Italian Serie A Preview: SS Lazio – AS Roma (Part 1)
Lazio and Roma are set to fight out Derby Della Capitale (Derby of the Capital) tonight. The derby is wildly considered to be the fiercest derby in Italy and one of the greatest and hotly contested Capital derbies in entire of Europe.
The derby is historically remembered for massive crowds, violence, excitement and even racist banners.
Ever since Roma and Lazio went head to head for the first time on December 8th, 1929, there have been 130 League derbies played with Roma leading the count with 43 victories. Lazio were victorious in 33 games while 54 ended
in a stalemate.
The two sides go head to head once again tonight and the victorious side will have the city bragging rights until the next edition of the derby is played after the winter break.
Aquile soaring high
Lazio have been the true surprise package of the Serie A so far. No one would have imagined Aquile leading the Serie A charts after nine rounds of football. Indeed coach Eduardo Reja has done tremendous work with a squad which was struggling
for survival not six months back.
Brazilian import Hernanes has been the best player in Serie A by some distance and his playmaking skills coupled with sublime movement has been a joy to behold. With Hernanes stealing most of the opposition attention, Stefano Mauri has
found a new lease of life and the duo is in red-hot form.
As Inter could only muster a draw at home against Brescia Calcio last night, Lazio will retain the top spot even if they lose to AS Roma tonight. On current for however, that seems unlikely.
Gilarossi looking for consistency
In complete contrast to Lazio season so far, Lupi’s start to the season has been plagued with inconsistency and poor results. Injuries to key players and dip in form for some has not aided the Gilarossi cause either.
Claudio Ranieri’s side stands 9th in the league with 12 points from nine matches – 10 points off the pace. With Scudetto hopes already having disappeared, Romans now look to qualify for the UEFA Champions League
and thus cannot afford to drop anymore points. Losing is never an option in derbies and a defeat now will read disaster for Claudio Ranieri. To make matters worse, club legend and talisman Francesco Totti will be suspended for this tie after getting his marching
orders last week against Lecce.
On a positive note, Gilarossi have won their last two matches on a trot and look to regaining some sort of consistency. With some key players returning from injuries, Romans will be hoping to get some sort of result against the flying
eagles.
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