November 6 2022: Roma Lazio 0-1
- Simon Basten
- 12 hours ago
- 7 min read
Lazio show how to reach nirvana
Felipe Anderson gives Lazio a deserved win as Roma show their limits
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had changed manager, from Simone Inzaghi to Maurizio Sarri, and had had difficulties in adapting to a new style of play, from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3. The problems were particularly in defence but in the second half of the season there was an improvement in set up and Lazio finished sixth, qualifying for the Europa League.
In the summer transfer window, a lot of comings and goings. New arrivals were Alessio Romagnoli (free transfer), Mario Gila (Real Madrid) and Nicolò Casale (Verona) in defence, Marcos Antonio (Shakhtar Donetsk) and Matis Vecino (free transfer) at midfield, forward Matteo Cancellieri (Verona) plus goalkeepers Ivan Provedel (Spezia) and Luis Maximiano (Granada). Lazio said goodbye to Pepe Reina (end of contract), Francesco Acerbi (Inter, loan), Luiz Felipe (end of contract), Jovane Cabral (end of loan), Lucas Leiva (end of contract), Jean Daniel Akpa Akbro (Empoli, loan) and Thomas Strakosha (end of contract).
Lazio were currently fifth in the company of Inter. They had had a few of good wins (Inter 3-1, Fiorentina 4-0, Atalanta 2-0 away) but in the last match had lost at home to Salernitana. Roma were one point ahead …
The match: Sunday, November 6, 2022, Roma Lazio 0-1
Maurizio Sarri was not able to play Ciro Immobile, who was on the bench but injured, nor Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, suspended, and although Luis Alberto was not 100% fit, Lazio desperately needed his quality, so in came the Spaniard. The rest of the line-up was as predicted. Despite what José Mourinho had claimed after their game in Europe during the week, Roma were by many considered to be favourites today, which is paradoxically one of the worst things that can happen before a derby since it always brings bad luck!!!
Roma started very well and had a couple of half chances within the first five minutes. In the second Tammy Abraham’s shot was weak and comfortably saved by Ivan Provedel and in the fifth Nicolò Zaniolo’s attempt from outside the box was well wide.
That was it for half an hour. When Lazio had control of the ball they could not find a gap to send one of their forwards in, when Roma had control they really did not know what to do. Lazio were defensively tight and the Alessio Romagnoli and Nicolò Casale duo were a brick wall.
The game changed in the 29th minute. Roger Ibanez, in his penalty box, decided to dribble past Pedro and go solo, forgetting he does not possess the skills to do so. He lost the ball, Pedro to Felipe Anderson all alone in front of Rui Patricio, 1-0 for Lazio.
Roma supporters could not believe it. It was the second time Ibanez made a decisive mistake in a derby. A Lazio player undercover perhaps?
The Giallorossi tried to regroup and four minutes after the goal Zaniolo had their biggest chance of the game. The ball casually got to him and he shot towards goal as soon as he could. The ball was deflected by Romagnoli and became a dangerous lob that hit the crossbar and bounced back into play.
Then nothing much happened. Lazio tried to slow the game down, Roma were incapable of creating anything. Pedro’s shot in the first minute of injury time was comfortably saved by the Roma goalkeeper.
During the interval Zeki Celik replaced Gianluca Mancini who had been booked early in the first half.
The second half script was more or less the same as the first even though Roma had a lot more possession. This increased control of the ball however was to no avail and the Giallorossi were hardly ever dangerous. In the 52nd minute Chris Smalling headed the ball wide from a corner (but there was a probable foul on Adam Marusic). Two minutes later Lorenzo Pellegrini was forced off due to injury and substituted by youngster Cristian Volpato.
The Roma players on the wing were incapable of putting a decent cross in the box and Mourinho threw in Stephen El Shaarawy for Karsdorp in the 63rd minute.
In the 67th minute Zaniolo went into the box on the left surrounded by Lazio players but somehow managed to reach Provedel. The duel was won by the Lazio goalkeeper.
Sarri too made some changes a minute later: in came Matteo Cancellieri and Elseid Hysaj for Pedro and Manuel Lazzari, and immediately afterwards Toma Basic replaced an injured Luis Alberto.
