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·29 January 2024

Serie A | Salernitana 1-2 Roma: De Rossi wins again

Daniele De Rossi made it two wins out of two on the Roma bench thanks to a Paulo Dybala penalty and Lorenzo Pellegrini tap-in, but Salernitana had spot-kick appeals rejected.

The Giallorossi won on coach De Rossi’s debut and he got Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante back from suspension, but Leandro Paredes sat out a ban with injured Leonardo Spinazzola, Renato Sanches, Marash Kumbulla, Chris Smalling and Tammy Abraham. Evan Ndicka and Sardar Azmoun were on international duty. Salernitana remained rock bottom after three straight defeats, with Boulaye Dia, Lorenzo Pirola and Federico Fazio not fully fit.

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Antonio Candreva’s half-volley was straight at Rui Patricio from a tricky angle, and his trademark curler went over after nutmegging Edoardo Bove, while Norbert Gyomber made a sliding block on Romelu Lukaku’s effort.

Rui Patricio got down at full stretch to fingertip away the Domagoj Bradaric daisy-cutter, then Candreva blasted just over.

There was tension on the stroke of half-time when Lorenzo Pellegrini went sliding late into Junior Sambia and received a yellow card. Salernitana and their fans demanded a red, but replays show he caught the opponent with the trailing leg.

Straight after the restart, Roma received a penalty when Cristante nodded a cross down onto the outstretched arm of Giulio Maggiore. Dybala sent Guillermo Ochoa the wrong way to convert and give his team the lead.

Nwankwo Simy nodded over from five yards on the floated Candreva cross, but Roma doubled their advantage with a well-worked team move.

Dybala cut inside down the right and feinted a cross, but instead released Rick Karsdorp with a back-heel flick, the ball whipped across for Pellegrini’s first-time tap-in at the back post.

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Salernitana almost got back into it moments later when Rui Patricio fumbled the Martegani effort from the edge of the box, but Diego Llorente was there to clean up.

They did get it as Loum Tchaouna’s cross found Grigoris Kastanos totally unmarked for a free header from six yards.

Rui Patricio spilled another Candreva strike at the near post, then there was controversy on 86 minutes when Candreva went down in the penalty area under a slight Llorente tug on the shoulder. The referee and VAR judged the contact to be insufficient for a spot-kick, but it was certainly risky.

Salernitana poured forward as Roma held on, Ikwuemesi also having a penalty appeal for a mutual wrestle with Cristante and a header smothered by Rui Patricio.