Lazio 1-2 Roma: Magical Mirko Vucinic Puts Giallorossi Back On Top Of Serie A

Posted Monday, April 19, 2010 by Goal.com

Lazio squandered a half-time lead and a second half penalty as Roma went back to the top of Serie A with a 2-1 win in the Derby della Capitale.

Mirko Vucinic was the hero with a 10-minute brace early in the second period after Tommaso Rocchi had given the Biancocelesti an early lead. But Claudio Ranieri will win huge plaudits for his bravery in replacing Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi at half-time in a double move which injected life into his lethargic troops.

To make matters worse for the Aquile, Cristian Ledesma was shown the red card in injury time.

Ranieri threw all of his eggs into a trident-shaped basket, naming Luca Toni, Francesco Totti and Mirko Vucinic to lead the Roma line. Edy Reja once again decided to leave Mauro Zarate on the Lazio bench, while Stefan Radu was fit to start in the usual back three.
Aleksandar Kolarov got to the bye-line in the opening moments for the home side and crossed towards the far post, but there was just too much height on the effort and Stephan Liechtsteiner couldn’t grow enough to get anything on the ball.

After an early snapshot over the bar by Totti, Vucinic chipped through for Toni in the box, but with the Roma striker going for the bouncing ball with his right boot and Stendardo trying to cut the pass out with his head, it was no surprise when the Lazio defender came out of the challenge with a bloodied nose and a free-kick.

In no time at all, Edy Reja made the necessary change as it was immediately obvious that Stendardo’s game was over. Giuseppe Biava came on in his place for his first taste of the Rome derby.

After a couple of shots from mere half-chances, Lazio broke the deadlock in the 14th minute. Tommaso Rocchi burst through a gap in the back four between Marco Cassetti and Nicolas Burdisso, meeting Cristian Ledesma’s fabulous chipped pass to poke beyond the advancing Julio Sergio into the far corner.

Short-lived joy - Lazio celebrate Tommaso Rocchi's opener.

The Biancocelesti’s confidence clearly received a boost from the strike and they began to dominate the ball across the midfield, showing an ease in possession belying their league position.

Cristian Brocchi had to come to Lazio’s aid when John Arne Riise was teed up at a free-kick 30 yards from goal, but the ex-Milan midfielder was quick to block the Norwegian’s attempted piledriver with a sprawling block.

After an excellent run by Lichtsteiner, Rocchi seemed to have gotten into a shooting position once more, but Burdisso got a foot to the ball first and Julio Sergio failed to stop the ball from going out for a corner. Rocchi’s first reaction had been to ask referee Paolo Tagliavento for a penalty, but the Argentine had clearly taken the ball.

When Riise was penalised and booked for a foul from the resulting corner, Ledesma looked a fair bet to ask more questions of Julio Sergio, but his free-kick was struck wildly above the bar.

Roma were then their own worst enemies as a cross towards the far post seemed to be falling perfectly for Daniele De Rossi to chest down and shoot on sight, but Juan failed to heed his team-mate’s call and flicked the ball out of play in stretching to get something on the ball.

Lazio earned another dangerous free-kick when Cassetti committed a foul just to the left of the penalty area after De Rossi had lost the ball to Sergio Floccari in midfield. This time Kolarov overhit the set piece right through the gap between his advancing team-mates and the far post.

With the last 10 minutes of the opening half approaching, Roma were increasingly attempting to push for an equaliser, but one of their better chances was wasted when David Pizarro failed to spot that Totti was trying to get back into an onside position, meaning the Chilean’s throughball was simply allowed to run out of play.

Stefano Mauri did brilliantly to track the run of Simone Perrotta, making an acrobatic clearance to stop the former Chievo man getting a shot in at the far post from Vucinic’s cross. And as Lazio broke, De Rossi was booked for going right through Floccari as he attempted to cover.

With time running out before the break it seemed that Toni might get a shot in towards goal, but as Biava got in front of him, he pulled the shirt of his ex-Palermo team-mate and went to ground, prompting Tagliavento to award Lazio a free-kick.

The home side’s next set piece came after Francesco Totti’s stray hand caught the face of Dias. The Roma skipper was also cautioned for his indiscretion, which was the last talking point of an intriguing opening 45 minutes.

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri sprung a massive surprise at half-time by replacing skipper Totti and vice-captain De Rossi to introduce Jeremy Menez and Rodrigo Taddei. Whilst both club icons were on yellow cards, it was still a huge gamble by the Roman tactician.

And within a minute of the restart, Lazio’s hopes of victory were increased further as the referee awarded a penalty for Cassetti’s clumsy foul on Kolarov. But Julio Sergio came to Roma’s rescue by blocking Floccari’s weak spot-kick with his legs to keep Roma in the game.

Five minutes later there was a penalty at the other end. Lazio failed to properly clear the Giallorossi’s third corner of an already frantic second half and Kolarov brought down substitute Taddei as he tried to cut inside onto his left foot.

Unlike Floccari, Mirko Vucinic produced the perfect spot-kick, placing a firm right foot shot beyond Fernando Muslera’s despairing dive to level the scores and inject his side with renewed hope that they could retake top spot in Serie A come full-time.

As Roma pushed for a remarkable turnaround, the Aquile retained a threat on the break, especially through the breaks of Tomasso Rocchi, who invariably needed two or three players to rob him of possession.

But it was the nominal visitors who were now having the better of the game and they found themselves in an excellent position to threaten after Radu brought down Menez as the Frenchman jinked towards goal.

Vucinic stepped up to take the free-kick 25 yards out, firing a shot at magnificent velocity which found a hole in the wall left by Brocchi and beat Muslera all ends up.

The Montenegrin’s second goal in 10 minutes had completed a fantastic comeback, and prompted Edy Reja to introduce Mauro Zarate into proceedings in the place of Liechtsteiner.

It was now becoming almost one way traffic as the Giallorossi forced countless blocks from of the Lazio defence, with Menez, Vucinic and Toni causing mayhem on the end of some well-measured balls from midfield.

Lazio needed something to change, and Reja hoped to make a crucial substitution of his own when bringing on Julio Cruz for Floccari with 16 minutes to play.

Zarate temporarily gave Roma a scare when he advanced towards Riise on the right, but his cross-shot was well held by Julio Sergio. And from another run by the Argentine, Juan did brilliantly to cut out a chipped cross which was seemingly heading towards Cruz.

As the Bianocelesti ran out of ideas, so tempers flared, and after Menez was booked after a set-to with several Lazio defenders, Cristian Ledesma was shown the red card by Tagliavento, presumably for something he had said to the official.

After five nervy minutes of injury time, Roma held on to record their first derby double in eight years. The final whistle was met by exultation from the Giallorossi players and fans, whilst Lazio’s feelings were best summed up by Stefan Radu’s petulant post-match trip on a celebrating Simone Perrotta which momentarily threatened to spoil Roma’s party.