The exciting and much-awaited clash between Jose Mourinho and Maurizio Sarri on Sunday ended with a 1-0 win for Lazio over AS Roma. The Giallorossi conceded a goal in the first half on an incredible mistake from Brazilian defender Roger Ibañez. Felipe Anderson scored the deciding goal of the Derby della Capitale and Sarri's side are now third in the Serie A table with 27 points, while AS Roma are fifth with 25 points after thirteen matches.
Here's the winning goal:
Roger Ibañez gift wraps a goal for Felipe Anderson 🎁
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) November 6, 2022
Lazio take the lead in the Derby della Capitale 🦅 pic.twitter.com/Zwqpu6T79P
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Here are three takeaways from the match:
Lazio coped with Immobile's absence
Despite the injury, Lazio's key striker Ciro Immobile decided to watch the game from the bench, even if he was not available for the match. Sarri had to deal with the absence of Immobile in the past weeks and also in such an important derby. The former Chelsea coach opted to play with Mattia Zaccagni, Felipe Anderson and Pedro as strikers, without a proper number nine considering that the club decided to not replace Vedat Muriqi in the summer. However, Lazio managed to cope with the absence pretty well, even though it forced them to mix things up. As a matter of fact, Roma kept the ball much more than we would expect (59%) and Lazio played much more defensively but got the job done.
AS Roma's main issue -- defense
Despite a pretty good game overall, the goal scored by Felipe Anderson underlined once again that AS Roma's main issue is the defense. Center back Ibañez made an incredible mistake that led to the opening goal scored by Anderson. The individual mistake can't and should not affect the whole performance of the team but once again showed that sometimes there are some mistakes that have a direct consequence on the final result. AS Roma now play with a three-line defense and Ibañez is a regular starter but has already showed in the past that sometimes when he's exposed he can make some mistakes. It's likely that next summer the club will make an investment in this part of the roster, considering that last summer the Giallorossi decided to invest money in other positions.
Key players injured
Both sides had to face some relevant injuries during the second half. AS Roma's captain Lorenzo Pellegrini had to be withdrawn five minutes into the second half and it seems that the muscular injury will force him to miss the next two matches before the 2022 World Cup break. Mourinho, on the other hand, might see the comeback of key player Paulo Dybala for the last match of the year against Torino that will take place next Sunday. At the same time, Lazio's Sarri was forced to bring Luis Alberto off the pitch after the Spanish midfielder felt some muscular pain and the manager decided to make the substitution despite the player asking to wait more time. On Monday both players will undergo medical examinations to figure out if they will be available for the last two games of the year, but their absences might be an issue for both Mourinho and Sarri.
