De Rossi points finger at referee

Daniele de Rossi believes referee Paolo Tagliavento made a crucial mistake in Roma’s 2-1 derby defeat to Lazio on Sunday.

Roma led 1-0 by the half-time break at the Stadio Olimpico, but shortly after the interval defender Simon Kjaer received a red card for a tug on Cristian Brocchi inside the box.

Tagliavento’s decision to send off the Denmark international presented Lazio with an ideal opportunity to turn the match around, as Hernanes’ converted the resulting penalty to make it 1-1 in the 51st minute.

Miroslav Klose then snatched all three points for Lazio with a stoppage-time winner.

A disappointed De Rossi thinks the result could have been very different if Kjaer had stayed on the pitch.

“(Paolo) Tagliavento is the best referee in Italy, but after what happened, this is certainly not a good decision. After the theft, I don’t want to talk,” De Rossi said.

The defeat leaves Roma 12th in the Serie A table, four points back from front-runners Juventus and Udinese.

“Losing a derby match like this hurts, but we need to try to look ahead as it will be a very long season,” De Rossi said.

“The player sent off, the emotional reaction after they equalised, it’s difficult against such strong teams and Lazio are a strong team.”

“We had to continue playing with 10 players. It was easier for them to find open spaces, they have strong players who gave us difficulties and from that moment on it was a completely different match.”

“I cannot give a judgement on our performance, but we were winning 1-0 and without the sending off we could have played a completely different style, we might have found more chances, it definitely would have been completely different.”

While Roma were left to rue the contentious decision, Hernanes was delighted to secure local bragging rights for the Lazio supporters.

“We needed this victory, we were looking for it,” Hernanes said.

“Now we feel better, because we had a good season last year, but we didn’t win the derby and the supporters were missing it, they really wanted it so now we’re happy and calmer now to continue to improve.”