There’s rarely a match quite as important as a derby and the outcomes of games between Roma and rivals Lazio can have a defining impact on a coach’s spell in charge.
Claudio Ranieri went into Sunday’s clash between Roma and Lazio boasting a perfect record of five wins from five in derbies gone by. However, he also knew it would be his last at the helm before he retires in the summer.
Here’s a look back at the last derby overseen by each Roma coach since Ranieri’s first spell in charge and how they went.
Claudio Ranieri
Did he know? Yes
Result: Lazio 1-1 Roma
Date: April 13th, 2025
Ahead of his final showdown with Lazio, Ranieri was already among the top five Roma coaches with the most derby wins.
Unfortunately, he was unable to make it a perfect six, but he did preserve his undefeated record in derbies after Roma battled to get a point.
Former academy graduates Luca Pellegrini and Alessio Romagnoli combined to give Lazio the lead, but Matías Soulé stunned the opponents with an equaliser from outside the box on his first derby appearance.
There was a feeling that Roma could have gone for it a bit more, especially having had more rest time than Lazio, but a point was better than none in a tight race for European qualification.
Ranieri will definitely leave a positive lasting impression at Roma, not just for how he has done in derbies.
Daniele De Rossi
Did he know? No
Result: Roma 1-0 Lazio
Date: April 6th, 2024
It felt like De Rossi was bringing the good times back to Roma during his caretaker spell in charge during the second half of the 2023-24 season.
After 31 derbies as a player, De Rossi’s first as a coach came on the back of a six-match unbeaten run in Serie A.
That run extended to seven thanks to a 1-0 win over the Biancocelesti, achieved with a goal by Gianluca Mancini – who later got himself in a bit of trouble for waving a flag with Lazio colours and a picture of a rat on it.
Less than a fortnight later, Roma confirmed De Rossi would become their permanent head coach. Thus, it would have been a shock to be told at the time that the first derby of his initial Roma reign was also his last; he was sacked just four games into the 2024-25 season.
His replacement, Ivan Jurić, didn’t even last long enough to oversee any derby, before Ranieri’s return in November 2024.
José Mourinho
Did he know? No
Result: Lazio 1-0 Roma
Date: January 10th, 2024
Mourinho’s Roma failed to score in any of the last four derbies of his spell in charge – and his final defeat was practically fatal.
Midway through his third season in charge, Mourinho’s side were drawn against their rivals in the Coppa Italia, but Roma suffered a 1-0 defeat, only managing two shots on target.
That took away Mourinho’s chance to add a domestic trophy to Roma’s cabinet after leading them to the Europa Conference League in 2021-22.
Indeed, it turned out to be the penultimate match of the Mourinho era, as Roma sacked him after they lost their next league game to AC Milan four days later.
Paulo Fonseca
Did he know? Yes
Result: Roma 2-0 Lazio
Date: May 15th, 2021
A dominant theme of Fonseca’s two-year tenure at Roma was his inability to claim wins in big matches, which was likely a factor in the club’s decision to let him go at the end of his contracted spell.
Roma announced Fonseca would be leaving on 4th May, 2021, and later that day stunned the world by confirming Mourinho would replace him from the summer.
But Fonseca still had four games to see out, with his farewell to the Stadio Olimpico being the derby.
Roma ran out 2-0 winners against Lazio thanks to goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pedro – who made the move across the capital later that summer.
Sadly, the game was played out in front of no spectators, since pandemic restrictions were still in place, but the win boosted Roma’s mood even more ahead of Mourinho’s highly anticipated arrival.
Eusebio Di Francesco
Did he know? No
Result: Lazio 3-0 Roma
Date: March 2nd, 2019
Di Francesco’s second season in charge of Roma was much less positive than the first, especially after Monchi took a sledgehammer to a successful squad just before it.
Di Francesco reached the end of the road with a Champions League defeat to Porto in March 2019, which came four games after he suffered a heavy defeat in the derby.
