Claudio Ranieri is on a farewell tour with Roma. This weekend, the Derby della Capitale against Lazio is a real highlight. Probably for the last time.
To see why AS Roma is a very special club for Claudio Ranieri, you only need to look at his CV. Not only is the Giallorossi the boyhood club of the native of Rome, but their paths have crossed several times since he retired as a professional. The 73-year-old is currently in his third term as Roma’s coach. He has now accumulated 125 matches on the AS bench.
The 126th game will be a very special one for Ranieri. On Sunday evening, the Leicester City master coach will face city rivals Lazio. On the one hand, it’s a crucial duel in sporting terms. After all, Ranieri’s men are currently two points behind Lazio, which occupies the sixth place in the Conference League. On the other hand, it’s about Ranieri’s flawless record: the veteran has won all of his five city derbies so far as Roma coach.
“A close game”: will Ranieri’s winning streak end?
But Ranieri did not want to dwell on the past ahead of what could be a game that points the way forward in terms of international rankings. “I don’t look at the past,” the Gazzetta dello Sport quotes him as saying. Instead, he said, his focus is solely on the upcoming clash on Sunday evening, which the experienced Italian expects to be “a tight game”.
Despite the two rivals being evenly matched, Ranieri has a clear ambition for the game: “It will be my last derby. I want to win it.” A wish that seems more likely to be fulfilled after Roma’s 1-1 draw against Juventus – at least according to Ranieri himself. “They attacked us early on, but we made them play the way we wanted to,” he said, praising his charges, who, thanks to the
, could have the advantage over the Giallorossi, given that Lazio were in the Europa League on Thursday. Marco Baroni’s team lost 2-0 to Bodö/Glimt. “It’s not easy to play at this rhythm and under these conditions,” admitted Ranieri, but he did not want to attach too much importance to his opponent’s defeat due to his recent success in the Serie A: ‘A team in crisis doesn’t win in Bergamo like that.’
Hope for the premier class
Ranieri has yet to take charge of a game at Atalanta. The capital city club face a trip to Lombardy on the penultimate matchday. It could potentially be another game that decides their season, with the team currently in third place just five points ahead of the Giallorossi.
But Ranieri didn’t want to look that far into the future. Although the outgoing Roma coach is likely to be aware of the chance of qualifying for the Champions League, he knows better than many: “Rome was not built in a day.”
