AS Roma 1 : 2 Cagliari - Dream start for Cagliari

Posted Sunday, September 11, 2011 by PA

Cagliari enjoyed an impressive start to the Serie A season with a 2-1 win at 10-man Roma.

Daniele Conti put the visitors ahead in the 68th minute and Roma were handed another blow 60 seconds later when Jose Angel was given his marching orders after a harsh tackle on Cagliari's Davide Biondini.

Substitute Moestafa El Kabir then doubled Cagliari's lead before Roma's Daniele De Rossi got a consolation goal deep in stoppage time.

With summer signing Erik Lamela out injured, new Roma coach Luis Enrique handed former Barcelona striker Bojan a place in attack alongside captain Francesco Totti.

But Bojan struggled to make an impact in his Serie A debut and was replaced before the hour mark by Marco Borriello.

The hosts had the first chance in the 15th minute.

Angel's 30-yard effort forced Cagliari goalkeeper Michele Agazzi to make a fine save, and shortly after, Miralem Pjanic tried his luck from distance but his effort went wide of the far post.

Roma almost took the lead in the 35th minute when Aleandro Rossi fed Pjanic inside the area and his right-footed strike was kept out by Agazzi.

Cagliari almost broke the deadlock before half-time themselves, when Thiago Ribeiro surged inside the area and fired towards the far post only for his effort to be met by a fine save from Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

Roma showed more determination after the restart and were unlucky not to go in front shortly after the hour mark.

Totti fed Borriello inside the area and his powerful strike forced Agazzi to fully stretch to clear.

Cagliari went in front soon after, though.

Roma failed to clear the ball inside the area and Conti struck from the heart of the area past Stekelenburg.

The hosts suffered another setback soon after with Angel shown a straight red.

Cagliari continued to press forward after that and were rewarded with a second when Radja Nainggolan fed El Kabir and his right-footed strike from 12 yards beat Stekelenburg in the fourth minute of time added on.

Roma reduced the deficit one minute from time - the seventh minute of injury time - when Agazzi failed to hold onto Totti's powerful free-kick and De Rossi made no mistake on the rebound.