Claudio Ranieri extended his perfect record in the Italian capital derby as Roma beat Lazio 2-0 in Serie A to give the Giallorossi a much-needed boost in what has been a difficult season.
Roma’s captain and lifelong club fan, Lorenzo Pellegrini, scored a superb opener with a curling shot from the edge of the area to end his long wait for a goal. Then Alexis Saelemaekers finished off a counterattack to give Roma a two-goal advantage after 18 minutes.
Pellegrini has been subjected to severe criticism by Roma’s fans this season, and his goal lifted the pressure on Roma, who have now won three of their last five Serie A matches to move up to 10th place. Lazio remain fourth.
Ranieri improved his record to five wins in five derbies as Roma’s coach. He’s the team’s third manager this season after Daniele De Rossi and Ivan Juric were both fired. His other derby wins came during his first stint as Roma’s coach from 2009-11. He also coached his home-town club briefly in 2019.
Ranieri has also won the three other big derbies in Italy in Milan, Turin and Genoa as coach of Inter, Juventus and Sampdoria, respectively.
He helped Cagliari avoid relegation last season and had said that would be his final club job but he could not turn down Roma when he was called in to restore order in November. Ranieri’s contract calls for him to step up into an executive role after this season, from which he will have a say in choosing the next coach.
