2023 has passed in a hurry, and a brand new 2024 has arrived. In international football, the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup of Nations kick off this month, while in European club competitions, a short winter break is set to kick off a more intense and tight schedule. The national leagues will be played at the weekend, while the national cups and European competitions will be staged in the middle of the week, which has become the norm for European club seasons.
On the first weekend of 2024, there will be four high-profile matches in European football, including Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, Liverpool vs. Fulham in the English League Cup, and AC Milan vs. Atalanta and Lazio vs. Roma in the Coppa Italia. These games undoubtedly showed fierce confrontations, especially the "Madrid Derby" and the "Rome City Derby", which attracted a lot of attention and enthusiasm.
Among them, Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 5-3 after 120 minutes of fierce battle at the King's University Stadium in Saudi Arabia and successfully advanced to the final. As for the other "Rome derby", it was relatively uneventful. The second match of the Coppa Italia 1 4 finals was played at 1 a.m. Beijing time on January 11, when Lazio defeated Roma 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and successfully advanced to the semi-finals thanks to Zaccagni's second-half penalty.
Although the game was not spectacular, Lazio dominated in terms of shots on target, corners, great chances, dribbles and cross success rate, while Roma had a slight advantage in terms of possession, passes, pass completion rate, tackles and interceptions. Although the result of the game was won by one goal, Lazio won by one goal, making most of these technical statistics meaningless. Although the game was not thrilling, the two sides continued the fierce atmosphere of the "Rome derby".
Late in the game, Lazio's Pedro, as well as Roma's Azmoun and Gianluca Mancini, were all sent off for red cards. Roma have lost three of their last six matches, and with the Coppa Italia innings, it will be very difficult for Roma to win the title this season. At present, in Serie A, Roma is in 8th place with 8 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses, accumulating 29 points, and fighting for a European place is the team's current priority.
In the Europa League, Roma were beaten by Czech giants Slavia Prague in the group stage and finished second in the group, and could only play the knockout play-offs against Feyenoord, who were eliminated from the Champions League. Roma lost away to Feyenoord last season, and the pressure is not small this time.