“Caos totale”: Mats Hummels’ first Roman city derby was a heated one. Roma continued their upward trend – but the story of the game was different.
AS Roma won the 184th city derby against Lazio on Sunday (January 5th, 2025) 2-0, the goals were scored by Lorenzo Pellegrini (10th minute) and Alexis Saelemaekers (18th). It was the fourth competitive game in a row without defeat. Despite the victory, AS Roma (10th place) is still twelve points behind city rivals Lazio (4th) in the table.
But hardly anyone talked about it after the final whistle. It was often about Mats Hummels, who initially impressed in the game with his strength in duels and overview. But the story of the game was not about overview and duels. Hummels was also involved in it.
In the third minute of added time, Hummels fouled his opponent Valentin Castellanos on the sideline, and both of them clashed heads when they got up. Suddenly Hummels fell to the ground and covered his face with both hands. A little later he suggested that he had received a headbutt from the Lazio attacker. The TV images also show the Argentine kicking Hummel’s left thigh.
Roman derby ends in “Caos totale”
Immediately after the scene, a pack formed in the Stadio Olimpico, in which many players and also some supervisors were involved. The referee showed Castellanos the red card (90+5). A short time later, Hummels was able to celebrate Roma’s victory in the 163rd city duel with Lazio in Serie A.
The “Gazzetta dello Sport” wrote about one “Mega Zoff”the “Corriere dello Sport” reported on “Caos total”. Roma coach Claudio Ranieri apologized to his Lazio colleague Marco Baroni for the events. “I’m sorry for what happened in the end”he said on “DAZN”: “The game was so peaceful, we shouldn’t have done that.”
Hummels also commented. He posted two cheering pictures with fans on Instagram and wrote: “Victory in the Derbi di Roma.”