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Julio Baptista has raised Roma's season from the dead with a 1-0 derby victory that saw both teams end with 10 men.
The Giallorossi were in the rare position of being underdogs going into the 131st Serie A derby, 161st overall. Albeit with a game in hand, they trailed their rivals by 14 points and had the worst defensive record in the top flight. Lazio were coming off three straight wins and welcomed back Goran Pandev from a ban for the new trident attack.
David Pizarro was suspended, while Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi and Rodrigo Taddei required late fitness tests in a diamond midfield. Alexander Doni did not wear a protective helmet despite requiring five stitches for a blow to the head last week.
Last season both derbies were five-goal thrillers with a 3-2 win each. Lazio's last 'away' win in this fixture was 2-1 in the Coppa Italia on January 21, 1998, followed by six losses and five draws.
The fiery atmosphere was immediately evident with two bookings in the first seven minutes for Cristian Ledesma and Max Tonetto. Tommaso Rocchi was inches away from intercepting a poor backpass to Doni.
Pandev slipped through for Mauro Zarate to hit the side-netting, but he was correctly flagged offside anyway. Mirko Vucinic wasted a counter when his first touch was too heavy and gave Sebastiano Siviglia the chance to block.
On 19 minutes there was a splendid Vucinic diving header at the near post and an equally magnificent reaction save from Juan Pablo Carrizo right in the bottom corner.
From the resulting set piece Philippe Mexes accidentally charged down Simone Perrotta's shot and would have scored himself from seven yards, but Siviglia dived in with a decisive tackle.
Lazio also had a great chance, as Zarate was left unmarked from six yards, but Christian Panucci got back in time to put him off and the header down bounced back over the bar.
Doni smothered a Zarate snapshot from 20 metres, then the two Lazio central defenders collided, but Vucinic blasted the loose ball well over. Rocchi couldn't keep his acrobatic volley down on a chipped pass over his shoulder and Julio Baptista drilled wide with the outside of his foot.
The deadlock was broken straight after the restart. A corner was taken quickly and Totti crossed for Baptista to get a glancing header at the near post to squeeze into the far bottom corner.
However, less than 30 seconds later Zarate got between two defenders for a header that was going under the bar, but Doni scrambled back for an acrobatic fingertip save.
Baptista was brought down by Ledesma right on the edge of the box, but De Rossi blasted the free kick over the bar.
Substitute Mourad Meghni horribly scuffed from the D, but the ball fell to Pandev for a fierce right-foot strike that shaved a coat of paint off the near post.
However, moments later Ledesma hacked down Julio Baptista for his second bookable offence. It was a clumsy challenge in midfield that left Lazio with 10 men for the final 25 minutes.
Nonetheless, a fantastic Rocchi curler went past Doni and dipped inches over the bar. Lazio were pinning Roma back into their own half and trying to focus on the counter, but Baptista's cross for Juan was crucially intercepted by Rozehnal.
Carrizo took two attempts to smother a powerful De Rossi effort, but Lazio had another great opportunity. A well-worked team move ended with Doni parrying Pandev's shot and it ricocheted off a defender to almost cause an own goal. Pandev and Rocchi had combined several passes in the Roma box.
The not 100 per cent Totti made way for Jeremy Menez, but moments later Meghni threaded through to send Rocchi clear from nine yards and Mexes needed a sliding tackle to charge him down as he pulled the trigger.
Substitute Menez had the opportunity to finish Lazio off as Vucinic went on the counter and rolled across for the totally unmarked Frenchman, but he hesitated and then fired straight at Carrizo with the goal gaping!
Panucci seemed very unhappy when substituted for Marco Cassetti. Doni captured a long-range Ousmane Dabo attempt and Lichtsteiner's sliding tackle was perfectly timed to cut short another Menez counter.
Another substitute, Simone Inzaghi, should have equalised only to nod Zarate's taut cross over from six yards, as he was just a little ahead of the ball.
Roma also ended the game with 10 men, as Perrotta went in very late on Rozenhal for a second yellow card. Lazio wasted a glorious opportunity, as Zarate got to the byline past Taddei and cut his cross in for Lichtsteiner to head over from a promising position.
Zarate drilled wide himself after a series of step-overs in stoppages as Lazio poured forward, including Carrizo, who gave the ball away in the centre-circle and was fortunate Brighi decided against attempting a lob into the empty net!
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