Welp, it's finally happened.
As Roma have stalled over the last few months, having scored more than one goal in a game just twice since January, Stefano Pioli and the noisy neighbours from across town decided to dig deep and shoot their way up the table. Yes, it's every Romanista's worst nightmare: Lazio have overtaken Roma in the standings, edging aside the red-and-yellow part of the city for the light-blue-and-white.
This feels somewhat cognitively dissonant.
Roma, of course, were supposed to be challenging for the title this season, and as soon as early January, were just a point behind Juventus. Yet things have really fallen apart since then -- as even the most casual of observers of Serie A could attest -- but second place was never really under threat. Everyone below Roma seemed to be stuttering even worse.
Bar Lazio, that remains more or less true: The gap between Roma in third and Napoli in fourth is seven points. And Lazio are just one point above Roma now in second.
Certainly, this should be a wake-up call. The ramifications for missing second are loud and clear, all too often a domino effect that begins with Champions League playoffs.
Without knowing if a side are guaranteed to be in the group stage, and the massive amount of money that comes along with it, a team's mercato is usually seriously affected. Not only is there less money to bring in players, but players of a certain caliber would hesitate to go to a side that might not be in Europe's best competition.
Then, even if the third-placed team does qualify, there's no way of knowing until August, which can condense months' worth of mercato dealings into just weeks, giving new players even less time to get used to the tactics. Just look at what happened to Napoli last season for a good example of how finishing third can have devastating consequences.
And yet, this isn't yet time for Roma to panic. On paper, the 1-1 draw away to Torino is not a bad result. The side are in seventh for a reason and have some serious talent, including two full-backs that Walter Sabatini would be very wise to try and pry away. Yet Rudi Garcia knew before the match that Lazio were to take on Empoli and anything but a win could be costly; the side did anything but, and the result certainly was.
Here's the catch: There are still eight games to play in Serie A, and Lazio's run-in is brutal. They still have to face Juventus and Roma, the teams immediately above and below them. They'll have to host plucky Chievo and travel away to Atalanta. They have home matches against a Parma side that refuses to go down without beating a top opponent and an Inter team that are completely unpredictable.
Oh, and their final three weeks: away to Sampdoria, the Roman Derby, and at the Sao Paolo.
Roma's schedule is easier, at least on paper. They host Palermo, Udinese and Genoa, all of which have cooled off massively in recent weeks. And they have a trip away to Sassuolo who haven't really repeated last season's heroics. There are tougher matches too, to be fair, like two trips away to Milan within three weeks, but a one point gap is certainly possible to bridge.
That is, of course, if Roma get their act together.
If Lazio do finish second, the side will certainly have earned it. They're on a strong winning streak and have to navigate murky waters in order to stay that way as the season comes to a close. But the only reason they were even allowed to climb so high is because Roma have fallen so far -- and the red-and-yellow half of the city have no one to blame but themselves for that.
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