Henrikh Mkhitaryan and a sensational Pedro strike allowed Roma to enjoy their first Derby della Capitale win against Lazio since September 2018, Football-Italia reports.
These teams were seventh and sixth respectively going into the weekend, both at risk of missing out on their primary European targets. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic returned with a protective mask after fracturing his nose, with Lucas Leiva and Andreas Pereira back from their bans, but Joaquin Correa and Felipe Caicedo were not fully fit. The Giallorossi injury list included Jordan Veretout, Pau Lopez, Chris Smalling, Leonardo Spinazzola, Amadou Diawara, Carles Perez, Riccardo Calafiori and Nicolò Zaniolo.
Rick Karsdorp made a decisive block from 12 yards to stop Luis Alberto turning in the Manuel Lazzari assist, while the Spaniard was then denied by a fantastic Daniel Fuzato save after Milinkovic-Savic caught Roger Ibanez in possession.
Edin Dzeko’s header was off target and Muriqi did have the ball in the net, but only after he’d wandered offside. Milinkovic-Savic misplaced his lob over from a Luis Alberto assist, but once again Roma suffered a muscular injury and lost Ibanez.
Roma took the lead when Dzeko ran onto a Stephan El Shaarawy ball down the left, turned Francesco Acerbi at the by-line and pulled it back for Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s cushioned volley from six yards.
Bryan Cristante’s chest and volley flashed just over from an El Shaarawy cross, as did the Dzeko effort which went through Luiz Felipe’s legs.
Immobile thought he had equalized with a sensational flying back-heel flick at the near post, but didn’t count on the extraordinary Fuzato save from point-blank range.
Moments later, Roma also had a huge chance with Dzeko and Gonzalo Villar setting up Cristante, but Manuel Lazzari made a decisive interception from a couple of yards.
Pedro came off the bench and doubled their lead with a wonderful solo effort. He shrugged off two tackles in midfield before curling a left-foot scorcher into the far bottom corner from 20 metres out.
Dzeko skimmed the upright after turning on the edge of the area, and once again got away from Acerbi, so the defender received a second yellow card for clinging to his jersey.
