Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the man of the day for AS Roma as the winger was in the right place at the right time to secure precious three points for his team, Roma, away to Sampdoria. the win further consolidated their fifth place
With the same XI that crushed Lazio 3-0 in the Derby della Capitale, Roma succeeded here. However, Nicolò Zaniolo was out injured. He joined Leonardo Spinazzola and Jordan Veretout on the absentee list.
Samp, on the other hand, were without Sebastian Giovinco, Manolo Gabbiadini, and Mikkel Damsgaard.
From an early corner, Roger Ibanez nodded just over from an early corner. Francesco Caputo forced a save from Rui Patricio on Stefano Sensi’s through ball.
The visitors eventually broke the deadlock when Nicola Zalewski pulled across from the left for Tammy Abraham. After Morten Thorsby intercepted the ball, his weak attempt to clear the ball put his side under pressure, and Henrikh reacted first to the loose ball to Mkhitaryan tap it in.
Abraham failed to make it two after receiving a Bartosz Bereszynski back-pass before Emil Audero. His shot was off target as he could only find the side-netting from close range.
Samp continue their push for an equaliser as Sabiri fired straight at Rui Patricio on a Tommaso Augello cross.
Abraham was at it again, but his effort got deflected wide off Omar Colley.
Fabio Quagliarella’s shot was directed towards goal, but his strike took a big deflection off Chris Smalling to whistle wide with Rui Patricio beaten.
Lorenzo Pellegrini will be out of action in the next game as he was booked for time-wasting in stoppages. He will be suspended against Salernitana and rested ahead of Napoli.
In another development, Napoli, earlier in the day, recorded a 3-1 win away at Atalanta.
It is expected that Roma would consolidate their fifth position against relegation-threatened Salernitania but will have to pass a big test against Napoli in there next two games.
In the big-match Serie A fixture this weekend, Inter Milan claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Juventus. Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty was enough to give Inter the win.
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed
