Dybala and Paredes’ Roma win a hot classic against Lazio

THE Rome of world champions Paolo Dybala AND Leandro Paredesboth starters, defeated 1-0 lazio inside “Capital Derby” thanks to Gianluca Mancini’s goal, which also served to lift morale ahead of the important Europa League quarter-final match against Milan, while remaining in the running for the next Champions League.

It was the day chosen for an entire city dedicated to football. Roma and Lazio met at their home, at the Olympic Stadium, to settle a match tense confrontation in which Daniele De Rossi (11 matches as coach, 8 wins, two draws and one defeat) wins his first derby as coach and Mancini proves to be the protagonist.

A much loved player within the Roma community, who only needed this performance to make his name grow in the team. yellow Red. A captain without an armband who decided the duel with one head shot from a corner kicked to the head by Cordoba’s Dybala at the end of the first act.

Roma did better in a hot match but in which there was no shortage of opportunities. The clearest ones on De Rossi’s side. Indeed, Stephan El Shaaraawy could have increased the score early in the second half, but his shot hit the post, leaving the game open.

As the minutes passed The tension on the pitch increases and clashes between players continue.. Dybala with the Frenchman Mateo Guendozi; and the Spaniard Pedro with the Argentine Leandro Paredes. Football began to lose importance and Lazio was damaged.

A Lazio that also appeared in the duel with the Spaniard Luis Alberto as a substitute, a decision that surprised the fans given that he was their best player. He entered the second half together with his compatriots Patric and Pedro, significantly improving the team for a few minutes.

But Roma have the game in hand and won’t let it slip away. The Belgian Romelu Lukaku, always marked by the Spaniard Mario Gila, always at a high level, was a constant escape route in length for the locals, who constantly gained meters with their burly attacker.

The beautiful image of Tammy Abraham’s return also remained from the duel. In the 80th minute Dybala was replaced by the Englishman, who returned to play an official match more than 300 days later after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee, way back in June 2023, in the last match of last season against Spezia. The striker received an ovation from the Olympic Stadium.

Mancini and his header decided the ‘Derbi della Capitale’, Roma’s most important match. ‘Loba’ keeps the dream of the ‘Champions’ alive, which is now at 2 points in the absence of the match against Bologna; but for now let’s think about the Europa League.

Croatian Igor Tudor’s Lazio suffers their first defeat in Serie A and remains seventh, out of the European positions, with the possibility of relegation at the end of the day.