The Rome derby between Roma and Lazio was decided by an unusual move this Sunday at the Stadio Olimpico di Roma. In matchweek 21 in the Italian Serie A, hosts Roma were winning the derby 1-0 with a goal from Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko, in the minute 26 of the game.

However, a sequence of unfortunate moves from both Roma goalkeeper Pau Lopez, and English defender Chris Smalling led Lazio to the equalizing goal, through defender Francesco Acerbi, in the minute 34.

The failure of the Romanist defense was costly, as the team trained by the Portuguese Paulo Fonseca was not able to regain the advantage on the scoreboard, despite the superiority throughout the game.

The Roman manager even said that the draw against Lazio could be described as a shame, as Roma played way better, but lacked the clinical edge to finish the game off.

He also lamented the unfortunate goal conceded in a fuss between Pau and Smalling.

And Roma’s manager is right about everything. Taking a look at the stats, Roma looked superior.

Over the more than 90 minutes of the game, Roma had 14 shots on target, against only three from Lazio. The dominance was also perceived in the ball possession, with 68% for the hosts, against 32% for Lazio.

With that said, we can tell that the 1-1 draw was a good deal for Lazio, who are currently third-placed in the league and are serious contenders for the Serie title race against Juventus and Inter.

Lazio now has 46 points, as their arch-rivals, Roma, comes right behind, in 4th place, with 39 points gained.

The leader is Maurizio Sarri’s Juventus, who has 51 and still faces Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli. Earlier, second-placed Internazionale, managed by Antonio Conte, ended up drawing 1-1 with seven-placed Cagliari and reached 48 points in the league.