Rome, Nov 17 (DPA) Struggling giants Roma slightly improved their position in the Serie A by beating Lazio 1-0 in a tense city derby at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.
Brazilian Julio Baptista nodded home the winner early in the second half to help Roma move on to 11 points Sunday. Champions Inter Milan, who Saturday beat Palermo 2-0 for a tally of 27 points from 12 games, remain in the lead one point ahead of AC Milan.
The early part of the game delighted the Rome crowd as both sides produced hammering attacks with Roma being the first to seriously threaten when Mirko Vucinic in the 20th minute nodded by the closest post forcing a prodigious save from Juan Carrizo.
Mauro Zarate replied for Lazio two minutes later, but the young Argentinian saw his header go wide after bouncing off the ground.
An effort from Tommaso Rocchi went begging in the 37 minute as the Lazio captain attempted a spectacular volley off a deep feed from Macedonia's Goran Pandev, but sent the ball high above the bar.
A dogged attacking phase from Roma was rewarded in the 50th minute with a deft header from Brazilian Julio Baptista, who nodded by the far post a cross by captain Francesco Totti to improve the indifferent game he had played up to that moment.
One minute later, Zarate almost equalized nodding home a loose ball after a poor clearance, but Alexander Doni literally flew to slap his effort out of bounds.
Lazio's pressing brought Pandev to fire a nasty right-footer that flew a few centimetres wide in the 65th minute, but the game became an uphill struggle for Lazio after the dismissal of Argentinian Cristian Ledesma one minute later for a second yellow card.
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