Last gasp Behrami winner gives Lazio derby glory

Dag Jenkins

Mar 19, 20244 min read

Season 2007-08

Game 29, Serie A

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Lazio Roma 3-2

The perfect script for a derby and all fans dream as a 92nd minute goal gives Lazio victory over eternal city rivals

In Serie A they drew the first three and then got their first win after five matches (Cagliari 3-1). They had lost the first derby 3-2 and the previous week had drawn away 2-2 with Udinese. Lazio were currently in 11th position after 8 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats.

This season was going well for Roma. In August they had won the Supercoppa Italiana beating Inter 1-0. In the league they were again in the title race with Inter. They lay in second place after 18 wins, 7 draws and 3 defeats.

So, a high-flying Roma outfit and a struggling Lazio arrived at today’s derby clash. Roma were clear favourites but as they say "Il derby è una partita a sé" (The derby is a game in itself).

The match

This was the 100th derby played at the Stadio Olimpico and had an unusual experimental 21.15 kick-off time. There was a crowd of 55,000 on a mild Roman evening.

Before the game both team captains, Tommaso Rocchi and Francesco Totti, honoured Gabriele Sandri's memory by laying a bouquet of flowers under the Curva Nord, where the fans to this day display the image of the unlucky young Lazio fan, murdered by a policeman while following his team on an away trip. Gabriele's father, Giorgio, was also present in the most passionate Lazio sector.

The line-ups were more or less as expected. Lazio played Goran Pandev, Tommaso Rocchi, Rolando Bianchi up front while Roma chose Mirko Vucinic and Alberto Aquilani over Mancini and David Pizarro to feed Totti in attack. Roma had the advantage of knowing Inter had drawn in the afternoon so with a win could reduce the margin from the Nerazzurri to only four points.

Lazio started off brighter and in the 7th minute an Aleksandar Kolarov freekick was saved onto the crossbar by Doni. Lazio were on top and had further half chances with Rocchi and Bianchi. The Biancolesti were tactically well positioned and Roma, despite gradually gaining territorial supremacy, had great difficulty creating any danger.

That was until the 31st minute and even then it was completely fortuitous. A strong Valon Behrami clearance went only as far as Rodrigo Taddei, just beyond the penalty spot, and came back off his shoulder freakishly spinning over Marco Ballotta to give Roma the lead. A goal of such luck rarely seen on football pitches. Roma are known as "La Magica" to their fans but this was taking tricks a bit too far. Mind you it would be an ideal way to win a derby.

Lazio were hit but not sunk and reacted well to the setback. They went on the attack, put Roma under pressure and equalised after 44 minutes. A good team move involving six players was finished off by Pandev after Doni had parried a Kolarov low cross, 1-1 just before halftime and well deserved.

At the beginning of the second half Roma almost immediately took back the lead after only eleven seconds when a Simone Perrotta shot shaved the post. Lazio went just as close a minute later with a Pandev shot set up by Rocchi. In the 9th minute Kolarov struck the outside of the post with a low curling freekick.

In the 57th minute Lazio went ahead. Kolarov beat a defender on the left and put in a perfect cross for Bianchi who was pulled down by Juan. Rocchi took an awful penalty but it somehow beat Doni, Lazio 2-Roma1.

The lead did not last long and after five minutes the Giallorossi equalised. A long ball from midfield was contested by Emilson Cribari and Vucinic and fell to Perrotta who with a crisp low right foot beat Ballotta. Roma's celebrations were contained, certainly a rarity, but Perrotta immediately picked up the ball from the net and sprinted back to the centre circle. They really had to win this to stay in contention for the Scudetto. So 62 minutes gone and it was all square at 2-2.

The last half hour was a very tense affair. There were six substitutions: for Lazio on came Massimo Mutarelli, Gaby Mudingayi and Stefano Mauri, so more muscular while for Roma Christian Panucci, Ludovic Giuly and Mancini, so more offensive. In fact it was Roma who had the clearest chance in the 82nd minute but Totti was selfish and "didn't see" an unmarked Vucinic.

Roma were made to pay in the dying minutes. In the 92nd minute, so already into the 6 minutes of injury time, a Pandev cross was met by Mauri who stretched out and put it back across goal, it reached Behrami on the other side and the Swiss midfielder, from close range, hammered the ball into the roof of the net. He continued his run towards the Curva Nord where the fans were in heaven and was soon joined by a surprisingly speedy Delio Rossi and the whole squad. Final score Lazio 3 Roma 2.

An injury time winner after trailing in a derby would be fantastic but at the same time to basically cut out the rival "Cousins" from the title race was even better.

A derby to remember for Lazio, mind you like all winning derbies.

Who played for Lazio

Ballotta, De Silvestri (66' Mutarelli), Siviglia, Cribari, Kolarov, Dabo (83' Mudingayi), Ledesma, Behrami, Pandev, Rocchi, Bianchi (72' Mauri)