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.

“Aside from all the reasoning and words, there is one constant, which is that I love Roma,” said Pellegrini, who joined the club at age nine. “As long as I wear this shirt, there won’t be a moment where I will hold back. Life is unpredictable, you don’t know what could happen next.

“I seemed on the verge of leaving and then got hurt,” Pellegrini added. “But today I started and scored to win the derby.”

After being der

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