Derby between Roma and Lazio ends in a draw

Bosnian Edin Dzeko put Roma ahead in the 26th minute, but Francesco Acerbi equalized for Lazio in the 34th minute in a derby where it was the romanists of Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca who searched the most for the three points, without reward.

The Olympic Stadium in Rome hosted a derby preceded by a lot of tension, aggravated after some Lazio fans hung a banner mocking the serious cruciate ligament injury suffered by Roma's Nicoló Zaniolo, defined as a "cripple".

Both teams had enough motivation, as they hadn't played a derby occupying such high positions in the table for years, and Roma started strongly, keeping Lazio confined to their own half and exciting the over 60,000 fans present at the Olympic Stadium.

However, it took two goalkeeping errors to break the deadlock. In the 26th minute, Tomas Strakosha made a mistake with a high clearance and Dzeko took advantage with a header, but just eight minutes later, Pau López made a grave error.

The former goalkeeper of Real Betis or Tottenham cleared poorly a rebound from Davide Santon on the goal line and Acerbi took advantage to push the ball into the net for the 1-1.

It was a goal that didn't change the dynamics of a match in which Roma searched the most for victory, led by the technique of Lorenzo Pellegrini, who hit the bar with a curved right-footed shot just before half-time, and by Turkish player Cengiz Under.

Roma also saw the referee first awarding and then denying a penalty for a possible foul by Spanish player Patric Gabarrón on Dutch player Justin Kluivert at the start of the second half, and attacked aggressively until the end, against a Lazio side focused on giving away few spaces.

Dzeko, Kluivert, and Pellegrini had good opportunities, but lacked accuracy, and the capital derby ended 1-1, just like in the first half of the season.

A draw leaves Lazio as a solid third-placed team, with a seven-point advantage over Roma who are fourth, with a one-point advantage over fifth-placed Atalanta.

Lazio is two points behind second-placed Inter Milan, with one game in hand. Leader Juventus Turin, who visits Napoli later on Sunday, is five points ahead.