Sampdoria-Roma 0-1: Pellegrini penalty, Stankovic last

by our correspondent Andrea Pugliese

October 17
– GENOA

Three very heavy points for Roma, who land by right in the Champions League area, climb to fourth place and put Lazio and Udinese behind them. The umpteenth defeat instead for a Sampdoria that never managed to shoot on goal during the match (if not a lopsided kick by Rincon), almost an absolute record. He decides a penalty from Pellegrini in the opening, with the initial exclusion of Zaniolo who has left many speechless. In the darkness of an ugly game, Smalling’s yet another top performance in the defensive phase.

HOW MUCH CONFUSION

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Stankovic brings a breath of fresh air to the Sampdoria environment, with Marassi very hot right from the start, looking for a crisis-chasing victory. Mourinho, on the other hand, confirms the two strikers (Abraham-Belotti), leaves Zaniolo out, raises El Shaarawy on the left and offers the chance from the start to Camara, for the first time since he joined Roma. It begins with the embrace between the two technicians, both protagonists of the Inter treble. Then we play, but considering the effort of the two teams to find the way to the goal (12 Giallorossi goals before the start, just 5 Dorian ones), it is normal that a bad and stingy game will come out of it. Roma, among other things, passes, almost immediately, after just 9 ‘of play, with a penalty from Pellegrini granted for a naive foul by Ferrari in the hand. It seems the prelude to a downhill game and instead Mourinho’s team never finds a way to do really badly. Camara takes a bit of energy, but struggles in quality, and in front of playable balls there are very few. On the other hand, confusion reigns, with Villar playing a lot of balls but always in a scholastic way and Djuricic and Gabbiadini who are unable to support Caputo in the right way. So the first shot on goal by Sampdoria arrives in the 21st minute, but it is an unpretentious Rincon slip. Ditto for Gabbiadini’s punishment later, while Roma essentially limited themselves to controlling the game, without running particular dangers.

WHAT A BATTLE

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At the beginning of the resumption the stadium ignites (euphemism) due to the presence in the stands of Masismo Ferrero, the former Dorian president, who had been missing from Genoa since last December due to the well-known legal events. Then Stankovic looks for a little more quality by immediately inserting Pussetto and Murru and shortly after also Quagliarella and Verre. And then the match really ignites: Stankovic is booked for protests about a hand ball by El Shaarawy (outside the area), Pellegrini claims another penalty and argues with Audero and Verre enters very hard on Cristante, also risking red. . At the confusion of the first half this time the competitive charge is replaced, which with the passing of the minutes also becomes fury. Mou then runs for cover with Matic and Zaniolo, who immediately kicks on Audero (shortly before also good on Belotti). Then Zaniolo first touches the 2-0, then scores it in full recovery, but the goal is canceled for offside. It ends like this, the result doesn’t change anymore.