Cagliari and Roma shared the points in Sardinia, as both had several chances and rattled the woodwork, but it will be noted Paulo Dybala lit his team up coming off the bench.
The Giallorossi kept Paulo Dybala on the bench amid negotiations with the Saudi Pro League, but started new signings Enzo Le Fée, Matias Soulé and Artem Dovbyk, with Leandro Paredes suspended. The hosts had Yerry Mina banned, plus Nicolas Viola, Jakub Jankto, Jose Luis Palomino and Nadir Zortea not fully fit.
See how it unfolded on the LIVEBLOG.
Mateusz Wieteska should’ve done better in the opening minutes with a free header over from a corner, while Simone Scuffet took his eye off the ball and almost allowed a back-pass to roll straight into the net, scrambling back to get it off the line.
Razvan Marin’s scorcher stung Mile Svilar’s gloves from distance and Roberto Piccoli drilled off target.
After the restart, Matias Soulé saw his solo strike palmed round the base of the near post, then Nicola Zalewski fired over, as Roma came out for the second half with a different attitude.
Lorenzo Pellegrini forced a tricky Scuffet save when Dovbyk’s dummy let the Zalewski low cross through, while an acrobatic Marin volley was off target.
Dybala did come on for the final 20 minutes and Gianluca Mancini blasted wide after a strong run, but La Joya floated a wonderful cross onto the head of Dovbyk, which the Ukraine international thumped against the crossbar from close range.
Moments later, Cagliari rattled the woodwork with a Marin thunderbolt that Svilar managed to fingertip onto the frame of the goal.
Pellegrini also had the ball in the net for Roma, but it didn’t count because he was offside when pouncing on the rebound from a saved Dovbyk counter-attack.
It was wide open, Leonardo Pavoletti scuffing wide on the counter for Cagliari and Stephan El Shaarawy blasting off target from distance.
Cagliari 0-0 Roma
Match statistic
FI are going to be devastated with a largely pathetic soule’ performance. All of those articles only to see him show that he is actually a poor man’s baldanzi
Roma without lukaku and dybala i await