an early break after 13 minutes, but Ciro Immobile’s shot from within the box went flying high over the bar. The same player failed to continue his impressive run of form only seven minutes later with another imprecise shot.
Halfway through the first half of the 145th Derby della Capitale, the tempers flared again with players getting engaged in aggressive behavior resulting in six fouls within three minutes.
An intercepted stretch of play was ended by Lucas Biglia being punished with a yellow card for a bad foul, after which Roma appeared to have regained some balance on the pitch.
Edin Dzeko attempted a shot on goal after 35 minutes, but his header from the right side of the box went to the right.
The first 45 minutes was brought to a close in the same manner it began, with a stretch of bad-tempered fouls on each side of the pitch.
Second Half
Both managers had a handful during the half-time period, but it was Roma who headed out of the tunnel with clearer minds, ultimately helping them win the game.
Shortly after the beginning of the second period it became clear that either a moment of individual brilliance or a blatant error from either side would turn the game on its head and that is exactly what happened.
Biancocelecti defender Wallace lost his head foolishly in the dangerous area, losing the ball just outside the box which allowed Kevin Strootman to steal it and send it home for the opening goal.
A rare goal from the injury-prone Dutch midfielder was more than Lazio substitution Danilo Cataldi could take as he grabbed at the back of Strootman’s neck after the Dutchman squirted water on Lazio man warming up on the sidelines.
Cataldi was red carded but the game took the expected turn for the worse.
Roma fans who boycotted the match ended up missing quite a show on the pitch. The rattled Lazio were unable to cool their heads until the end of the game and ended up conceding another after 79 minutes of play.
Belgium international Radja Nainggolan picked up the ball at the centre of the park and took it with him for a couple of yard before unleashing what appeared to be not quite as strong and precise ball towards the Lazio goal.
It still went past Marchetti’s reach and into the bottom corner to seal Lazio’s faith and leave them idling around in the fifth place in the standings with 28 points to their name.
Three points against fierce rivals mean that AS Roma are back in the Scudetto race behind Juventus, trailing the reigning champions by four.
LAZIO: Marchetti 6 – Basta 6 (Gabarron 6), Wallace 5, Radu 6.5, Lulic 6 – Parolo 6, Biglia 6.5 (Lombardi 6), Milinkovic-Savic 7 – Anderson 6.5, Immobile 6.5, Keita 6 (Kishna 6)
Unused subs: Cataldi, de Vrij, Djordjevic, Hoedt, Lukaku, Murgia, Bastos, Strakosha, Vargic
ROMA: Szczesny 6.5 – Rudiger 6.5, Manolas 7, Fazio 7 – Peres 6.5 (Jesus 6.5), Strootman 7, De Rossi 7.5, Nainggolan 7.5, Emerson 7 – Perotti 6.5, Dzeko
Unused subs: Alisson, El Shaarawy, Iturbe, Lobont, Rui, Seck, Gerson, Totti, Vermaelen
REFEREE: Luca Banti
Other results today
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Pescara 1-1 Cagliari
Sampdoria 2-0 Torino
Sassuolo 3-0 Empoli
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