Stadio Olimpico hosted another feisty Rome Derby and Luciano Spalletti's men scored two goals to seal the Derby della Capitale in their favour, as Simone Inzaghi tasted defeat in his first derby as Lazio manager.

The game lived up to its reputation as being feisty and very competitive as both sides gave it their all in search of a victory, but it was Roma that sealed the win in the end with two goals coming in the final thiry minutes of the game as Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan sealed a 2-0 victory for the Giallorossitaking them to 2nd place in the Serie A standings.

Lazio fail to convert precious chances 

The game kicked off with Roma on the ball and Lazio captain Lucas Biglia set the tone for early parts of the first half when he took down Diego Perotti with a full stretched tackle, that early incident initiated a heated early period in the first half as Lazio put Roma under a great deal of pressure.

The Biancocelesti managed to keep Spalletti's men under pressure for large parts of the first half as Roma stayed deep in their half and prevented Lazio from getting in behind but they couldn't prevent them from doing so for long.

Ciro Immobile had the chances to take the lead as well as double the lead for Lazio but the Italian international was sloppy with his finishing touch during the two clear opportunities he was presented with, early in the game.

Roma were patient and eventually got themselves back into the game as the team followed Spalletti's methods as his team started to assert their dominance in the game.

Bruno Peres's pace was a vital asset for Roma as the Brazilian looked to cause the Lazio defence problems down the right hand side with his pace and direct style and was involved in a very controversial moment of the game.

The Roma fullback had seemingly been fouled by Lazio captain Biglia and the Referee Luca Banti had even pointed to the penalty spot but after consulting with his assistant, retracted his decision and decided to give Roma free kick from just outside the box, which was taken well by Perotti but got blocked away as Lazio again looked to get away on the counter.

The rest of the half saw Roma push forward and exploit Lazio increasingly as the game went on and only lacked the final ball to get the lead.

Roma capitalise on Lazio's mistakes to seal the game

The second half started just like the first half did, early pressure from both teams and that competitive streak still visible in the way both sides fought for the ball. Lazio began the half as the brighter of the two sides and created the early chances as Antonio Rudiger was booked for a foul on Keita Diao Balde and Inzaghi's tried to keep pushing their rivals in search of the first goal.

For much of the game, Roma struggled to get the ball to their talisman Edin Dzeko and whenever they did manage to get the ball to him, the Bosnian looked isolated up front and hungry for a chance to get his goal. The Biancocelesti tried to hit Roma on the counter as they had been doing all game and while they did get into some good spaces out wide, Roma's defence held out well against the likes of Felipe Anderson, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and co. as Lazio looked for the opener.

Roma finally took the lead on the 64th minute when Strootman stole the ball from the Lazio Centre-half Wallace and dinked the ball over Federico Marchetti who came out and away from his line and gave the Dutchman the opportunity to beat him with a clever finish.

No Rome Derby is really complete without a few ugly scenes and that is exactly what followed, Keita seemingly tugged Strootman's jersey after he celebrated his goal and the Dutchman dramatically fell to the pitch.

This triggered scenes of violence between the staff as well as the substitutes and the players on the pitch and Danilo Cataldi got himself sent off in the process and Strootman was shown a yellow for his celebration with the fans. The game became a heated affair once again soon after as tackles were made all across the pitch and just a few moments later, Senad Lulic became the latest player to enter the referee's book after a rash challenge on Nainggolan.

Roma found their second goal on the 82nd minute as Nainggolan was afforded space by the Lazio defence, the Belgian saw Marchetti off his line and took aim at goal from about 25 yards and the ball ended up in the back of the net in splendid fashion, the goal all but guaranteeing Roma's victory in the game.

The rest of the game saw Lazio trying ever so hard to get back into the game and committing players into attack but it was to no avail as they failed to get the goals when they had the chances, but Roma on the other hand, played well during most of the game and took their chances and got the 2-0 victory which takes them to second place in the league. Good times seem to be returnuning for Roma as they look to challenge for the league title.

 

 

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About the author
Ninad Barbadikar
Editor for the Brighton and Hove Albion Office. Contributor to VAVEL UK since July 2016.