Roma were furious after this goalless draw with 10-man Genoa, as Nicolò Zaniolo saw his last-minute winner disallowed for a Tammy Abraham foul, then the Italian was sent off for dissent.
The Giallorossi were seeking a third consecutive victory, so while Leonardo Spinazzola was still injured, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Matias Vina were only fit for the bench. Genoa had only one win all season, back in September, and third coach Alexander Blessin made his debut in a 0-0 draw with Udinese. Andrea Cambiaso was suspended, with Nicolò Rovella and Domenico Criscito out of action.
This was Jose Mourinho’s 100th Serie A game as a coach, but the visitors had a strong start, Caleb Ekuban’s header on a free kick fingertipped over the bar.
Liveblog: Serie A Week 24 Roma-Genoa, Inter-Milan and Fiorentina-Lazio
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ainsley Maitland-Niles had shots charged down in the box, while Chris Smalling got in the way of Mattia Bani’s strike after a free kick.
Sergio Oliveira hit the side-netting after a strong Nicolò Zaniolo run and after the break Smalling nodded over from a short corner.
Stephan El Shaarawy came on and immediately set up Zaniolo to volley over, while Leo Ostigard made a decisive block to deflect Abraham’s effort off target.
However, moments later Ostigard was the villain, dragging down Felix Afena-Gyan by the neck and shoulders when he was going clear on goal for a straight red card.
There was chaos in the final stages, as Roma finally found a way through against 10-man Genoa when Zaniolo cut inside from the right and drilled left-footed into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. He celebrated wildly after a week of transfer speculation, taking off his shirt under the Curva Sud. However, VAR called the referee over to view an Abraham challenge on Johan Vasquez in the build-up and decided it was a foul, so disallowed the goal. Abraham did seem to stamp on his foot, but it was a big call.
Moments later, Zaniolo continued his protests and must’ve said something over the top, as he was sent off for dissent. At the final whistle, Zaniolo was still livid and had to be held back.
Roma 0-0 Genoa
Sent off: Ostigard 69 (G), Zaniolo 95 (R)
Thank you Ref. Much obliged.
The stadium Olympics needs exorcism,Roma cannot win and always have difficult games therefore easy win away. Please send this to the board very important.football is amazing sometimes
The VAR is a joke! What do you mean by “Abraham challenge on Johan Vasquez”? Abraham was the one with the ball, Vasquez got creative with his defending and tried to trip Abraham over and got stepped on his foot, there’s nothing Abraham can do! That’s not a foul!
“VAR called the referee over to view an Abraham challenge on Johan Vasquez in the build-up and decided it was a foul, so disallowed the goal. Abraham did seem to stamp on his foot, but it was a big call.”
the challenge was from two players on Tammy. Tammy’s “stamp” was a normal step..not extending his leg or foot out. It was Vasquez who extended his leg to trip tammy. SO much for knowing the rules to the sport you cover.