Gianluca Mancini’s header on a Paulo Dybala corner proved enough to give Roma the victory on Daniele De Rossi’s Derby della Capitale debut of coach against old rivals Lazio.
In the opening 120 seconds, Leandro Paredes saw his chest and half-volley skim the crossbar, while Ciro Immobile drilled onto the side-netting and Nicolò Casale deflected a Diego Llorente effort just wide from close range.
Pellegrini stung Christos Mandas’ gloves from distance, but Zeki Celik put too much power behind the header into the ground on an Angelino cross and it bounced over from six yards.
Mario Gila had trouble intercepting a Stephan El Shaarawy cross from six yards and on the resulting corner Roma took the lead, Gianluca Mancini left relatively unmarked to nod in the Dybala assist. It was the first goal the Giallorossi had scored against Lazio since March 2022, ending a run of four blanks between Serie A and the Coppa Italia.
Igor Tudor was evidently unhappy, as he made three changes at half-time. It made little immediate impact, as the ‘hosts’ almost got a second when Romelu Lukaku went on the counter and released a splendid pass for El Shaarawy, who thumped the woodwork from a tricky angle.
Taty Castellanos had a pop from distance and Lukaku just failed to get on the end of the Bryan Cristante roll across the six-yard box. Daichi Kamada had the ball in the net on 64 minutes, but only after he had been caught offside on the Matteo Guendouzi assist.
Tammy Abraham made his comeback almost a year after that serious knee ligament injury in June 2023 and the tension was sky high with a series of scuffles.
