Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio has criticized the referee of his side's derby clash against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, Football Italia magazine reported on Friday.

"(Matteo) Trefoloni does not have a great history with us. And we don’t like having to start on the back foot," Di Canio said.

"I don’t want to be controversial But it has taken a particularly low amount of intelligence to designate a match official for the Rome derby who has damaged Lazio on more than one occasion," he added.

Di Canio will be looking to deprive Lazio's arch-rivals Roma from a possible record of 11 consecutive wins when they meet them in the highly-anticipated derby clash in the Serie A on Sunday.

Matteo Trefoloni was the subject of heavy criticism from Lazio fans when he was in charge of the derby encounter against Roma in 2003 in which he made controversial decisions against the Biancocelesti.

Roma are sitting in fourth place of the Serie A table with 51 points while Lazio lie eighth on 38 points.