At the end of the 32nd round of Italian Serie A we have a real football treat as two great rivals meet at the Olimpico stadium in Rome, Lazio and Roma. Fact the match is a direct clash in the race for the Champions League gives an additional charm to it, given that 3rd-placed Lazio and 4th-positioned Rome have the same number of points at the moment, while 5th-placed Inter has one point fewer. Let’s add that their league match played last autumn had ended as Roma’s victory 2-1.
In that way Lazio has revenged to its city rival for last year’s elimination from the Coppa Italia, while near the end of previous season Lazio also won away by 3-1. However, their next match comes at very difficult moment for this team given that was eliminated from the Europa League by Salzburg just three days ago, after the Austria champion defeated them at home by even 4-1, with which it annulled at the same time home victory of the team from Rome of 4-2.
Of course, the defeat by Salzburg is going to leave a scar on psyche of team led by manager Inzaghi, especially as they got exhausted in the match, while just three days after they have to play the city derby with Roma that directly decides about qualification for the Champions League. True, 3rd-placed Lazio plays better now in the league where it won two matches after two draws. We need to add that at the moment the only player that is out of action is injured defender Patric.
Probable lineups Lazio Rome: Strakosha – Bastos, de Vrij, Radu – Marusic, Parolo, Leiva, Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic – Luis Alberto – Immobile
Unlike their city rivals, who failed to preserve advantage of two goals from the first quarter-final leg of the Europa League, Roma players made a sensation on Tuesday evening in the quarter-finals of the Champions League as they managed to annul minus of even three goals from the first match with Barcelona. Team led by manager di Francesco won and the Olimpico stadium the 2nd leg by 3-0 and thanks to goal scored away they made a historical came back and reached the semi-finals of the strongest club competition in Europe.
Of course, they mustn’t count that anything from the great success can be transferred into the next match, especially as they are going to face city rival Lazio on Sunday in moment when each point is very important in the race for the Champions League. Regarding the team that will play this very important match, we believe di Francesco will return to his favourite formation 4-3-3, especially as due to injuries he cannot count at the moment only on defender Karsdorp and winger Perotti.
Probable lineups AS Roma: Alisson – Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov – Strootman, de Rossi, Nainggolan – Under, Dzeko, El Shaarawy
Although atmosphere in Roma’s locker room is much better than of Lazio’s, we should bear in mind that Rome derby is always played with maximal capacity and consequently is it perhaps the most realistic to play on goals on both sides.
Pick: both teams to score
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