The Serbian defender has been one of the heroes of the AS Roma victory against SS Lazio in the derby. He scored a very important goal with one of his free-kicks and reached a historical record. With an incredible backstage.
When, after the end of the match As Roma - SS Lazio, a Sky Sports reporter asked Kolarov if he knew Arne Selmosson, Aleksandar immediately replied yes, specifying that he was the only football player in the history of soccer to have scored in the derby both with SS Lazio and with AS Roma.
It was 1958, exactly 60 years ago, when Ray of Moon, as Arne was nicknamed, scored in the derby with the yellow-red jersey after having done it previously also with that of SS Lazio. And for more than half a century, this record was only his.
Kolarov was able to match him thanks to one of his trademarks: a powerful free-kick from the edge of the box.
It's 70 'minute and the result is 1-1.
SS Lazio has just drawn due to an indecision of the defender Federico Fazio, who favored the goal of Ciro Immobile. Lorenzo Pellegrini, italian AS Roma midfielder who replaced the injured Javier Pastore, is the player who has unlocked the match in the first half, thanks to a spectacular backheel goal.
Proper he wedges towards the opponent's defence and is hit by a rival player, Milan Badelj. Free-kick and yellow card for the SS Lazio midfielder.
On the ball, Aleksandar Kolarov comes. And what then happened is history.
It seems really far away that April 11, 2009, when a 24-year-old Kolarov with his hair still all black, received the ball from his goalkeeper Muslera and started to run on the left wing. Were the last minutes of the match, that had been very nervous, in fact the teams played in 10 against 9.
So, the Serbian takes advantage of the freedom to advance, over the midfield, points to the box and, overcome two opponents, shots with the right foot (the one that usually does not use) putting the ball behind the shoulders of the Brazilian goalkeeper Doni.
It's the goal of the final 4-2 that closes the match and gives the victory to the biancocelesti.
[Sorry for the low quality video]
The Kolarov record was made even more memorable by two reasons.
The first is that Selmosson was a striker who scored almost 100 goals in Serie A with Udinese Calcio, SS Lazio and AS Roma. It was for this much simpler for him to score in two different teams and also in two derby.
Instead Kolarov is a left defender who usually needs a free-kick or a long-distance shot to score.
The second and most important fact is that the AS Roma footballer played against his former team with a fractured toe, as was revealed in an interview after the match by the AS Roma Captain Daniele De Rossi.
The choice to not miss in this occasion makes it clear how much the Serbian cares about his team, since he knew very well the importance of the challenge and the negative moment that was going through the group in the recent weeks.
This is indeed a great redemption for a player who, at his arrival last summer, was received with mistrust and protests by the supporters, because of his past in the rival team and, probably, also for that goal in the derby.
But, sometimes, life is strange...and in fact Kolarov has become in a very short time an idol of the Curva Sud.
Surely, since yesterday, even a little more.
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it!
See you soon!
Girolamo
Follow me and @scorum-italia
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