Empoli vs Roma
Serie A
Carlo Castellani
Roma, after suffering a humiliation against Udinese, travelled to Empoli on Monday. The Romans knew their opponents were yet to register a win this season. However, they were aware that they had held items to draws in their previous four fixtures.
Dybala scored early in the first half to put the visitors ahead. However, Bandinelli brought the home side back into the fixture with an equaliser.
The second half was extremely closely fought. Just when things drifted towards a draw, Abraham found the winner in the 70th minute. Thus, the fixture ended 2-1 in favour of the away side.
Empoli vs Roma: match report
Full time score: Empoli 2-1 Roma
SCORERS : 18 ‘Dybala, 43’ Bandinelli, 70 ‘Abraham.
EMPOLI (4-3-1-2): Vicar; Stojanovic, Ismajli, Luperto, Parisi (52 ‘Cacace); Haas (62 ‘Akpa Akpro), Marin (82’ Grassi), Bandinelli; Pjaca (62 ‘Bajrami), Lammers (82’ Cambiaghi), Satriano. Herdsman Zanetti.
Available: Perisan, Ujkani; Walukiewicz, De Winter, Henderson, Ekong, Degli Innocenti, Fazzini.
ROME (3-4-1-2): Rui Patricio; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Celik, Cristante, Matic, Spinazzola (97 ′ Wine); Dybala (80 ‘Bove), Pellegrini (95’ Camara); Abraham (80 ‘Belotti). Herds Mourinho. Available: Boer, Svilar; Shomurodov, Zaniolo, Volpato, Tripi.
REFEREE: Livio Marinelli of Tivoli (Di Iorio-Affatato; Pezzuto; Chiffi-Galetto)
BOOKINGS: Parisi, Ismajli, Akpa Akpro, Celik.
SENT OFF: 87 ‘Akpa Akpro for foul play.
Managers’ reaction
Paolo Zanetti: “We leave this match not downsized – said the blue coach – but we are convinced that we can do well. They were more concrete, we hit two posts and played the game we wanted. I want to emphasize the attitude of my team – observes the coach – because if we play games like this we will lose few. Are we having the right answers up to this point in the championship? Honestly, I can say little to the guys – Zanetti closes – I train an extraordinary group that pushes hard all week and does everything I ask of them. The satisfactions will come. I am more than anything else sorry for the team because it soon deserves satisfaction.”
Jose Mourinho: “We could’ve won in another way, with more tranquillity. If we were 3-1 up we could’ve managed it better ahead of Thursday. But the important thing is to win again.
“We suffered, seven minutes of extra time for a team that wins is a lot but we managed it well.
“I want to congratulate Zanetti because his Empoli team were tough to play against, but in the end we deserved the victory.”
