Claudio Ranieri faces his closing Rome derby on Sunday as he leads Roma on a cost for the Champions League earlier than lastly, definitively crusing off into the space. Veteran coach Ranieri has dragged Roma to only 4 factors behind Serie A’s high 4 positions since popping out of retirement in November, when his boyhood membership appeared to be heading in direction of the relegation zone. This weekend’s conflict with fellow Champions League chasers Lazio is a key second in a decent battle for 2 spots in Europe’s elite membership competitors, with Inter Milan and Napoli out on their very own contesting the Scudetto.
Roma are seventh, two factors behind sixth-placed Lazio with seven matches remaining within the season, and haven’t misplaced a league fixture since their dismal defeat at Como in mid-December.
A 1-1 dwelling draw with Juventus final weekend ended a seven-match successful streak however the efficiency highlighted how far Roma have come since Ranieri grew to become their third supervisor of the season after Daniele De Rossi and the disastrous, however mercifully quick reign of Ivan Juric.
Ranieri is ready to step apart for a brand new coach in the summertime however the 73-year-old’s success as stopgap has been such that he has confronted frequent calls to additional postpone his retirement for an additional season, one thing he insists he won’t do.
After Roma’s draw with Juve former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon requested Ranieri why he wouldn’t rethink, calling his insistence on stepping apart “absurd” given the turnaround he has mastered.
“Honestly Gigi, I’d already stop final 12 months… I mentioned to myself that I’d solely come again for Roma or Cagliari, and I prayed to God that I would not should as a result of it will have meant that they had been going by way of onerous occasions,” mentioned Ranieri.
“I’ve been travelling world wide for greater than 35 years however I do not know something about it. I need to see what else there’s past soccer earlier than I die.
“Big Ben has mentioned ‘cease’.”
Top 4 tussle
Lazio can even have their tails up for the derby after their spectacular win at former title contenders Atalanta which fired Marco Baroni’s staff proper again into the highest 4 image.
Roma’s native rivals are one in every of six groups, from third-placed Atalanta right down to Fiorentina in eighth, separated by simply six factors and with a clutch of matches in opposition to each other within the closing weeks of the marketing campaign.
Lazio are two factors behind in-form Bologna who sit fourth forward of their very own showdown with Atalanta, a staff shedding their method and prone to not even reaching the Champions League.
Atalanta have misplaced their final three video games with out scoring a objective and have forgotten how one can win at dwelling, with their final home victory in Bergamo coming earlier than Christmas, and are prone to being overtaken by each Bologna and fifth-placed Juve.
Igor Tudor’s Juve and Fiorentina each have an opportunity to pounce as they respectively host relegation-threatened Lecce and Parma whereas their rivals face one another.
Meanwhile Inter and Napoli proceed their title battle with dwelling fixtures in opposition to lowly Cagliari and Empoli, with three factors the distinction.
Inter come into the weekend each on a excessive from their dramatic late win at Bayern Munich, but additionally with an eye fixed on Wednesday’s second leg of their quarter-final with the Bundesliga giants.
Napoli have a far simpler run-in than Inter with no commitments method from Serie A and 7 matches in opposition to groups within the backside half of the division.
Key stats
6 – Both the variety of groups contesting the ultimate two Champions League spots, and the variety of factors separating them.
15 – Roma’s unbeaten run in Serie A, which stretches again to only earlier than Christmas.
Fixtures (occasions GMT)
Friday
Udinese v AC Milan
Saturday
Venezia v Monza (1300), Inter Milan v Cagliari (1600), Juventus v Lecce (1845)
Sunday
Atalanta v Bologna (1030), Fiorentina v Parma, Verona v Genoa (1300), Como v Torino (1600), Lazio v Roma (1845)
Monday
Napoli v Empoli (1845)
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
