Roma are refusing to let the race for fourth place go down to two teams. By defeating Lazio over the weekend, Vincenzo Montella has hit out at his critics and continued one of the brightest trends of Claudio Ranieri’s reign- a spotless derby record. I Lupi’s run of consecutive victories over Lazio now stands at five in Serie A, one more than the number of points they find themselves off the pace for fourth.
The game was by no means beautiful, but it was certainly difficult to stop watching. Barcelona keep viewers mesmerized with an array of passes as diverse as the offerings in a library; Napoli attracted viewers until the last second due to oft-late heroics from the likes of El Matador, Edinson Cavani. Roma-Lazio offered none of that, but instead a full ninety minutes of unbridled passion.
Such fire was evident in the sheer amount of cards in the game. Roma received four yellows, all to team staples: Daniele De Rossi, Davide Pizarro, Francesco Totti, and Mirko Vucinic. That is, arguably to the four players that this derby means the most (Perhaps in any other year, Philipe Mexes would be added to that list, but his sight already seems firmly set up AC Milan). Lazio received a single yellow, that to Stephan Lichtsteiner, but more than compensated with two red cards, one each to Stefan Radu and Cristain Ledesma. The two reds, notably, came within two minutes of each other.
The two goals, within twenty minutes. The first was from a Totti freekick which seemed to roll back the years. Standing over the ball in the seventieth, il Capitano blasted the ball through the wall, leaving Fernando Muslera helpless to parry. Francesco ran to the stands and blew kisses to the fans, some of which held up a sign to remind the aging captain that he was still loved “Ti amo”. The stadium rang out with cries of “Francesco TOTTI” as the whistle was blown for the restart. Two things thus stand firm at Roma: their captain’s ability, and the fans’ appreciation for him, made evident in the smiles around the stadium.
Fabio Simplicio let out a rare smile himself after he won the penalty that led to the second goal. In the ninetieth, Ledesma tripped the player in the box whilst chasing a Rodrigo Taddei cross, and was duly sent off by the ref. Totti stepped up to take the penalty- a bit odd, considering the controversy caused against Shakhtar when Marco Borriello took duties ahead of the pre-assigned taker, Pizarro. The captain however made no mistake as he rifled in a shot high into the net, doing well to get past the oft-reliable Muslera, who had lasers shined into his eyes on both goals. Francesco now stands a mere goal away from reaching the astounding mark of two hundred Serie A goals.
Lazio now have many questions to answer. Their slide down the table continues, as the side now find themselves out of the top four. Udinese are two clear of the side, which are only two clear of their crosstown rivals. The race for the final Champions’ League spot could very well go to the final day, with no game looking as important as Matchday 32’s Udinese-Roma. For now however, it seems as if the momentum is with the striped team and the one in red, and quickly draining away from the blue.
Rosella Sensi, the outgoing Roma president, dedicated the victory to her late father, Franco. What Franco did for Roma will forever be remembered by the tifosi, but equally impressive are the accomplishments of the man who will likely go down in history as Roma’s greatest ever.
Matchday 29 talking points:
Udinese should not be discounted for fourth themselves. Winning 4-0 against Cagliari, the side are now in command of fourth place. Toto Di Natale scored twice and is now on 24 goals for the season, four more than second place Edinson Cavani.If anyone can re-teach Juventus how to win, Gigi Del Neri would love to know. The side dropped 2 points against Cesena after blowing a two goal lead. Marco Motta was sent off in a remarkable round of Serie A for sending offs, being one of eight players to receive a red.Milan and Inter are first and second but perhaps no one expected them to draw against Bari and Brescia, twentieth and nineteenth. The race for the scudetto is thus unchanged, with Inter five points off the pace.Napoli however are only one behind them. Inter would do well to quickly glance over their should at a side that dispatched of Parma 3-1.There was a red in that game as well, to Parma’s Daniele Galloppa in the fifty-ninth.There were no reds for Fiorentina or Palermo, but the former side continued their revival as the latter slunk to their fifth loss in as many games. Serse Cosmi has much work left to do.Some Related Serie A Posts:The Weekend that Was in Serie A: Giornata 17The Weekend that was in Serie A: Giornata 8The Weekend that was in Serie A: Giornata 7The Weekend that was in Serie A: Giornata 5The Weekend that was in Serie A: Giornata 2
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