This weeks' derby spotlight shines on the Rome derby that is Lazio v Roma. A very competitive game and is one of the most eagerly anticipated games in the Serie A calendar. Games have been spoiled by violence off the pitch down the years and each team claiming to be better than the other.
Lazio hail from Rome's upper-class area while Roma are from the working-class area of Rome. The two sides ground-share, which is common in Italy. The Stadio Olimpico has seen some fantastic games through the years gone by.
The last 5 years or so have seen a massive decline for Lazio. The sky-blues have seen players bought for millions upon millions leave and nowadays have a strong-unit of players but compared to 2000 or 2001 the team have stuggled.
The Sven Goran-Eriksson era of the late 90s early 00s are a long time ago. Players like Gaizka Medieta, Alesandro Nesta and Pavel Nedved were all sold on cheaps having been bought for world record transfer fees. The current crop his headed by Mauro Zaraté, Goran Pandev and Simone Inzaghi.
Roma on the other-hand were playing 2nd fiddle to Lazio during that era but are now regularly playing in the Champions League. Roma made the quarter-finals in 2006-07 but lost heavily to Man United and again in 2007-08 they made the Quarter-Finals and lost to Man United. 2008-09 they made the Last 16 and lost to Arsenal on penalties.
The derby this season has seen Roma beat Lazio 1-0 back in November. The next derby is 11th April 2009.
At the moment Roma lead the head-to-head record with 58 wins and 59 draws to Lazio's 45 wins.
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