English Football
Abraham scores two as Roma beat Lazio in derby
Tammy Abraham became the first English player to score in a Rome derby since Paul Gascoigne as his double helped Jose Mourinho’s Roma brush aside Lazio 3-0.
Abraham hooked home the opener inside a minute after Lorenzo Pellegrini’s in-swinging corner came back off the bar.
He acrobatically volleyed in a close-range second from Rick Karsdorp’s cross before Pellegrini crashed home a superb 25-yard free-kick to seal the points.
Victory pushed Roma above Lazio into fifth place in Serie A.
Mourinho’s side remain eight points adrift of the Champions League places with eight games remaining, while Lazio are a further two points back.
The game was just 56 seconds old when Abraham became the first Englishman to reach 14 goals in a Serie A season since Gerry Hitchens for Inter Milan 60 years ago.
The 24-year-old also became only the second English player to net in a Rome derby, following Gascoigne’s strike for Lazio in 1992.
He should have equalled another landmark – Trevor Francis’ record of being the last English player to score a Serie A hat-trick, back in 1983 – but fired a great chance wide midway through the second half.
