Roma-Lazio 0-1: Ibañez decides one of the ugliest derbies in history

The problem is that they lost to Radu's team, that former footballer who to take some applause got off the bench to hide a ball that had just come out. And it was on the day when the opponents actually did less in the season, less even than the days when they took good wakes, less even than the exhausted Roma who came to the game without Dybala, Wijnaldum and Spinazzola and who lost Pellegrini as well at the beginning of the second half and who got stuck in a decidedly sterile ball possession. This happened because without the winning idea of a clean exit from the bottom in certain matches it becomes difficult to get to the goal, and difficult to shoot on goal, even if in the second half you bring back all the offensive potential but you just find yourself throwing balls haphazardly inside the box, hoping for a miracle that does not come. So now in third place, Sarri's ugly Lazio has risen, alongside Atalanta, and Roma is back in fifth place, tied with Juventus, which thundered back into the game last night with Inter. The one at the Olimpico, was not very vibrant this time because perhaps the derby inhibits the fans as well. The fans did not witness the beautiful initial choreography, which was therefore a written tie that turned into defeat because of yet another mistake by Ibañez. It was the third gift in his derby history, he gifted the goal to Felipe Anderson at the half-hour mark of the first half and everything ended there.

The game's stalemate could only be broken by a personal feat or a resounding blunder. The two sliding door moments of the first half were between the 29th and 33rd minutes. On the occasion of the first, Lazio went ahead courtesy of the Brazilian, one who evidently suffers derbies and perhaps should not play them, given the number of stupidities collected. In the second, instead, it was the crossbar that graced Provedel, overcome by the lob that sprung from a beautiful Zaniolo conclusion touched up by Marusic's outstretched foot. So at halftime, it went with Lazio in a minimal lead, and the home crowd was jubilant as if the performance on the field had legitimized much revelry. And instead, for the first 45 minutes there was a very long stalemate phase with the sterile dribbling of the three Roma defenders in front of Rui Patricio's goal, looking for an opening to get to Cristante. Cristante is the only source of play capable of alternating, having the time, in the always uncertain short game with some cross capable of catching the Lazio defenders; always very tight toward the center and therefore in theory possible difficulty in covering the width of the Roma outfielders. But the problem seemed to come down to Cristante. In addition to the fact that by insisting on the two-man midfield, with Cristante and Camara who was preferred to Matic, there was also numerical inferiority in the middle. Thus, space never opened up, because of the always very high pressure of the three Lazio attackers (from the right Pedro, Felipe Anderson and Zaccagni) and the tow of the three midfielders to reduce the meters that could be trampled (from the right Vecino, Cataldi and Luis Alberto). So to play, Roma was forced to look for Karsdorp on this side or Zalewski on that side, always too low to go quickly to the opposite side. And Sarri's match plan worked if only by nullifying the few building virtues of Mou's Roma. Pellegrini was too high up, the left attacking midfielder of the trident was Zaniolo on the other side and the apathic Abraham these days was in the middle. 

Thus, Roma made themselves dangerous, at least in the beginning, thanks mainly to the positive transition phase, that is, stealing balls out of the way of some distracted Lazio headers. In this way, Abraham went for a right-footed shot in the 2nd minute and Zaniolo a left-footed shot in the 5th minute, without ever really bothering Provedel, but giving the idea that Roma could make their voice heard and handle the ball more than the frightened Lazio, lacking the totem Milinkovic and with Immobile on the bench only able to cheer. But then the game went into lockdown, with Roma managing the ball in areas that were always too low and Lazio looking for the right moment to take it off Roma's feet and aim for Rui Patricio's goal. On and on, the plan succeeded, because when Roma's dribbling got too squashed in the area, the pass from Ibañez to Zalewski was shielded by Pedro who did not give in to the Brazilian's dribbling attempt and touched the ball to him at the right moment, directing it to Felipe Anderson, alone in the central area with Smalling who had risen, as he often does, while at the dribble were his teammates mates, in line with Rui Patricio. Therefore, it was easy for the Lazio man to control and beat the vainly outstretched goalkeeper. 

Roma's reaction was immediate but was extinguished by Zaniolo's chance. This was caused moreover by one of the rare outings in which Cristante was found behind the three Lazio attackers, with rapid outside development for Karsdorp who looked diagonally for Abraham who served Zaniolo who turned well and shot hard, finding as already written the crossbar to save Provedel. Another promising restart was squandered in the 35th minute by Abraham who looked for an impossible track, even for Zalewski, in the box when it had seemed to everyone that it would have been much easier to assist Pellegrini who had gone for the ball. Derby jokes. The half ended with another assist by Abraham for Pellegrini who tried a very complicated goal with a left-footed rebound, which, moreover, ended not far from the goalposts. So it went to halftime, without a shred of a corner for Roma and with ball possession mockingly in their favor (58% to 42%), with 5 shots for Roma and 3 by Lazio toward the goal. 2 shots were in the mirror for one, but with those inches made the difference: it was only crossbar for us and a goal was given away for them.

45 minutes plus 8 of stoppage time were not enough to create a single real chance on goal, excluding perhaps Smalling's header (out) on Pellegrini's corner in the opening half, when Celik had already taken over from the disheveled Mancini, pulled out to avoid perhaps finding himself down to ten men, having been cautioned early on. With time, Mou rehashed his full offensive potential, putting in Volpato when Pellegrini got injured, El Shaarawy for Karsdorp (Zalewski on the right) and then Matic for Camara and Belotti for Zalewski, with the four-man defense with the Pharaoh at fullback, two midfielders and four forwards massed. Lazio ducked down delegating to Cancellieri a few counter-attacks, then even to the "new Messi" Romero (sic), while Roma's long crosses were punctually prey to Lazio's central midfielders or to Abraham's and Zaniolo's missed checks. Then came the usual expulsion for the Roma bench (this time Foti) and the fine expression of sportsmanship by the Lazio bench, with Radu making the balls disappear (and Orsato even admonishing Rui Patricio who tried to retrieve it), and others throwing the balls back onto the pitch to prevent them from being taken up again. Also, Orsato, who in the bullfight was forced to assign as much as eight minutes of added time, which of course elapsed amid further time wasting and the long wait of the Lazio fans, unleashed after the 100th, who were also incredulous of the gift they received in one of the ugliest derbies ever. Let no one, at least, take the license of the beautiful game. The dunce's game, however, Ibañez gets it all.