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On Thursday in the 17th round of the Italian championship, eternal rivals teams "Lazio" and "Roma" met in the Rome derby. After almost a five-year hiatus, the formal match host "Lazio" celebrated victory.
3 - 1 29' [1 - 0] Paolo Di Canio 69' [1 - 1] Antonio Cassano 74' [2 - 1] Aparecido Cesar 85' [3 - 1] Tommaso Rocchi
The derby of the eternal city has always been a very interesting and tense encounter, as the rivalry between the two Rome clubs is one of the biggest in Europe. Recently, "Lazio" has not been very successful against its neighbors, and the last time they won was in 2000.
This time the match had another special significance - teams that had a difficult start to the season wanted to begin the new year with a victory against their rivals. The tension before the match was increased by provocations exchanged by the beloved players of the teams' supporters P. Di Canio and F. Totti.
"Roma" was considered the favorite of the match, as the "Lazio" team has significantly weakened compared to previous years and is in a worse position in the league table. But with the debut of the new coach G. Papadopulo, everything seemed to have changed.
It was near the "Roma" team's goal that the first danger arose at the beginning of the match, when the goalkeeper I. Pelizzoli managed to get to the ball before the opponents' attacker.
In the 14th minute, Pelizzoli had to block Cesaro's shot again, and soon Rocchi had a chance, but failed to control the ball. In the 20th minute, Brazilian Cesar was close to scoring, but after Di Canio's pass, the ball was cleared by "Roma's" defender C. Panucci.
After a few minutes, "Lazio" attacked again, and this time Dellas perfectly blocked Cesaro's attack. However, after a few moments, the hosts finally deservedly scored a goal - receiving a pass from A. Filippini, Di Canio sent the ball into the goal with an excellent shot. After a long break, Di Canio, who played in the derby again, was particularly pleased with this goal, as he had scored in these matches only once, 16 years ago.
In the remaining part of the half, there was a tough and rough game, with both teams exchanging losses. After the break, "Roma" club coach L. Del Neri replaced a defender with a striker, which livened up the game - in the first minute of the half, L. Cufre had a chance to score, but his shot was blocked by a defender's head.
"Roma" played more actively at the beginning of the second half, and soon Cufre found himself in a goal-scoring opportunity again, but failed to hit the two defenders standing in the goal after the goalkeeper A. Peruzzi played uncertainly.
In the middle of the penalty area, D. De Rossi brought down A. Filippini, but the referee did not award a penalty kick, infuriating the "Lazio" fans. A firecracker was thrown onto the field near the "Roma" team captain F. Totti and the match referee P. Dondarini. After the explosion, the footballer was dizzy for a while but soon recovered and continued the match.
A short break was beneficial for the "Roma" team: in the 69th minute, after a free-kick, Panucci quickly passed the ball to Cassano, who equalized with a header. However, the advantage lasted only four minutes, as in the 73rd minute, after a pass from Oddo, Cesar sent the ball into the goal.
Later, Rocchi had the opportunity to increase the lead, but after leaping over the opponent's goalkeeper, he hit the target from the other side. Nevertheless, after six minutes he had another chance, and this time he took advantage, securing victory for his team.
As the winner was revealed, the tension increased even more, and at the end of the match, clearly dissatisfied with the result, the "Roma" footballers vented their anger on the opponents. The referee added seven more minutes, during which the result did not change - "Lazio" won three points and rose to twelfth place.
