© EuroFootball.com
In the 8th round match of the Central Italian "Serie A" championship on Sunday evening, the two capital city clubs "Roma" and "Lazio" met in the Eternal City Rome derby. As usual, the match was nervously and vigorously contested and ended in a draw.
1 - 1
40` [1 - 0] Francesco Totti
58` [1 - 1] Tommaso Rocchi
Both teams had very different fortunes recently. "Roma," who had a poor start to the season, had only managed to collect eight points in seven matches after defeats to "Siena" and "Empoli." On the other hand, "Lazio," who didn't have high hopes before the season, played the role of the visiting team in this match, having won all four away games so far.
The match began with unusual players in goal - "Roma" coach L.Spalletti decided to start Brazilian goalkeeper Doni instead of the young G.Curci, while after an injury during warm-up to the main "Lazio" goalkeeper A.Peruzzi, veteran M.Ballotta took to the field, as substitute goalkeeper M.Sereni was also unavailable due to injury.
The first minute saw an attack on the opponent's goal by "Lazio," but the first dangerous chance was created by "Roma" - in the 12th minute, after a pass from R.Taddei, team captain F.Totti struck slightly wide. Shortly after, D.De Rossi's attempt didn't trouble goalkeeper M.Ballotta, and "Lazio" responded with a dangerous F.Liverani free-kick, which went just wide of the post.
After an hour of play, "Lazio" forward T.Rocchi managed to break past the goalkeeper, but the referee awarded a foul to P.Di Canio. Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, S.Siviglia managed to defend against a dangerous V.Montella who entered the penalty area in the final moments.
The hosts took the lead in the 40th minute when R.Taddei's precise pass set up a sprinting F.Totti on the left, who scored with a powerful strike from a sharp angle. In the tense end of the first half, "Lazio" tried to level the score, but neither M.Oddo's free-kick nor his pass yielded results.
In the second half, "Roma" maintained the initiative, and V.Montella had a chance to score after dribbling past a defender, but his shot hit the goalpost. "Lazio" responded with two attempts by T.Rocchi, both blocked by defender C.Chivu, and a free-kick by F.Liverani.
In the 58th minute, the score became level - Brazilian Cesar made a long pass into the penalty area, and the first to respond was the little "Lazio" forward T.Rocchi, who beat C.Chivu and headed the ball into the corner of the goal. Shortly after a similar attack, the visitors almost took the lead with V.Behrami, but his headed shot went wide of the goal.
The game became open, but neither team managed to score. In the dying moments of the match, substitute S.Nonda had a chance to snatch victory, but after breaking through three defenders, he shot over the goal. The match ended in a draw, so both teams had to settle for a point.
