In the last round of the league, Roma suffered a controversial penalty, and Mourinho was also expelled from the game because of dissatisfaction with the penalty, getting the fifth red card in the past two seasons, and Roma was also forced to draw by Atalanta. In the early morning of January 11, Beijing time, the top 8 of the Italian Cup began, Roma and Lazio started the Rome derby, but Dybala was replaced after only half a game, Lukaku was even more sluggish, and Lazio relied on the only goal scored by Zaccagni to defeat Roma 1:0 to advance to the semifinals.
Lazio have clearly been in better form of late compared to Roma, with the Blues back in the top seven after a three-game winning streak. Since it is a knockout round and a Rome derby, Mu Shuai naturally does not dare to slack off. Dybala and Romelu Lukaku formed a double striker, Zalewski and Karlsdorp were separated on the flanks, Beauvais, Paredes and Cristante were in goal, Mancini Jr., Heysen and Christensen formed the back line, and Patricio was in goal.
In the 17th minute, Dybala's free-kick was blocked, three minutes later, Cataldi's direct free-kick was confiscated by Patricio, and Lazzari's next two shots also had little effect, and the two sides were tied at half-time.
In the 48th minute, Inter veteran Vecino pressed Mancini Jr.'s header in the penalty area, but Patricio saved the ball with one palm, and in the 50th minute, Dybala was replaced by Pellegrini due to injury problems. Just one minute later, the balance on the pitch was broken, Huysen was defending a corner kick, knocked down Castellanos in the box, Orsato directly awarded a penalty after watching VAR, Zaccagni converted the penalty, 0:1!
In the 57th minute, Lazio made a comeback on the right, Lazzari crossed from the right, Vecino pushed and missed, and then Mourinho immediately made a substitution to strengthen the attack, Sarri also saw a move, Luca Pellegrini, Pedro, and Rovira came on as a substitute; but after the substitution, the Roma attack still did not improve much, until the 87th minute, Azmoun's header in the penalty area was ferried, and Belotti received the volley and was saved by Mandas. In the seventh minute of stoppage time, Pedro received a second yellow card, two yellows turned into one red and was ejected from the game. In the final moments of stoppage time, Manic and Azmoun were also sent off for clashes with their opponents, and after Lukaku deflected wide of the net in the box, Roma could only accept a 1-0 defeat.
In fact, looking at the full-time data, both teams had 9 shots on goal, but Lazio hit 5 times, Roma only 2, and the offensive efficiency became the turning point of the game. After losing this game, Roma missed out on the last four of the Coppa Italia and will have to face AC Milan in the next round of the league, and considering that the league is already hopeless, the Europa League has become Mourinho's only hope of winning the title. It's just that Roma still has to play the play-offs first, and Liverpool, Milan, Bayer Leverkusen, and West Ham have a higher probability of winning the championship than Rome.