Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 8:09 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 20:13

AS Roma booked a minimal victory over Cagliari in the Serie A on Sunday evening. Debutant Sérgio Oliveira scored the winning goal after more than half an hour of playing from eleven meters: 1-0. With the win, the team of coach José Mourinho rises to sixth place. With 35 points from 22 matches, the Romans are 6 points behind Juventus, which is 5th.

Cagliari was immediately unharmed in the opening phase, when Gabriele Zappa committed a foul in the box on Nicolò Zaniolo. Referee Lorenzo Maggioni was called to the sidelines by VAR to watch the moment again, but then stuck to his decision not to give a penalty. The home team then put in more effort and thought they would also take the lead after fifteen minutes via a header by Tammy Abraham. Goalkeeper Alessio Cragno kept the visitors going with a crucial save.

Score on his debut ?? Sérgio Oliveira goes behind the ball himself and shoots the knock in placed ??#ZiggoSport #SeriesA #RomaCagliari pic.twitter.com/QyjgpixOWI

— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) January 16, 2022

With more than half an hour on the clock, the VAR decided to call referee Maggioni to the sidelines again. The referee had initially waived an attempt by Oliveira, who shot hard into Henrique Dalbert’s arm from close range, but after looking at the images he still put the ball on the spot. Oliveira himself went behind the ball and sent Cragno into the wrong corner from eleven meters: 1-0.

Roma consolidated the lead in the second company and also had a good opportunity to double the margin via Jordan Veretout. However, the midfielder had to watch as Cragno tapped his effort out of the bottom right corner. Cagliari barely managed to make an attacking fist in the Stadio Olimpico. In the final minutes, the visitors finally came out dangerously via João Pedro, who had the equalizer on his shoe. Thanks to an excellent reflex from Rui Patrício and some help from the crossbar, the points eventually stayed in Rome.