Every player wants to make an impression when they get the chance to play in a fixture like the Rome Derby – and for some, it’s a chance for a first impression.
Since the first ever clash between Roma and Lazio in December 1929, the Derby Della Capitale has become one of the most iconic fixtures on the Italian football calendar.
It’s a game in which heroes can emerge, but it can be a baptism of fire for some new players to be thrown into.
In reverse chronological order, here are the 15 Roma players whose first competitive appearance for the club was in the derby against Lazio, before they had appeared against any other team.
Kostas Tsimikas
- Date: September 2025
- Result: Lazio 0-1 Roma
After joining Roma on loan from Liverpool in August 2025, Tsimikas was an unused substitute in the first game since his move. The next on the schedule, in September, was the derby. The Greek left-back was sent on as a substitute for the last 10 minutes or so in place of Angeliño.
Amadou Diawara
- Date: September 2019
- Result: Lazio 1-1 Roma
The derby was drawn up for the second matchday of the 2019-20 season in Serie A, near the start of Paulo Fonseca’s tenure as coach. Some of Roma’s new signings from that summer debuted in the first game of the season against Genoa, but Diawara – who had been bought from Napoli – made his bow in the derby as a late substitute.
Michel Bastos
- Date: February 2014
- Result: Lazio 0-0 Roma
Roma took Bastos on loan from Al Ain during the January 2014 transfer window and turned out to be his last club in European football. The Brazilian wide man replaced Alessandro Florenzi in the second half of the second derby of Rudi Garcia’s reign, which finished goalless.
Cristiano Lupatelli
- Date: March 2000
- Result: Lazio 2-1 Roma
Brought in as a new backup goalkeeper for the 1999-00 season, Lupatelli had to wait until March for his first Roma appearance. He conceded twice in the first half, despite Roma taking an early lead. It was the first of just four games he played in during his debut season with Roma, before appearing in twice as many in the league during Roma’s Scudetto-winning season of 2000-01.
Stefano Pellegrini
- Date: March 1971
- Result: Roma 2-2 Lazio
A product of the Roma youth setup, Pellegrini uniquely made not just his debut against Lazio, but his first two appearances. In March 1971, he started in attack in a derby that finished 2-2. Then, in August at the start of the following season, he started in a 1-0 derby defeat in the Coppa Italia group phase.
Amarildo
- Date: September 1970
- Result: Roma 2-0 Lazio
Signed from Fiorentina in 1970, Brazilian forward Amarildo – who had been a World Cup winner eight years earlier – started out with Roma in a Coppa Italia group stage derby, which was a 2-0 win. Amarildo was one of three debutants on show for the victors.
Luis Del Sol
- Date: September 1970
- Result: Roma 2-0 Lazio
Also debuting on the same day as Amarildo was Del Sol, another high-profile addition to Helenio Herrera’s side owing to his lengthy service to Juventus. In fact, the Spanish midfielder served as captain during his two seasons with the club.
Roberto Vieri
- Date: September 1970
- Result: Roma 2-0 Lazio
Vieri also made his Roma debut on the same day and had the distinction of scoring the side’s second goal. Thus, he is the only player in history to have made his first Roma appearance against Lazio and scored in it. However, his son Christian had a spell with Lazio in the late 1990s.
Aldo Bet
- Date: September 1968
- Result: Roma 1-0 Lazio
Bet was still a teenager when Roma acquired him from Inter in 1968. The defender went on to make more than 100 appearances for the club, the first of which was in the Coppa Italia group stage against Lazio in 1968 at the start of Herrera’s spell in charge.
Vito D’Amato
- Date: September 1968
- Result: Roma 1-0 Lazio
D’Amato previously began his career with Lazio and had scored for them in a derby, but they sold him to Inter in 1967 after suffering relegation. A year later, Roma brought him back to the capital and he made his debut in Herrera’s first game in 1968.
Sergio Santarini
- Date: September 1968
- Result: Roma 1-0 Lazio
A future Roma captain, Santarini followed Herrera from Inter in 1968 and remained with the club until the early 1980s. The Coppa Italia derby in the September of his first season also gave him the chance to debut with the club, the first of more than 450 appearances in Roma colours.
Giorgio Barbolini
- Date: October 1956
- Result: Lazio 0-3 Roma
Spending the 1956-57 season with Roma in between spells with Modena, Barbolini began his stint with the club by featuring in a 3-0 derby win in Serie A.
Enore Boscolo
- Date: October 1954
- Result: Lazio 1-1 Roma
Boscolo joined Roma from Torino in 1954, but was already thinking of leaving due to a lack of gametime before he got the chance to make his debut in the derby that October.
Giacomo Valentini
- Date: October 1935
- Result: Lazio 0-1 Roma
Valentini only spent the 1935-36 season in Serie A with Roma, debuting in the first derby of the campaign, before dropping down the leagues and into more local football.
Walter Corsanini
- Date: December 1929
- Result: Lazio 0-1 Roma
One of the 11 players selected by Roma boss Herbert Burgess for the very first derby, Corsanini only played once more for the club thereafter, four months later against Napoli, before re-joining Cremonese.
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