Roma were actually unbeaten in eight league games before the crushing blow, but it left them outside the Champions League places.
Elimination from Europe a few days later would seal Di Francesco’s fate and prompt Ranieri’s return for his second and shortest spell in charge as a caretaker, including no derbies.
Luciano Spalletti
Did he know? No
Result: Roma 1-3 Lazio
Date: April 30th, 2017
Spalletti had Roma in sensational form during the 2016-17 season, leading the club to a record points tally and a runners-up spot in Serie A.
However, his second spell in charge was not without its blemishes. Of course, there was his famous feud with Francesco Totti, but also some derby defeats.
Lazio knocked Spalletti’s side out of the Coppa Italia at the semi-final stage in the spring of 2017. A few weeks after the second leg, Roma also lost in the league to their enemies.
De Rossi scored a penalty on the stroke of half time to take a 1-1 scoreline into the break, but goals from Dušan Basta and Keita Baldé after the break gave Spalletti his last defeat as Roma boss.
He won his last four games, but found his position untenable after Totti’s retirement and left Roma to take up the vacancy at Inter.
Rudi Garcia
Did he know? No
Result: Roma 2-0 Lazio
Date: November 8th, 2015
For a non-Roman, Rudi Garcia got the derby. Immediately understanding its significance, he endeared himself to the fanbase with his comments about it and won his first 2-0.
Across both of his full seasons in charge, Garcia led Roma to a win and a draw in the derby. In fact, he never lost to Lazio while working in the capital.
His third campaign included a 2-0 derby win with goals from Edin Džeko and Gervinho in November 2015. However, Garcia was sacked a couple of months later after a stagnation in the club’s form.
Ironically, while he was unbeaten in derbies with Roma, Garcia has lost to Lazio on all three occasions he has faced them since with either Marseille or Napoli.
Aurelio Andreazzoli
Did he know? Yes
Result: Roma 0-1 Lazio
Date: May 26th, 2013
After serving as a member of Roma’s backroom staff for a number of years, Aurelio Andreazzoli was put in caretaker charge of the first team in February 2013 for the rest of the season.
He found himself in an unprecedented situation just a few months later, having led Roma to the Coppa Italia final, where for the only time in history they would be vying with Lazio for the trophy.
Unfortunately, Roma lost the final 1-0, which marked the end of Andreazzoli’s caretaker spell.
Garcia was appointed as the next permanent boss and got to work at, in his own words, putting the church back in the centre of the village.
Zdeněk Zeman
Did he know? No
Result: Lazio 3-2 Roma
Date: November 11th, 2012
Having swapped Lazio for Roma in 1997, Zeman returned for a second spell in charge of the Giallorossi 15 years later.
He didn’t last a full season in charge, only overseeing a single derby, in which Érik Lamela’s opener was cancelled out and Miralem Pjanić’s late goal turned out to be a consolation in a 3-2 loss – Roma’s fifth from their first 12 league matches of the season.
Luis Enrique
Did he know? No
Result: Roma 1-2 Lazio
Date: March 4th, 2012
As an incumbent of the Roma hot seat for just one season before tendering his resignation, Luis Enrique lost both of his derbies – coincidentally by the same score.
For his second, in March 2012, Roma had to play with 10 men for most of the game after an early sending off for goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.
Lazio also finished the game down to 10 after a late red card to Lionel Scaloni, but by that point they were already 2-1 up.
Vincenzo Montella
Did he know? Yes
Result: Roma 2-0 Lazio
Date: March 13, 2011
Following Ranieri’s resignation in February 2011, a month after knocking Lazio out of the Coppa Italia, Roma promoted their former striker Vincenzo Montella to see out the season in caretaker charge.
Montella once famously scored four goals in a derby as a player and he enjoyed facing his former foes from the touchline too.
A brace by his former teammate Francesco Totti sealed a 2-0 win for Roma in what was just Montella’s fourth Serie A game in charge.
This article was originally published on 10th April, 2025, and has been updated since.
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