AS Roma vs Lazio preview, team news, tickets & prediction | OneFootball

The first Rome Derby of the 2024/25 Serie A season will ignite passion and emotion for one of the fiercest rivalries in world football.

Lazio are up to fourth and right among the chasing pack for the Scudetto race while their city rivals are 15 points worse off in 10th place.

Their last Serie A meeting ended 1-0 in favour of Roma who ended a four-match winless run against Lazio in all competitions, and this will be another highly competitive encounter.

It was a topsy-turvy campaign for the Giallorossi in 2023/24 as Jose Mourinho was sacked in January following a negative run of results that left them in ninth place and out of the Coppa Italia quarter-finals. The Portuguese tactician made way for club legend Daniele De Rossi, who led them to a Europa League semi-final and a sixth-place finish in Serie A.

However, De Rossi was sacked only four games into this season and replaced by Ivan Juric.  The Croatian finally led them to their first win of the season after a 3-0 defeat of Udinese, as well as another win and a draw in his first three games.

However, that was as good as it got as Juric failed to oversee a marked improvement. His management style and poor results meant he lasted only 12 games. After a 3-2 loss to Bologna that left them 12th and only four points ahead of the relegation zone, Roma pulled the plug on their latest manager.

Claudio Ranieri has thus come out of retirement to take the job until the end of the season, the 73-year-old is Roma’s fourth manager of the calendar year and will manage his hometown club for the third time. The Italian will also have a strategic role in collaborating with the club to identify his long-term successor in the role.

Roma must now focus on rising up the Serie A rankings and advancing into the knockout stage of the Europa League. There is no doubting their potential under their veteran manager.

Ranieri has led them to two wins from five league games, including a 5-0 thrashing of Parma last time out. In Europe, Roma secured a last-gasp draw at Tottenham in the Europa League and beat Braga to boost their qualification hopes.

Form usually goes out the way in these derby games and Roma will be hoping that will be the case as they aim to secure a much-needed win.

On the other hand, Maurizio Sarri resigned after a three-year stint at Lazio last season. Marco Baroni was handed the reins in the summer.

This term, life has been rather good on the blue side of Rome as Lazio are in the top four, just six points from leaders Atalanta.

Lazio are also top of the Europa League standings with 16 points from six games. Things are looking very positive for the Biancocelesti who will be keen to retain their momentum for the majority of the campaign.

Match tickets

This Serie A matchday 19 fixture takes place on Sunday, 5 January 2025 with kick-off scheduled for 7:45 PM UK time. This promises to be a memorable occasion, with match tickets now available for sale on the website of each individual club and priority access given to club members and season ticket holders.

The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico is always electric during the derby, with both sets of supporters creating an intense environment where over 70,000 people should be in attendance.

This is sure to be the hottest ticket in town so official sources may be overwhelmed with demands. Non-season ticket holders can find their Roma vs Lazio tickets on a resale site, where they can also find more Roma tickets for the whole season.

Team news

Eldor Shomurodov and Mario Hermoso are all unavailable for Roma at the time of writing.

Gaetano Castrovilli is currently unavailable for Lazio after going under the knife, but he is set to be fully recovered before the derby. For now, he is joined in the treatment room by Nuno Tavares, Boulaye Dia and Matias Vecino

Predicted line-ups

Roma: Svilar; Celik, Mancini, Ndicka, Angelino; Cristante, Paredes; Soule, Pellegrini, Dybala; Dovbyk

Lazio: Provedel; Lazzari, Gila, Romagnoli, Tavares; Guendouzi, Rovella; Isaksen, Dia, Zaccagni; Castellanos

Prediction

Though derbies rarely have favourites, Lazio’s momentum and continuity of good performances throughout the season could count in their favour against Roma who have experienced massive upheaval this term.

Roma could find extra motivation from their poor form and being under a third manager already this season, which makes them a dangerous prospect going into this game. We are unlikely to find a winner.

Roma 1-1 Lazio

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