Sergio Oliveira earned and converted a penalty on his Roma debut to seal victory, but Rui Patricio’s save and the crossbar denied Cagliari a late equaliser.
The Giallorossi were still smarting after a 4-3 defeat to Juventus, so threw Sergio Oliveira into the start for his debut, joining Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Roger Ibanez and Bryan Cristante sat out bans, with Chris Smalling, Rick Karsdorp, Leonardo Spinazzola, Ebrima Darboe and Amadou Diawara unavailable. Lorenzo Pellegrini pulled out in the warm-up, replaced by Jordan Veretout.
Cagliari had even worse problems, missing 11 players between injury, COVID-19 and international duty, including Marko Rog, Kevin Strootman, Sebastian Walukiewicz, Raoul Bellanova, Alberto Grassi and Matteo Lovato. Edoardo Goldaniga made his debut in defence.
There was controversy in the opening four minutes, as the referee pointed to the spot, but then after a VAR on-field review acknowledged the sensational Andrea Carboni tackle on Nicolò Zaniolo got the ball.
Tammy Abraham should’ve given Roma the lead, but didn’t get enough power to his header on the Maitland-Niles cross and allowed Alessio Cragno to smother.
VAR was used again, this time to award a penalty to Roma, as Dalbert used an outstretched arm to charge down Sergio Oliveira’s shot. The Portuguese midfielder converted it himself, scoring on his Giallorossi debut.
Mancini was booked for barging Joao Pedro head-first into the advertising board, then Cragno rushed bravely off his line to smother at the feet of Felix Afena-Gyan on the counter.
Veretout didn’t get enough power to a Mkhitaryan assist, but Altare was fortunate to only receive a yellow card for a very high and late tackle on Felix.
Zaniolo dribbled into the box for an angled drive that flashed inches past the far post, while Eldor Shomurodov scuffed his finish straight at Cragno.
After wasting so many chances, Roma were almost undone in the final minutes when Joao Pedro flicked a ball from the right and Rui Patricio made a decisive reaction save from point-blank range, pushing it onto the crossbar.
Nahitan Nandez had a chance in stoppages too, chesting down a cross-field pass and the bounce just allowing Rui Patricio to get there first.
Roma 1-0 Cagliari
Sergio Oliveira pen 33 (R)