In the 72nd minute Lazio could have been two up. Quick counter attack by Cancellieri who once in the Roma penalty area was surrounded by Roma defenders. He saw Felipe Anderson outside the box ready for the kill. Ball to Felipetto, great shot, great save by Rui Patricio.
Two more substitutions for Roma in the 73rd minute: Andrea Belotti and Nemanja Matic came in for Nicola Zalewski and Mady Camara. In the 85th Luca Romero made his seasonal Serie A debut and Mattia Zaccagni took a rest.
Two minutes later there was a Stefan Radu masterpiece. The Romanian, from the bench, prevented Rui Patricio from taking a quick throw in. This generated a massive confrontation between the players. More time wasted. The two were booked. Not very “sportivo”, but we’ve seen far worse from the other side over the years, so it was a pleasure to see them on the receiving end of the stick for once.
In the eight minutes of injury time Smalling continued to send in long balls for the Roma forwards but Lazio’s defensive wall never crumbled. The interesting fact is that it was actually the player with the best aerial abilities on the pitch sending in these balls. It would have been a lot more useful to Roma had Smalling been the target of these high crosses.
Lazio won. The Biancocelesti did not do much to win it but then the Giallorossi did nothing to fight back.
Who played for Roma
Rui Patricio, Mancini (46' Celik), Smalling, Ibanez, Karsdorp (63' El Shaarawy), Cristante, Camara (73' Matic), Zalewski (73' Belotti), Zaniolo, Pellegrini (53' Volpato), Abraham
Substitutions: Boer, Svilar, Shomurodov, Vina, Kumbulla, Bove, Tripi, Tahirovic, Cherubini, Faticanti
Manager: Mourinho
Who played for Lazio
Provedel, Lazzari (68’ Hysaj), Casale, Romagnoli, Marusic, Vecino, Cataldi, Luis Alberto (71’ Basic), Pedro (68’ Cancellieri), Felipe Anderson, Zacagni (84’ Romero)
Manager: Sarri
Referee: Orsato
Goal: 29’ Felipe Anderson
What happened next
Lazio finished second behind Napoli. To note is that Lazio had only come second three times before, 1936-37, 1994-95 and 1998-99, so this year’s result was a positive rarity in Lazio's history.
They arrived third in their Europa League group and were forced to play in the Conference League where they were later eliminated in the round of 16 by AZ Alkmaar. In Coppa Italia they were eliminated in the quarter finals by Juventus.
The player with most appearances was Felipe Anderson (50) but Ivan Provedel was the player with most minutes (4361). Top scorer was Ciro Immobile with 14 goals.
One of the more positive things of the season were the 21 clean sheets. The defensive issue of the previous year was gone.
Let’s talk about Matteo Cancellieri
Matteo Cancellieri was born in Roma on February 12, 2002. He started playing football with Roma at 16 and in 2021 was sold to Verona in the deal that brought Marash Kumbulla to the capital. That season he played for the Primavera scoring 15 goals in 18 games. He did so well that in the following season he was called to the first team making his Serie A debut on August 21. He made 14 appearances with two goals and in 2022-23 he was sold to Lazio.
He impressed in the pre-season training and started to be one of the main players put in by Maurizio Sarri in the second half. One could see that he had quality but he slowly lost faith in himself and was unable to make the first team regularly. He made 30 appearances but did not impress. In 2023-24 he was loaned to Empoli playing 36 games and scoring four goals, the last of which against Roma in the final match guaranteeing their survival in Serie A. Back at Lazio for pre-training, he was then loaned to Parma where he did very well, making 27 appearances with 3 goals.
In 2025-26 he returned to the capital and was probably going to be sold but the fact that the club were not allowed to make any signings for financial reasons translated in him staying. Furthermore, Gustav Isaksen fell ill and Cancellieri earned a first eleven role for the beginning of the season.
Despite the fact that many believed him to be not up to par with Serie A level, he proved everybody wrong and played a good first couple of months, scoring three goals.
In Nazionale he has played 12 times for the Under 21s, with 4 goals, and even debuted with the National Team in a Nations League game against Germany.
Cancellieri in the youth teams was a forward and Sarri saw him as a possible replacement for Ciro Immobile. But he has since blossomed as a winger and what he has shown so far in the 2025-26 season is very, very promising.
Sources
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