ROME (AP) — Stripped of the captaincy. His contract nearing expiration without a renewal proposal. No minutes played in the opening three matches.

Nothing seemed to be going Lorenzo Pellegrini’s way. Until the Rome derby .

The Roman-born Pellegrini cast aside all the issues surrounding him and scored the decisive goal for Roma in a 1-0 win over Lazio in Serie A on Sunday.

After being derided by Gian Piero Gasperini a day earlier when Roma’s new coach said that at 29 Pellegrini has “got to become an athlete and start running,” the midfielder was perfectly positioned to strike from the center of the area after Dwayne Rensch had stripped the ball from Lazio left back Nuno Tavares and rolled it across to the ex-captain.

Pellegrini, who is also trying to regain his spot in Italy’s squ

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