Thursday April 4, 2007

Manchester United aren’t the only headache that Roma have right now. There’s also their neighbours Lazio, who are currently on track to pull off a feat that looked impossible until a few months ago – overhauling the Giallorossi for second place. Just two months ago, Roma had an insurmountable looking 18-point lead over I Cugini, but Lazio’s current winning streak has seen that fall to just seven.

While Roma have been focussing on the Champions League, the Biancocelesti have won their last seven matches, just two short of the club record set by Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side back in 1998-99 – and given that their next three games are against Messina, Ascoli and Chievo who’d bet against them beating it? What’s incredible about their hot streak is that, while Sven’s side cost the then owner Sergio Cragnotti over £200m to put together, the current lot – leaving out Angelo Peruzzi, the one remaining player from the old days – cost just £20m.

“Spending does not equal winning,” as current Lazio president Claudio Lotito is fond of saying, and with these results it’s hard to argue. Thanks to the superb work of Coach Delio Rossi and a hard-working group of players, Lazio are second only to Inter for results in the second half of the season. Nothing seems to faze them. They sell captain Massimo Oddo to Milan and see their defence record improve to the best in the League. They travel to Udinese without two of their workhorse midfielders, Gaby Mudingayi and Massimo Mutarelli, and come home with a 4-2 win.

Many point to Rossi’s decision to station Stefano Mauri behind the front two as the key to Lazio’s success this season. But while the midfielder’s fine form there has been rewarded by an Italy call-up, the Coach himself points to another turning point – the 3-0 victory over Roma in the derby. “That’s where our season changed,” he says. “From then on our self belief sky-rocketed. We realised we can compete with anyone, but we must be careful not to lose the humility that’s brought us this far.”

Tell that to the Aquilotti fans, who can barely contain themselves at the thought of passing their neighbours, perhaps in the next derby in a month’s time. The last meeting saw Rossi celebrate by stripping off and taking a mid-winter plunge in a Roman fountain, Anita Ekberg style. Lord only knows what he’ll come up with if this bargain basement Lazio side really do take second place.