Roma and Lazio Reclaim Capital City’s Prestige

The Empires of La Magica and Le Aquile Strike Back

4 min readMar 6, 2023

Two brilliant goals settled big scores for the Giallorossi and Biancocelesti over the weekend.

Lazio went into the belly of the Neapolitan beast and emerged victorious. Coming off a shock defeat to previously winless Cremonese, Roma overcame Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico.

Mourinho and Sarri: Making Rome Great Again

MRGA isn’t the most captivating slogan ever typed so don’t expect to see it printed on cheap t-shirts at Testaccio Market this summer.

Getting back to the calcio, both matches ended 1–0. Only a brave punter would have predicted that recycled benchwarmer Matías Vecino or Gianluca Mancini-who hadn’t scored for two years-would become praised personalities across Italy’s biggest city and beyond.

For those of you who still haven’t caught up, here is Vecino’s goal.

And here is Gianluca Mancini’s.

Managerial Sportsmanship

Maurizio Sarri, while revelling in victory, was still charming enough to deflect the glory back to Luciano Spalletti.

“I thank Luciano, but he is achieving something I was unable to do,” Sarri told DAZN in reference to Napoli’s 15-point lead.

“I wish him all the best, because winning here is extraordinarily difficult.”

Following a dispute with the Cremonese-Roma fourth-official, Jose Mourinho received a two-game suspension but managed to have that verdict overturned in time for Sunday night’s game.

Juve coach Max Allegri had stated publicly that he wanted Mourinho to coach from the dugout while also paying tribute to his adversary when queried by a journalist about their respective careers.

“If they compare me to Mourinho I’m happy, he’s won 26 titles in his career. I hope to see him on the bench”

Fast forward to Sunday night at the Olimpico, Mourinho hailed Allegri in the post-match press conference following Roma’s narrow win.

“I really like his team and I’m happy there’s distance between us because without the points penalty then Juve would threaten. Now I’ll respect his sadness”

In order to win, you must expect to win.

Well, I’m not so sure that Lazio or Roma fans expected to defeat Napoli and Juventus. But here they are. It’s their week. Congratulations to those indulging in this unanticipated splendor.

With Lazio on a high, Mister Sarri has already addressed his team’s situation.

“Do you think that the success over Napoli should give us more conviction? No, this is a danger for us, we saw that after our 4–0 win over Milan. If we feel fulfilled then we drop our motivational levels. We don’t want a repeat of past errors”.

Beating Napoli is great if you can back it up. However, following Lazio’s 4–0 defeat of Milan, Le Aquile slumped to two draws and loss.

During the Roma-Juve post-match conference, Mourinho was still bitter about the trip to Cremona.

“It’s still difficult to accept the loss in Cremona. I’m happy with the result (against Juve) but I still haven’t archived the the result in Cremona”

Cremona, Cremona, Cremona. For such a big ego, it was embarrassing for the Special One to end up as the very first coach to lose to the only club in Serie A which hadn’t yet registered a win.

For those that still haven’t seen that, here it is.

The Derby della Capitale

Sarri and Mourinho with face each other on Match Day 27. That’s less than two weeks away (March 19th).

Both clubs have aspirations for Champions League football. Here’s a look at the current standings following Match Day 25 of Serie A. Both Lazio and Roma have won three, drawn one and lost one in the previous five league games.

On Match Day 26, Lazio travels to Bologna and Roma hosts Sassuolo. Both clubs also have European obligations either side with the Biancocelesti facing AZ Alkmaar and the Capitolini fronting up to Real Sociedad.

But it’s all about taking on PSG, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich on the biggest stage. It’s been a while between Campari Spritz’s for the Rome-based clubs.

Lazio last participated in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League. After finishing in second place in Group F behind Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich knocked out Simone Inzaghi’s side in the Round of 16.

Roma’s last UCL flame burned under Eusebio Di Francesco in 2018–19 and was extinguished in the Round of 16 by Porto.

Champions League Six-Pointer

It’s not too early to call it. With Juventus unlikely to have that brutal 15 point deduction overturned, and Milan failing to find continuity, the Derby della Capitale could be the deciding factor come season’s end.

It will take a brave soul to predict a Vecino or Mancini winner.

Ma non si sa mai. But you just never know.

Looking foward to it all unravelling. Forza Calcio.