Claudio Ranieri Eyeing Champions League For Roma Before Derby Swansong

Claudio Ranieri faces his final Rome derby on Sunday as he leads Roma on a charge for the Champions League before finally, definitively sailing off into the distance. Veteran coach Ranieri has dragged Roma to just four points behind Serie A's top four positions since coming out of retirement in November, when his boyhood club looked to be heading towards the relegation zone. This weekend's clash with fellow Champions League chasers Lazio is a key moment in a tight battle for two spots in Europe's elite club competition, with Inter Milan and Napoli out on their own contesting the Scudetto.

Roma are seventh, two points behind sixth-placed Lazio with seven matches remaining in the season, and have not lost a league fixture since their dismal defeat at Como in mid-December.

A 1-1 home draw with Juventus last weekend ended a seven-match winning streak but the performance highlighted how far Roma have come since Ranieri became their third manager of the season after Daniele De Rossi and the disastrous, but mercifully short reign of Ivan Juric.

Ranieri is set to step aside for a new coach in the summer but the 73-year-old's success as stopgap has been such that he has faced frequent calls to further postpone his retirement for another season, something he insists he will not do.

After Roma's draw with Juve former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon asked Ranieri why he would not reconsider, calling his insistence on stepping aside "absurd" given the turnaround he has mastered.

"Honestly Gigi, I'd already quit last year... I said to myself that I'd only come back for Roma or Cagliari, and I prayed to God that I wouldn't have to because it would have meant that they were going through hard times," said Ranieri.

"I've been