Lazio-Roma 0-1. Rome or death. Wednesday's match in Nice under the Garibaldi's mark.
Roma conquered the derby and the city. In the coming days, the Romans will dominate the game with their banter. Lazio performed poorly. They were unable to get the ball out of defense (a serious problem).
“Rome or death” said Giuseppe Garibaldi. Rome was Garibaldi’s dream, and he repeatedly attempted to make it Italian until Victor Emmanuel II forbade it so as not to annoy his French ally and friend Napoleon III. Giuseppe Garibaldi had already retired to Caprera in Sardinia when he saw his dream come true with the French being engaged by Bismarck’s Prussians in a bloody war, and the Bersaglieri who entered the centre of Rome through the breach of Porta Pia (1870), decreeing the end of the Papal States and making Rome the capital of Italy. Just like Giuseppe Garibaldi’s dream and vision.
Wars between the French and the Germans (the Prussians are the founders of Germany) were very frequent in Europe. And it's sobering that we've had 80 years of peace in Europe. A peace that is becoming increasingly precarious because we now have to contend with Putin's expansionism, very similar to Bismarck's.
The German will to power (I deliberately use a term from Nietzsche, perhaps the greatest ideologist of Greater Germany) has transformed over time into a condemnation of Germany for the grave error of Nazism. Putin should reflect on this too. And history will condemn not only Putin, but also all those in the Kremlin who confirmed his follies, such as Lavrov, the all-powerful foreign minister; Peskov, the spokesman; Petrushev, his friend from his KGB days; and Medvedev, the bellicose former Russian president.
Garibaldi also briefly managed to liberate Rome in 1848 and found the Roman Republic, a subject of study by historians who recognized its innovative Constitution with the abolition of the death penalty and of great films, especially by the great director on Roman culture, Luigi Magni.
One of the triumvirs alongside Giuseppe Garibaldi was Giuseppe Mazzini, who quickly shifted from a vision of a republican Italy (a posthumous victory) to that of Young Europe, as his newspaper was called, which championed the freedom of European peoples. And now we need Political Europe to survive Russian follies.
Garibaldi was born in Nice. He was crucial to Italian history and also to Rome, which is the geographic and ideological center of Italy. Garibaldi felt strongly Italian even before Italy became a state. From the days when it was merely a geographical expression, as the Austrian diplomat Metternich scornfully put it at the Congress of Vienna in 1821, which sanctioned the rule of absolute monarchies and empires. A term Putin has used for Ukraine.
Giuseppe felt betrayed when, with the Treaty of Turin in 1860, an agreement was reached, within the broader framework of the alliance between the Kingdom of Sardinia and France for the Second War of Independence, and Nice became French. It is therefore a strange twist of fate that Nice and Rome meet on Wednesday, united by this glorious historical figure.
Nice lost their last match in Brest 4-1 and are 12th in Ligue 1, but let's not be fooled. Nice is a good team with some fine individuals like Boudaoui and Boga. One factor will be the historic emotionality of French clubs, capable of heating up in a matter of minutes and then fading in just as many minutes.
The most technically gifted midfielder is Boudaoui, who is extremely useful at taking alternative corner kicks, carrying the ball into the box and then passing it low (as he did with Peprah's goal in Le Havre's 3-1 victory over Nice). Cristante and Koné will need to work hard on him.
Generally, they're very dangerous on corners and free kicks from crosses because they have three very tall central defenders (Peprah, Bah, and Dante). This is a task for our central defenders, but also for the center forward (Ferguson or Dovbyk), who must stay in the zone in front of the six-yard box.
Or with Clauss, the other right-back, who is also very offensive. A tough job for our Angelino.
Even the right attacker, Diop or Gouveia or Jansson, are mainly right-footed, therefore with a greater aptitude for crossing.
The strongest attacking player is left winger Boga, who is only right-footed, so he tends to move to the center for his spectacular curling shot. It will be Hermoso's job to keep him at bay.
Roma arrive in Nice with the charge-meter at full capacity for the derby victory
On a superficial reading, it might seem like the usual derby, decided by a negative incident on one side (like Cataldi hitting the post in injury time) and a positive incident on the other (like Lorenzo's goal). In reality, Gasperini prepared the match better than Sarri, with a grueling and incisive high pressing. Except that as soon as we won the ball back, Sozza (the referee) called a foul for Lazio.
Thus, the game failed to gain momentum, and Lazio, capitalizing on these free kicks, could launch an attack. A prime example was Guendouzi, who blatantly dived into the Roma midfield and Sozza, not far away, spotted the foul. The only time Sozza failed to reward yet another Lazio dive, in this case by Nuno Tavares, came after Matias's assist and Pellegrini's snooker shot. The ball went into the corner, and Roma won. I'm very happy for Lorenzo, who is regaining the favor of many Roma fans who, for some unknown reason, once disliked him.
| 4th Matchday Serie A | First Half | Second Half | Final Score |
 | |||
 |
Roma then continued to attack until Dia's counterattack was a real scare, shooting wide with only Svilar in sight. We then settled deeper. In my opinion, Roma shouldn't allow these opportunities to their opponents, and in any case, they shouldn't drop too deep to let them dominate. We were too scared, despite them playing with 10 men due to Belahyane's red card, and we conceded a curling shot to Cataldi that could have been a joke, but fortunately hit the post. Let this be a lesson for Wednesday's match.
Daje Roma!
Giordano Sepi
