Game 22, Serie A
Sunday February 18, 1996
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio Roma 1-0
A senseless handball by Lanna gives Lazio a vital win
Lazio were currently in 5th place, on 33 points. After a bad loss at Piacenza, the Biancocelesti had won two and drawn one. The most recent game had been a 1-1 draw at Udine. This however was the derby, a game which stands apart from tables, form, moods, it is THE game.
Roma, under Carlo Mazzone, were having a similar season to Lazio, up and down. The Giallorossi were 6th, on 31 points, two behind Lazio. Roma had lost two out of the last three league games but their most recent had been a 3-0 home win against Cremonese. It was a chance for them to leapfrog hated rivals Lazio in the table.
The first derby had been a 0-0 draw but hopefully the Romans would see some goals today. It was a game for Roman supremacy but with an eye on Europe.
The match
A 70,000 crowd on a fresh, humid night in Rome for the 134th "derby della capitale".
Lazio were missing defenders Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Negro. Roma had no absences but chose Massimo Cappioli over Francesco Moriero in midfield and Marco Delvecchio over Daniel Fonseca up front.
The first two shots at goal came from freekicks and were both by Abel Balbo. The second was the more dangerous but Luca Marchegiani was well positioned and blocked. Roma then had a feeble penalty appeal for a Pierluigi Casiraghi push on Delvecchio but there was clearly nothing in it.
Lazio came into the game with a couple of corners and then Casiraghi was tripped by Marco Lanna while cutting in towards the area for the first yellow card of the game. The second came a few minutes later when Cristiano Bergodi was intentionally hacked down by a late Francesco Totti trip in midfield, starting some pushing and shoving between the players.
Roma attacked more, in the 20th minute from an Amedeo Carboni cross, Delvecchio connected well with a scissor kick but it was too central. In the 36th minute the Lazio keeper had to race off his line to anticipate Totti.
Some bad news for Lazio came in the 39th minute when Alen Boksic was forced off with a muscular problem and replaced by Roberto Rambaudi.
At the end of the half Lazio stirred , first with a Casiraghi left footed volley over the bar and then the Lazio striker was too slow to react to a loose ball just outside the area and caught up and dispossessed by Fabio Petruzzi who cleared for a corner. Halftime Lazio 0 Roma 0.
The Giallorossi had been slightly on top and more positive but Lazio had shown some signs of life towards the end.
There were no changes for the second half. In the 52nd minute Lanna risked an own goal when clashing with keeper Giovanni Cervone and Casiraghi, he headed the ball back towards an empty goal only for it to be intercepted near the goalline by Aldair.
The goal scoring chances were few and far between. In the 63rd minute Roma had a potential chance when Totti squared to Balbo in front of goal but Marchegiani stormed off his line and diving managed to clear with feet. A few minutes later the Lazio keeper almost gave a goal away when he clumsily dropped a catch from a corner, the ball bounced out to Cappioli at the edge of the box but he fired wide.
In the 70th minute Bergodi was forced off injured, after battling with Totti all evening, and was replaced by 18 year-old Alessandro Grandoni for his debut.
In the 73rd minute Beppe Signori was booked for a lunging and unnecessary late tackle on Aldair.
Between the 75th and the 78th minute Mazzone made two changes. First Fonseca came on for Delvecchio and then Moriero for Cappioli.
Meanwhile in the 76th minute Lazio finally tested Cervone. On a cross by Diego Fuser, from the right of midfield into the left side of the area, Casiraghi controlled, cut inside beating Aldair and let off a low right foot towards the near post but Cervone dived low to his right and blocked.
In the 83rd minute Totti went off replaced by Gigi Di Biagio. In the same minute Lazio went close again when Signori fired in a powerful freekick from right of the area but Cervone saved into corner on the near post.
Then from the corner came the key episode of the entire game. On Signori's floating high corner, Lanna inexplicably jumped with his hand above his head and clearly touched the ball. Completely out of the blue, senseless but an indisputable penalty.
Signori stepped up and with his customary no run- up style put the ball one way and sent Cervone the other. Lazio 1 Roma 0. A sudden and unexpected twist to the derby.
Another twist came imnediately after as, before Roma could even kick off, Signori was shown a red card. In the euphoria, and forgetting his previous booking, he had run to celebrate under the Curva Nord and so reveiving a second yellow.
Roma predictably attacked in mass until the end. Their only real threat however was a low, long range Statuto shot which went just wide to Marchegiani's left.
In the 90th minute Lazio made a substitution to break the Giallorossi's rythm, bringing on Marco Piovanelli for Beppe Favalli. Then after a tense five minutes of injury time the referee whistled the end. Lazio 1 Roma 0.
An unspectacular derby, but that was nothing new, with a late coup de théâtre. For Lazio it felt as if Christmas had come early. To be "handed" the victory on a plate by your most bitter rivals in the most important game of the year was unbelievable. As most fans agree these are the most satisfying victories in derbies, late, not particularly deserved and leaving the opponents shellshocked and bitter.
No need to add that Lanna is still remembered fondly by Lazio fans.
This derby win kept Lazio in 5th place but the Biancocelesti were now five points above Roma. The table was important but for now the derby win gave Lazio bragging rights over the "cugini" for at least another eight months, no small detail in Rome.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Gottardi, Favalli (90' Piovanelli), Di Matteo, Bergodi (70' Grandoni), Chamot, Signori, Fuser, Casiraghi, Winter, Boksic (39' Rambaudi)
Manager: Zeman
Who played for Roma
Cervone, Aldair, Carboni, Statuto, Lanna, Petruzzi, Cappioli (78' Moriero), Thern, Balbo, Totti (83' Di Biagio), Delvecchio (75' Fonseca)
Substitutes: Sterchele, Annoni
Manager: Mazzone
Referee: Nicchi
Goals: 84' Signori (pen)
Red card : 85' Signori
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