Mattia Zaccagni kept his cool to convert a penalty given away by new Roma signing Dean Huijsen in a game with three red cards, as Lazio will face Juventus or Frosinone in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
The Derby della Capitale is never an ordinary match and both teams have stuttered in Serie A this season. Ciro Immobile and flu-hit Ivan Provedel missed out, with Gustav Isaksen and Luis Alberto carrying knocks, but Alessio Romagnoli returned after two months on the treatment table. Evan Ndicka and Houssem Aouar were on AFCON duty, Renato Sanches, Chris Smalling, Tammy Abraham and Marash Kumbulla injured, while Diego Llorente and Lorenzo Pellegrini picked up bruising in the Atalanta draw.
Taty Castellanos pounced on a terrible Rasmus Kristensen pass to go clear, seeing his shot deflected over by Gianluca Mancini.
The same defender also got in the way to deflect the Manuel Lazzari solo effort for a corner, while Christos Mandas making his Lazio debut fumbled a cross while fouled by Romelu Lukaku.
Mancini was again decisive to prevent Mateo Guendouzi tapping in from six yards on a Lazzari pull-back.
Paulo Dybala went off with an injury at half-time, but the first real chance of the game was for Lazio when Felipe Anderson burst down the right and put in a cross for the Matias Vecino header, forcing a great one-handed Rui Patricio save.
However, on the resulting corner Castellanos got to the ball first, so Dean Huijsen only kicked the back of his ankle for an inevitable penalty that Mattia Zaccagni converted.
Rather than wake the Giallorossi up, it inspired Lazio to push on even more, Rui Patricio making a desperate save with his body one-on-one with Vecino and the Zaccagni follow-up charged down, then the Uruguayan drilled inches wide moments later.
When Roma did see more of the ball, they couldn’t trouble Mandas, Lorenzo Pellegrini hitting a fresh-air volley. There was also controversy, as Edoardo Bove was struck on the back of the head by a bottle thrown from the stands after his substitution.
Roma finally had a genuine scoring opportunity on 88 minutes when Sardar Azmoun set it up for Andrea Belotti’s half-volley beaten away by Mandas, who then scrambled back up to push the rebound away from Lorenzo Pellegrini.
Deep into stoppages, Pedro received a second yellow card for a vicious scuffle with Leandro Paredes, so both the Spaniard and Luca Pellegrini will be suspended for the first leg of the semi-final.
Lukaku threatened an equaliser with his acrobatic chest and overhead kick, but it flashed over the bar.
The tension got to Sardar Azmoun, who was also given a red card for slapping Nicolo’ Rovella on the back of the head. Gianluca Mancini managed to get sent off for dissent after the final whistle.
Lazio 1-0 Roma
Zaccagni pen 51 (L)
Sent off: Pedro 96 (L), Azmoun 100 (R), Mancini 101 (R)
Player statistic
| Mattia Zaccagni |  |
51' | ||
| 57' |  |
Bryan Cristante | ||
| Taty Castellanos | |
60' | ||
| Mattéo Guendouzi | |
65' | ||
| 65' | |
Gianluca Mancini | ||
| Luca Pellegrini | |
90+3' | ||
| Pedro | |
90+5' | ||
| Pedro |  |
90+6' | ||
| 90+10' |  |
Sardar Azmoun |
Match statistic
