Roma Undone After Çelik Red in Costly Loss to Cagliari

SB Nation

You know what they say about assumptions, right? Well, after Roma laid an egg in last weekend’s top-of-the-table clash against Napoli, today’s fixture against 15th-place Cagliari should have been a gimme

for the Giallorossi. Even with some lingering injuries in attack, we felt safe labeling this as a “get-right” match for Roma, and, well, in doing so, we definitely made an ass out of you and me.

With a chance to recover some of the street cred they squandered last week against Antonio Conte’s team and stay within striking distance of first place, Roma came out flat against Cagliari. With Gian Piero Gasperini once again relying on the false-nine formation, this time with Tommaso Baldanzi in the role made famous by Francesco Totti, the absence of a true target man noticeably impacted the Giallorossi’s attack.

Baldazni may be good in tight spaces, where his impeccable close control and low center of gravity are advantages, but he cut a Boguesian figure in the penalty area, where his smaller stature was hard to miss—or mabe it was?

On the other side of the pitch, Cagliari approached this match exactly as one would expect from an early-season relegation-battler: aggressive and focused on taking advantage of any chances the Roma defense gave. Starting as early as the 6th minute, Cagliari put Roma under immediate pressure, turning the match into an unexpected defensive exercise for the capital club.

The Islanders’ forwards, especially Sebastiano Esposito and Gennaro Borrelli, kept Roma on the back foot, forcing multiple saves from Mile Svilar and stretching Roma’s backline, creating frequent moments of danger for Gasperini’s group.

Roma, by contrast, struggled to match Cagliari’s rhythm and intensity in the first half, especially in the midfield, where the lack of cohesion was particularly obvious. Most of the club’s best moments (a term we’re using loosely, I might add) came through set pieces and broken plays, with Lorenzo Pellegrini and Matías Soulé both seeing close-range efforts blocked amid a crowd of defenders inside the box.

Still, despite the lack of fluidity, this had the makings of your classic stuck-in-the-mud scoreless draw. But with the likes of Paulo Dybala, Evan Ferguson, and Leon Bailey on the bench, a second-half turnaround definitely wasn’t out of the question. However, everything changed in the blink of an eye early in the second half.

Or, more accurately, with a thrust of the hip.

While Zeki Çelik was lucky not to concede a penalty to Cagliari after a hip-check on Michael Folorunsho outside the box, he received a straight red card for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity. From that moment on, Cagliari took control, pushed their fullbacks higher, and started funneling wave after wave of pressure toward Roma’s penalty area. Svilar became busier, making a series of saves to deny efforts from Esposito, Alessandro Deiola, and Gabriele Zappa.

Gasperini attempted to resolve his club’s rudderless attack by introducing Dybala and Ferguson around the hour mark, but it was all for nothing. Under Cagliari pressure, Roma’s focus remained defense. As a result, the match settled into an uncomfortable pattern for Roma: absorbing body blows as Cagliari aimed for the knockout punch that would give them their first win over the Giallorossi in four years.

And it came thanks to an 83rd-minute setpiece.

This collapse was equal parts being down a man and Daniele Ghilardi losing sight of Gaetano at the far post. Either way, it was a long time coming for Cagliari, who played this match to perfection, grabbing three essential points as they attempt to claw their way up from the lower reaches of the table.

Despite five added minutes, Roma couldn’t muster any last-minute heroics, losing consecutive league matches for the first time under Gasperini.