Ranieri pleased with Coppa victory

Roma boss Claudio Ranieri has dismissed Edy Reja’s criticism of the officiating in Roma’s 2-1 Coppa Italia win over Lazio on Wednesday.

Roma advanced to a quarter-final tie at Juventus with victory over their city rivals, and Reja was furious Roma defender Juan was not sent off for a challenge on Mauro Zarate.

Juan received a caution for felling Zarate in the box and Hernanes slotted the penalty kick to draw Lazio level in the 58th minute, five minutes after Marco Borriello drew first blood for Roma.

Nineteen minutes later, Fabio Simplicio pounced on a poor clearance by Stefan Radu and coolly scored to send Roma into the last eight.

Reja was adamant after the match that Roma should have been reduced to 10 men for Juan’s tackle, but Ranieri countered by saying the Lazio boss was just disappointed to have been eliminated from the tournament.

“Should Juan have been expelled from the match? No. Reja is only angry because he went out,” Ranieri told RAI Sport.

“We played much better in the second half, Lazio had the first. We suffered the (shoulder) injury to Adriano at the beginning of the game but I waited for the interval and then I decided to remove him.”

“Now we go to the quarter-finals in Juve’s home ground but I do not understand why the new regulations say so, because last year they played us at home.”

Juventus host Roma at the Stadio Olimpico next Wednesday.