|
|
|
 |
 |
| Cagliari crushed Roma 5 - 1 |
 |
Daniele Conti was instrumental for Cagliari as they crushed Roma at the Stadio Sant'Elia, although the goalscoring midfielder was in hospital when the final whistle sounded.
Conti put the Sardinians in front in the eighth minute before Daniele De Rossi brought Roma level 10 minutes later.
Conti was then hacked down inside the penalty area by Nicolas Burdisso, who saw red before Alessandro Matri put Cagliari in front, but Conti was already on his way to hospital by the time Robert Acquafresca made it three in the 38th minute.
Matri's second of the game in the 47th minute made it four before Andrea Lazzarri completed the rout with three minutes remaining.
Conti has made a habit of upsetting his father Bruno, who is the general manager of Roma.
The Cagliari midfielder has scored against Roma three times already, including the goal which earned the Sardinians a win over the Giallorossi last season.
It was no surprise, therefore, that he scored again, although the joy at opening the scoring soon turned to pain as he was carried away from the field with a serious knee injury following a dangerous tackle from Burdisso.
Nevertheless, Conti was the man who made the difference in more ways than one.
His unstoppable volley from 20 yards put the hosts in front in the eighth minute, but De Rossi cancelled it out with a header which deflected off the shoulder of Davide Biondini on its way in.
However, the incident which changed the match came just 60 seconds later and Conti was in the thick of the action.
Acquafresca's shot was saved miraculously by Julio Sergio, but the ball broke loose to Conti, who was hacked down by Burdisso.
After a break of several minutes, Conti was carried from the field and Burdisso left too, having been shown the red card.
Bruno Conti raced from the bench to see how his son was and Matri's goal from the penalty spot almost passed unnoticed as Cagliari were reluctant to celebrate after seeing Conti leave the field in such distress.
Francesco Totti left the field seconds later as Burdisso's younger brother Guillermo came on to make his debut for 10-man Roma who, by this point, knew they had a mountain to climb to get anything from this match.
Acquafresca made it three for Cagliari in the 38th minute, heading in from near to the penalty spot at the end of another prolonged attack by the home team.
And the victory was sealed two minutes into the second half by Matri, who scored his second of the game with a close-range header from Andrea Cossu's cross.
Lazzarri rubbed salt in Roma's wounds late on with a fifth to end a night to forget for Roma coach Claudio Ranieri.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
