Coppa Italia, Final
May 26, 2013
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Roma Lazio 0-1
Lazio win the Coppa Italia derby final in a legendary match with a goal by Senad Lulic.
People were scared of going to the game because they predicted violence. It took a while for the tickets to be sold and actually I did have second thoughts on whether to go to the game or not. In the end I went, because the tension of watching it at home would have been too much. The police made sure there would be absolutely no contact between the fans and the area surrounding the Olimpico was divided into two, just like in the stadium.
This was a game where the winner took it all: the Cup, City supremacy, Europa League qualification. To say it was a tense match for all of the people involved, fans and players alike, would be stating the obvious.
It was not a packed stadium, 50,000 spectators, and some areas of the Tribuna Tevere and Monte Mario were empty.
Lazio had a chance almost immediately. Senad Lulic shot from outside the box, Bogdan Lobont parried, then Miro Klose was unable to tap the ball in from a very difficult position. In the 10th minute Roma’s first chance. Erik Lamela to Michael Bradley who in the box on the right attempted a shot that went wide. In the 35th minute Stefan Radu crossed into the box from the left, Klose rose above all the Roma defenders but headed the ball centrally and Lobont was able to parry. In the 45th minute Marquinhos crossed from the left but it was slightly too high for Mattia Destro who was not able to make decent contact with the ball. That was the end of the first half.
In the second half the teams lost shape and there was more space for action even if not really dangerous. Lazio lost Cristian Ledesma through injury and in the 54th minute he was substituted by Stefano Mauri. The ball went from one penalty box to the other, exciting to see for the neutral spectator. I can imagine, for me it was torture.
In the 67th minute Lulic went off on the left and crossed. Mauri volleyed the ball across the box but Klose could not quite get there in time to make contact. In the 70th minute Daniele De Rossi made a long pass over the Lazio defence for Marquinho who crossed the ball from the by line towards Destro in the box. The Roma centre forward received the ball back to the goal, he turned around and was marked by Giuseppe Biava who lost his footing for a second allowing Destro to shoot. Marchetti saved.
What happened in the famous 71st minute? Free kick for Lazio. Eddy Onazi to Antonio Candreva on the right inside the Roma half, ball back to Abdoulay Konko who passed it to Mauri who immediately gave it to Candreva and ran into an open space 5 metres from the edge of the box. Candreva understood what Mauri wanted to do, passed him the ball and ran forward. The Lazio skipper waited for Candreva to get into the right position and passed it to the winger who in the meantime had accelerated and beaten Federico Balzaretti. As soon as Candreva saw the possibility of a cross and Lulic on the other side of the box, in came the low pass. Lobont got a hand to it thus cutting out a Marquinhos clearance. The ball arrived to Lulic, open goal, 1-0.
Delirium, tears of joy, hugs with strangers. The Lazio fans went crazy. But there were still at least another 20 minutes to go.
Roma had an immediate chance to equalise. Free kick in the 73rd minute, Francesco Totti, completely absent from the game until this point, crossed in the box, nobody intervened, the ball bounced in front of Marchetti who at the last possible second realised that it was going in. The Lazio goalkeeper managed to push the ball onto the crossbar and catch it as it fell down.
Roma sent in Pablo Osvaldo and Dodo for Balzaretti and Marquinho (Roma confusingly had both defender Marquinhos and midfielder Marquinho on the field) but despite having most of the possession, never created any chances. In the final minutes Lazio substituted Hernanes and Onazi with Alvaro El Tata Gonzalez and Michael Ciani. Mauri had the chance to make it two in the third minute of injury time on a counterattack, but his shot was saved by Lobont.
Lazio won. Roma are dead.
Who played for Roma
Lobont, Marquinhos, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti (76' Osvaldo), De Rossi, Bradley, Lamela, Totti, Marquinho (83' Dodò), Destro.
Substitutes: Goicoechea, Svedkauskas, Taddei, Piris, Florenzi, Romagnoli, Tachtsidis, Perrotta, Lopez, Pjanic.
Manager: Andreazzoli.
Who played for Lazio
Marchetti, Konko, Biava, Cana, Radu, Candreva, Onazi (92’ Ciani), Ledesma (54’ Mauri), Hernanes (85’ Gonzalez), Lulic, Klose.
Manager: Petkovic
Referee: Orsato
Goal: 71’ Lulic
What happened next
The players stayed on the pitch for hours after the game, the fans stayed in the stadium for even longer. In the evening an open bus paraded at Ponte Milvio for the lap of honour. A few days later, Lazio fans celebrated a mock Roma funeral, particularly apt after a famous pro-Roma radio program claimed that Roma were dead.
On June 6, fans crowded the Spanish Steps and Christian Brocchi raised the cup to the sky for a magnificent photo shoot.
And Roma? Captain Francesco Totti has yet to speak about the game, ten years on, and the fans were left empty, like Piazza di Spagna during lockdown or like the Curva Sud five minutes after the end of the game.
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