{"id":45281,"date":"2026-05-17T13:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/45281\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T13:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:55:09","slug":"european-football-roma-close-to-champions-league-return-after-beating-lazio-european-club-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/45281\/","title":{"rendered":"European football: Roma close to Champions League return after beating Lazio | European club football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roma took a huge step towards returning to the Champions League by beating Lazio 2-0 in a feisty derby which finished with both teams down to 10 men, while Napoli<\/a> won 3-0 at Pisa to secure a top-four spot.<\/p>\n

Gianluca Mancini smashed home two headers from corners, one in each half, at the Stadio Olimpico to move Roma up to fourth thanks also to Juventus\u2019s shock 2-0 home defeat by Fiorentina.<\/p>\n

Roma haven\u2019t played in the Champions League since being knocked out in the last 16 by Porto in 2019, an absence which has left them lagging behind their rivals. But a win next weekend at relegated Verona will guarantee Roma<\/a> a spot in Europe\u2019s elite club competition thanks to a two-point gap separating them from both fifth-placed Como, 1-0 winners against Parma, and Juve who are now sixth.<\/p>\n

The derby and all four other fixtures were pushed forward by half an hour to avoid a clash with the men\u2019s final at the Italian Open tennis tournament, which will take place a stone\u2019s throw from the Olimpico later this afternoon.<\/p>\n

A massive security presence was on show all around the stadium but the atmosphere in the ground was one-sided with the Lazio<\/a> fans continuing their months-long boycott of matches in protest against the owner, Claudio Lotito. Roma\u2019s loud home support belted out song after song after a potentially massive win which on Sunday meant much more than just local pride.<\/p>\n

The volatile nature of the derby was highlighted by Nicol\u00f2 Rovella and Wesley being sent off in a scrap shortly after Mancini headed home the decisive second goal from Paulo Dybala\u2019s corner in the 66th minute.<\/p>\n

Milan are third, level on 70 points with Roma after a hard-fought 2-1 win at Genoa which came thanks to a Christopher Nkunku penalty five minutes after half-time and Zachary Athekame\u2019s drilled strike eight minutes from the end. The seven-time European champions\u2019 form has fallen off a cliff in recent weeks but a win at home over Cagliari next weekend will guarantee Massimiliano Allegri\u2019s team a spot in the top four.<\/p>\n

Christopher Nkunku\u2019s penalty puts Milan ahead. Photograph: EPA<\/p>\n

Napoli were always favourites to win at relegated Pisa and made sure of their spot in next season\u2019s Champions League. Scott McTominay got the ball rolling in the 21st minute with his 14th goal of the season, and the deal was as good as done five minutes later when Amir Rrahmani scored from an Eljif Elmas corner.<\/p>\n

Rasmus H\u00f8jlund rounded off a straightforward win in stoppage time as Napoli pulled five points ahead of Como and Juventus<\/a> with one game remaining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roma took a huge step towards returning to the Champions League by beating Lazio 2-0 in a feisty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15],"class_list":{"0":"post-45281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-europe","8":"tag-european"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}