Roma claimed a 2-0 victory over Lazio in an eventful Derby della Capitale on Sunday afternoon in Serie A, giving them their eighth win of the season.
Controversy soon found its way into the match with Edin Dzeko scoring from a questionable penalty decision before both sides struck the post and Gervinho doubling his side’s lead.
Eight minutes were on the clock when Roma were given the first big opportunity to score as Dzeko was brought down outside the penalty area, but the referee gave a penalty kick despite it not being in the box. Nonetheless, the Bosnian international converted from 12 yards and put the Giallorossi ahead.
Lazio nearly equalised with 25 minutes gone when a stunning strike from Felipe Anderson beat Wojciech Szczesny but struck the Roma crossbar and bounced back out.
They threatened again just after the half-hour mark when an attack resulted with a Filip Djordjevic effort going wide after some excellent defending by Antonio Rudiger.
Some brilliant attacking play should have doubled Roma’s lead when Gervinho found space inside the box and crossed the ball across the face of goal but Dzeko couldn’t apply the correct touch on it and it rolled wide.
Radja Nainggolan then had a shot on goal from far out and his drilled effort struck the post and the score somehow remained 1-0 at the break.
It was made 2-0 just after the hour mark, though, when Gervinho controlled a through ball well and successfully scored from a tight angle despite being pressurised by Dusan Basta.
Substitute Keita Balde produced a stunning run towards the end of the match but his cross could not be converted by fellow sub Miroslav Klose.
The victory for Roma takes them up to second place in the Serie A table for now, while Lazio drop to ninth.
