10 Most Fearsome Rivalries In World Football

3. Roma - Lazio / "Derby Della Capitale"

The Eternal City€™s Roma and Lazio share a stadium as well as a ferocious rivalry which stretches back generations.

Split along political and social ties with Lazio being the club of so-called wealthy elites and Roma representing the Roman working class, the Derby della Capitale is notorious for being Italy€™s most volatile fixture. The atmosphere on derby day burns fiercely with the notoriously fascist ultras of Lazio crammed into the Curva Nord and Roma€™s equally right-wing hardcore support occupying the Curva Sud.

Just over thirty years ago, Italy witnessed it€™s first ever football-related fatality as a result of the Rome derby, after a fan was struck in the eye by a flare and later dying as a result of his injuries - an incident which further intensified the hatred between the two clubs.

The most recent notable dose of wild violence in this fixture came in the 2004/05 season when Roma€™s ultras forced the game to be abandoned at half-time after a rumour spread the stands that police had run over and killed a Roman child in the lead up to kick off. The game spiralled into a vociferous battle between the two sets of supporters and it was reported that over 170 police officers were badly injured during the infamous melee.