Three late red cards shown in final minutes of Lazio 1-0 Roma | OneFootball

Roma have been knocked out of the Coppa Italia by fierce rivals Lazio after a controversial penalty was awarded and converted by Mattia Zaccagni. The game was marred with talking points as there were three red cards and a José Mourinho outburst during the aftermath.

In a game that had very few moments to shout about in terms of quality on the pitch, the fans certainly made it a big occasion as flares could be seen being launched at opposition fans in the build-up to the highly-anticipated Rome derby.

A fairly uninspiring showing from both teams resulted in very few opportunities to break the deadlock in the first half of proceedings. An uneventful opening 45 minutes was not an indication of what was to come as the second period threw up many controversial moments.

Aside from the penalty, the game was flooded with tense incidents. When making his way off the field, Edoardo Bove was struck by a bottle on the back of the neck, in an incident that could have caused more harm than it did. The 21-year-old could be seen fuming at the side of the pitch.

In stoppage time, even further heated exchanges occurred as Pedro was the first man shown red by the referee before Serdar Azmoun of Roma took a swipe at the face of an opponent to also be given his marching orders and level the sides up. Gianluca Mancini went one further as he joined Azmoun in exiting the field early. The defender was shown a straight red card and the game ended with Lazio having 10 men and Roma only having nine.

Mourinho rages at penalty given against Roma

It proved to be the decisive moment in a close match

However, the big moment came in the 51st minute as Zaccagni found the net past a despairing Rui Patricio to hand his side the lead after Dean Huijsen had fouled Taty Castellanos in the penalty area. Mourinho was clearly unimpressed by the VAR decision on the day to overturn the original call.

The Roma boss made his feelings very clear after the match - as he always does - as he told Mediaset (via Football Italia):

The 60-year-old bemoaned the role played by the video technology and those in control of it on the evening as he continued: “The referee was right there and decided not to give the penalty, but when there is someone in front of a screen that calls him for a minimal contact and the player puts on a show following that contact, there’s not much he can do."

Lazio will now face one of Juventus or Frosinone in the semi-final. The two sides play each other on Thursday, with the game kicking off at 20:00 GMT.