Mancini's brace from two corners wins Roma the derby and sends them fourth

Gianluca Mancini headed both goals as Roma beat Lazio 2-0 at the Olimpico, taking Gian Piero Gasperini's side back into Serie A's top four with a week of the season left.

May 18, 2026

Gianluca Mancini headed Roma to a 2-0 win over Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, the centre-back's brace from two corners settling the Derby della Capitale and pushing the Giallorossi back into Serie A's top four with a week to go.

Mancini opened the scoring with five minutes left in the first half, rising at the back post to head home a Niccolo Pisilli corner. He doubled the lead in the 66th minute, this time meeting a Paulo Dybala delivery from the same set-piece routine. Both goals came from in-swingers Lazio had been warned about. Neither was defended.

By full-time Mancini had become the first defender in the history of the fixture to score a brace, taking his tally against Lazio to three. Roma had seven shots on target to Lazio's two, sixteen attempts to six, and nine corners to three. Possession ended 51-49 in Lazio's favour, which tells how cleanly the home side translated the few openings they created.

Two reds and a fractious second half

Tempers boiled over in the immediate aftermath of Mancini's second. A scuffle broke out, and the referee produced straight red cards for Roma's Wesley and Lazio's Nicolo Rovella in the 70th minute for violent conduct. Both sides played out the closing twenty minutes a man light, but Lazio never threatened the deficit even when the numbers evened. Maurizio Sarri's side ended the weekend on 51 points, locked out of European qualification with one fixture left.

Champions League back in Roma's own hands

The win lifts Gian Piero Gasperini's side to 70 points and fourth place, two clear of Como and Juventus with one fixture remaining. Roma travel to already-relegated Hellas Verona on Sunday for the closer. Win there and the Giallorossi are back in the Champions League for the first time since 2018-19, when they reached the last 16 under Eusebio Di Francesco.

Gasperini, who took the Roma job from Claudio Ranieri last June, has spent the past week warning his squad against complacency. The supercomputers now put Roma at better than 70 per cent to seal the qualification, but the manager's caution is well-placed. Como and Juventus both face manageable assignments next weekend, and a Roma slip in Verona reopens everything. For now, though, the Derby della Capitale has done what it had to do.