Lazio wins heated Roman derby and ousts Inter from second plats

Lazio played in Serie A in an as always fraught Derby della Capitale won 1-0 against AS Roma. Lazio climbed to second place in Serie A as a result, as Internazionale lost to Juventus by the same figures.

Leaders Napoli maintained their street-length lead through a 4-0 win at Torino.

Lazio was eliminated by AZ in the Conference League this week, but coach Maurizio Sarri said before that match that he thought winning over AS Roma was more important. Roma were paired with Feyenoord in the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Friday.

At Roma, Georginio Wijnaldum was in the starting lineup and Rick Karsdorp and coach José Mourinho were missing. Karsdorp suffered a broken nose in the Europa League last week, Mourinho was suspended for misconduct in the game with Cremonese.

In the first half, there was little soccer and a lot of fuss in the Roman derby. The atmosphere in the Stadio Olimpico was already heated and it only got worse when Roma defender Roger Ibañez received his second yellow card, and thus red, after half an hour.

Just before half-time, a riot occurred along the line, leading to red cards for Lazio’s technical coach and Roma’s goalkeeper coach.

With a man more, Lazio had the better of the game after halftime, leading to the 1-0 in the 65th minute from Mattia Zaccagni, who shook off two Roma defenders on the edge of the penalty area and rounded into the far corner.

After Wijnaldum was substituted, Roma seemed to equalize through an own goal by Nicole Cassale on a “pass” from Chris Smalling, but VAR pointed out that the Englishman had been offside.

There was no more scoring in Rome, though Adam Marusic (Lazio) and Bryan Cristante (Roma) were also shown a red card afterwards.

Internazionale could have retaken second place, but went down in front of their own crowd against Juventus: 0-1.

Inter started strongly, which produced a good chance for Nicolò Barella, but after a one-two with Romelu Lukaku, he bumped into goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Juventus only shot at André Onana’s goal after more than 20 minutes, and it was an instant hit. Filip Kostic took advantage of a misunderstanding in the Inter defense.

Lukaku was close to the equalizer before halftime, but he headed wide. In the second half, Inter upped the tempo, but it was insufficient to break down solid Juventus.

Napoli is another step closer to its third Italian title since 1990. The Serie A leader, eighteen points ahead of Inter, recorded a trouble-free 4-0 win at Torino.

Already after nine minutes Victor Osimhen headed in from a corner. But Torino, with Perr Schuurs in the starting line-up, played well and had chances as well: Antonio Sanabria hit the post in the rebound after goalkeeper Alex Meret half-saved a Samuele Ricci shot and Mërgim Vojvoda shot wide.

Just before halftime, Napoli phenom Khvicha Kvaratschelia was brought down in the penalty area and the young Georgian exploited the penalty himself.

Just after halftime, Marthías Olivera found Osimhen’s head for the 0-3. Torino did attack, but chances did not materialize and after good passing by Osimhen, Tanguy N’Dombele even made it 0-4.