Ljajic inspires Roma to derby win over Lazio
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E-mail Xinhua, September 23, 2013
Roma beat 10-man Lazio 2-0 thanks to two goals from the second half of the Rome derby in Sunday's Serie A league match.
Roma, who failed to beat their cross-city rivals in their previous five meetings, went ahead in the 63rd minute thanks to a goal from Federico Balzaretti.
Lazio made life harder for them with nine minutes to go when substitute Andre Dias was shown a straight red for a last-man challenge on Francesco Totti.
Substitute Adam Ljajic then wrapped up the win for Roma when he earned an converted a penalty deep in stoppage time after he was brought down by Cristian Ledesma.
The result, Roma's fourth consecutive win in Serie A, lifted them to the top of the standings.
Roma head coach Rudi Garcia, who maintained a perfect record in Serie A, explained why his side scored all their goals after the break this season.
"During the first half our opponents pushed harder, but Lazio played three days ago in the Europa League and I was sure they'd feel a dip in fitness levels. I know this because I played in Europe for four years. We played very well in the second half," he said.
"It might be important that Milan, Juventus, Napoli and Fiorentina are playing in Europe, which takes up energy, so it's an advantage for us that this season we're not in those competitions," he said.
Lazio head coach Vladimir Petkovic insisted his side "did not deserve to lose" and he was "happy with the way we played."
"I am happy with the way the team played," he said.
"In the first half we controlled the situation well and created more scoring opportunities than Roma. It was clear that whoever broke the deadlock would end up winning and unfortunately that turned out to be Roma."
"If we had taken some of our first half chances, then perhaps the game would've gone differently," he said.
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