By Petar Todorovski
Nine men Sampdoria beat ten men Roma in a game of the latest round in Serie A. Despite the early lead for the Romans, Bluecerchati were determined to change the score line in the second half and fully deserved their success.
As it’s usual for Lupi’s games, the start was slow and everything that actually happened was in midfield. There is nothing worth mentioning in first sixteen minutes. In the next Mirko Vucinic made an excellent solo action and brought the lead to his team. He picked the ball in his own half and passed by Stefano Lucchini before sent the ball past Gianluca Curci.
Sampdoria was very close to equalize only two minutes later, but Julio Sergio kept his goal well after the free kick of Reto Ziegler. However, that was the only opportunity for hosts in the first half. They could be happy due to the only one goal disadvantage, because Jeremy Menez started to look more and more dangerous in the following minutes and only Marco Borriello’s lack of concentration kept the score sheet 0-1 for Roma.
The second half took its way in the same manner. Roma kept working hard in the midfield and Sampdoria struggled to make any impact. However, what Bluecerchatti failed to do they received as gift by their guests. Juan made a mistake in defense and let Andrea Palombo to face one in one with Julio Sergio. The Brazilian goalie struck him and made a clear penalty, but also giving the referee a reason to send him off. Jeremy Menez was substituted for Doni to come in, but he couldn’t save Nicola Pozzi’s penalty kick and Sampdoria had an equalizer in 58th minute.
After the penalty and the sending off, the domination by Gialorossi ended. Bluecerchatti were those who looked more dangerous. Their newest acquisition, Manchester United’s young loanee Federico Macheda almost gave them lead only ten minutes after coming in.
Nevertheless, again, what they couldn’t make it on their own they had as a gift from Juan. The Brazilian defender made a misjudgment in the penalty box, but everything he managed to do was assisting Stefano Guberti who smashed tha ball into the net. Sampdoria now had a 2-1 lead.
Roma were stunned and couldn’t get back into the match. However, their late efforts made Samp defenders Daniele Gastaldello and Stefano Lucchini to earn their second yellow cards and be sent off. That didn’t make any impact, however.
Claudio Ranieri was, understandingly, anger to the defensive mistakes. “The mistakes were a shame. We played some good football today and for this I cannot blast my side despite the defeat. The sending off to Julio Sergio penalized us heavily but the boy simply used his instincts when he brought down the man,” he claimed and tried to look to the future: “The side is in good health and if we can hold on in the difficult moments we have a lot going for us. t home we still hold the best record at the halfway point in the season and now we must look to improve away from home to keep in the hunt for the Scudetto.”
Sampdoria coach Domenico Di Carlo was very pleased and didn’t miss the opportunity to praise his players. “I was really happy with my boys out there today who started the game with the right mentality. After going a goal behind we had to pick ourselves up and we did that to excellent effect in the second period. We are delighted with this victory which will give the group even more conviction of its own abilities.”
Now Roma is placed fourth with 32 points, eight behind leaders AC Milan. They face relegation battlers Cesena on away turf in next round and have good chance to improve their score so far.
