The new Serie A season began for Daniele de Rossi’s Roma in Sardinia – and with a slight setback. Starting as favorites, the Giallorossi were unable to avoid a nil-nil draw at Cagliari Calcio
Scudetto winners Inter (2:2 in Genoa) and runners-up Milan (2:2 against Torino) had already failed to pick up a win at the start of the new season in the Italian top flight. Roma were the next club from the supposed top flight in 2024/25.
The Giallorossi, who started with their three new signings Le Fee (Stade Rennes), Soulé (Juventus) and Dovbyk (FC Girona) in the starting eleven, were held to a 0-0 draw by underdogs Cagliari Calcio, who managed to avoid relegation last season thanks to legendary coach Claudio Ranieri.
Initially, that had everything to do with Roma’s style of play – and with the Sardinians putting up a good fight.
First none, then a few Roma chances
From the first whistle, it was striking that the capital side found it extremely difficult to combine cleanly from back to front. And because the defense wasn’t paying attention, they almost conceded the 0:1 goal in the first minute. But AS keeper Svilar made a strong save from Zito, who had also come offside. The Serbian shot-stopper also had to save from Marin before the break (41′) and also saw a Piccoli shot fly into his box (45′).
It was a first half to forget for the Roman side – and a clear improvement in performance after the restart. The visitors from the “Eternal City” suddenly set the tone and increasingly pushed for a deserved lead. But it was not to be. Why? Because the technically adept Soulé despaired at Cagliari’s Scuffet (48′), because Zalewski missed (49′) and because Pellegrini found his master in the goalkeeper (55′).
Bat goals on both sides
After one of the very rare chances for the home side (Piccoli tried his luck in the 58th minute), de Rossi reacted and played the other trump cards on his bench. First and foremost came Dybala, who is being courted from Saudi Arabia and only has one year left on his contract. And with the Argentine world champion, the pressure only increased, even if the technician clumsily placed a promising free-kick attempt into the wall (74′). The highlight came six minutes later: after a fine chip from Dybala, the new signing Dovbyk rose high, but hit the ball against the crossbar from close range
At the other end, however, the Sardinians were also to get in on the act with Alupech: Marin hit the underside of the crossbar (81′). And so, in the end, it remained 0:0 overall, also because de Rossi’s other joker Abraham or El Shaarawy, who just missed with the last action (90.+4), could not bring about a turnaround
The next game for Roma is next weekend with their first home game against Empoli (Saturday, 8.45pm). Cagliari are not in action until Monday (6.30pm) with another home game against newly promoted Como 1907 under coach Cesc Fabregas.
