Coppa Italia: Lazio in semifinals, Zaccagni’s penalty bends Roma
Coppa Italia: Lazio-Roma 1-0
Lazio won the Coppa Italia derby against Roma 1-0 and qualified for the semifinals of the tournament, where they will face the winner of Juventus-Frosinone. The biancocelesti thus continue their positive series in the capital’s extracittadina: in the last four confrontations, in fact, there have been three wins (all 1-0) and one draw (0-0 last November 12), while Roma have not won a derby since a 3-0 league win on March 30, 2022.
Greeted by the boiling atmosphere of the Olimpico, the twenty-two lined up from 1' by Maurizio Sarri and José Mourinho made themselves the protagonists of an emotionless first half, in which the fear of uncovering themselves prevailed over the desire to sink: it is not surprising, therefore, that at halftime they went to the locker room on 0-0. Meanwhile, Roma lost Dybala, stopped by a physical problem and replaced at the beginning of the second half by Lorenzo Pellegrini.
In fact, the first real assault of the match in general, and of Lazio in particular, è also the one that leads to the goal-victory. It all began on 48', when Rui Patricio made a great save on Vecino’s header: on the next corner, Huijsen hit Castellanos in the box and, after on-field review, referee Orsato whistled the penalty, which Zaccagni converted when the clock è meanwhile came to mark 51'.
On the wave of enthusiasm, the Biancocelesti came close to doubling the score on 57', but first Vecino had his close-range finish repelled by Rui Patricio, then Zaccagni sent the ball past Kristensen. The match becomes thorny, many interruptions: Sarri inserts Luca Pellegrini, Rovella, Pedro and Isaksen in place of Lazzari, Cataldi, Zaccagni and Castellanos; Mourinho, who in the meantime had already brought in Spinazzola and Azmoun in place of Zalewski and Karsdorp, tries everything in the final by sending in El Shaarawy and Belotti in place of Bove and Huijsen.
It was precisely Belotti who had the 1-1 ball on his left in the 87th minute, Mandas è very good both in the rebound and in preventing Pellegrini from being able to pounce on the ball in a tap-in (there was however a foul by the latter, according to the match director). The numerous interruptions forced Orsato to assign 7 minutes of added time, further lengthened by another three laps of the clock due to Pedro's expulsion in 96's, punished for a reaction foul with play stopped. In 98' Roma came close to a resounding equalizer with a splendid reverse by Lukaku, but the ball finished just high.
The triple whistle came after 100 minutes and 7 seconds, and after another red, this time for Azmoun, which also left Roma in ten for a hand to the face of Rovella. After the match ended Mancini was also sent off for repeated protests against the referee. Nerves were tense but Lazio could celebrate their return to the semifinals for the first time since 2019, when the Biancocelesti came to win the Coppa Italia for the seventh time in their history, beating Atalanta 2-0.
