Before, of course, everything was a little different. The squads were packed full of loud surnames, and rivals fought for the scudetto. Then came a period of lack of money and a struggle for survival. The players had to sell out and gather their strength by the grain. At “Roma” it turned out a little better. And today, Luciano Spaletti and his friends are chasing the Inter. Another club in Rome has a more modest composition, which does not prevent Lazio from fighting for a place in the Champions League. On Sunday, the teams entered the Stadio Olimpico field, and it turned out to be one of the most interesting matches of the European weekend. There is nothing surprising in this, if we recall the school course in mathematics.
Let's make, for example, a simple equation:
"Roma" / "Lazio" = an exciting game
or for example
Lazio / Roma = intense meeting
The rules for operations with mathematical fractions say that if you multiply (or divide) the numerator and denominator by the same number (in our case, financial problems), then the value of the whole fraction will not change at all ...
The first half did not promise anything interesting. Roma carefully attacked, occasionally using Mansini with Tonetto on the left flank. Or trying to get out of the depths in the center of Perrott. Once Totti showed up. He beat the defender in the penalty area, but then distorted the transfer. “Lazio” thought more about defense, occasionally recalling that it would be nice to use a pair of Pandev-Rocky forwards. The picture of the game strongly resembled a tug of war. A little further in one direction - a little further in the other. Acting as guests of the Roma players looked, perhaps, even a little more interesting. After half an hour of the game, Perrotta, who broke into the penalty area after the transfer of Tonetto, did not take his chance. While the world champion picked up his leg, Ledesma's tackle completed the moment in favor of the hosts.
And then the account opened - sort of by itself, out of nothing. First, Kribari hit the crossbar after the standard of Oddo, and then struck Ledesma. It was not far from the gate, but it did not help goalkeeper Doni. The first half ended in favor of Lazio.
After the break, caution disappeared somewhere along with forethought, and scoring chances flashed on the field. The hosts in a counterattack led to the gates of Pandev. Doni flew out of the gate and the forward fell. It seems, nevertheless, there was a violation - already slipping past, the goalkeeper lifted his legs, clinging to the Macedonian. Rosetti pulled out a red card, stirring the Roma. But then I thought and still chose the yellow color.
Oddo scored a penalty. There was still plenty of time, but the chances of the guests vanished. The game of the team of Delio Rossi became more denser, and in the end the left flank of Roma stopped. The left, where the Taddeis and Panucci were listed, did not even have to hold back - they lost voluntarily. For some time, the team’s game was revived by Totti, but coping alone and it was hard for him. The captain also took part in a small conflict, but the skirmish turned out to be sluggish - neither a slap in the face to you, nor a slap in the face. Substitutions also did not help: the departure of Tonetto and the appearance of Vucinich did not save the game for Spaletti. As for the host defense, La Gazzeta dello Sport briefly described it as “macchina difensiva laziale” ...
Mutarelli scored the third goal of Lazio, finishing off the ball, bouncing off the crossbar. It all started, of course, with another counterattack, as a result of which Mauri appeared near the Doni gate.
More owners did not score. Roma insisted on their own, and the game completely calmed down. 0: 3, of course, extremely painful for Spaletti and his players, not to mention the fans. So we will wait for the 34th round. On April 29, Roma will have a chance to get even. As for the first-circle Roman derby, it turned out no worse than five or six years ago.
Vladimir STOGNIENKO
LAZIO - ROMA - 3: 0 (1: 0)
Goals: 1: 0 - Ledesma (44) , 2: 0 - Oddo (52, penalty) , 3: 0 - Mutarelli (73).
LAZIO: Peruzzi, Oddo, Cribari, Sivilla, Dzauri, Mutarelli, Mudingayi, Ledesma, Mauri (Manfredini, 90), Pandev (Mackinva, 72), Rocky (Foggia, 84).
ROMA: Alexandra Doni, Panucci, Mexes, Kivu, Tonetto (Vucinic, 62), De Rossi, Pizarro, Perrotta, Thaddeus, Mancini, Totti.
Warnings: Mutarelli (14), Cribari (26), Mudingayi (48), Alexandra Doni (50), Totti (54), Dzauri (54), Mauri (64).
December 10th. Olimpico 22.30.
Judge: Roberto Rosetti (Turin).