Call it, if you will, the usual hot eve. The one between Lazio and Rome has never been a match like any other, and this derby number 172 (the 139th in the league) is no exception. Between internal controversies and mutual barbs, the derby of the capital is keeping alive the attention of all of Italy and, moreover, it could not be otherwise. Because when a world champion like De Rossi and a controversial coach like Zeman end up in the cauldron, the media limelight is even obvious. Roma is certainly the most discussed team in the capital, a little for the disappointing results, a little (if not above all) for the case of Captain Future. Which may have reached its last derby, even if events can still change direction.
Certainly, however, the climate that surrounds it is at least difficult: between Zeman's barbs (the latest came last Sunday, when the Bohemian joked about the extent of his physical ailments), the broadsides of Baldini (“If offers arrive in January, we will listen to them…”) and the stance of the square (a banner with the words “DDR do not touch” was exposed outside Trigoria), it must not have been easy to focus on the match. Which, it should be remembered, will be played at Lazio's home, so the teasing about the affair is largely predictable.
But it's not just the De Rossi case: he was the last to add fuel to the fire Claudio Lotito, who on Wednesday saw fit to attack the American ownership of Roma. “I always put my face in for Lazio, but with them you don't understand who the interlocutor is. I'm used to taking responsibility for my choices, instead there's a filter over there…”. What perhaps would have served the young man Onazi, the Nigerian midfielder of the biancocelesti, who dedicated a "noble" thought to his rivals on Facebook. The text (“Forza Lazio, Roma m…a”) would be a complaint to the disciplinary, but this is a derby, and it must be taken as such. Also because the much-reviled Americans seem to have adapted to the goliardic (?) atmosphere of the capital. “Lotito? He is funny…” replied James Pallotta from New York, just to make it clear that the derby is also felt in the USA.
In all this hubbub of controversy, there is a very important game to play. On paper, the teams get there in more or less the same way: both with a good victory (the last, in chronological order, that of Lazio 3-0 over Panathinaikos), but after a rather difficult period. In fact, the ranking says that the eternal rivals are separated by only two points (19 for Lazio, 17 for Rome). In short, whoever wins rises again, whoever loses sinks. Yes, once again Lazio – Roma will be a decidedly special match.
