Cagliari’s run of poor form continued as they were defeated 2-1 at home by Hellas Verona at the Stadio Sant’ Elia on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
Despite a valiant effort from the Sardinians, they were left to pay for defensive errors as they conceded two poor goals throughout the 90 minutes. Luca Toni was the first to get on the score-sheet when he opened the scoring in the 9th minute. This was then followed by a Juanito Gomez header in the 56th minute and Daniele Conti’s consolation goal in the final minutes of the match.
Cagliari began the match in positive fashion as they controlled the opening stages of the first half. They were comfortable in possession and looked to push forwards on every occasion.
However the home side’s promising start counted for nothing as Verona took the lead in the ninth minute after a a swift counter-attack was finished well by the veteran striker Toni.
The Gialloblu top-scorer displayed great movement to lose his marker in the penalty area and subsequently latched onto an Emil Hallfredsson cross and flicked the ball cutely past the Cagliari goalkeeper.
The Rossoblu were not discouraged by this early set-back however and continued to press forward valiantly. This persistent pressure and patient build-up very nearly bore fruit in the 22nd minute when Samuel Longo’s close range strike was wonderfully blocked by a Verona defender. The 23-year-old was played in behind the defence via an intelligent pass, however his slight hesitation meant that the opposition were able to launch a last-minute interception and deflect his volley over the cross-bar.
As play resumed in the second half, Cagliari once again controlled possession but simply lacked the spark to infiltrate the Verona defence. The Gialloblu were happy to sit back and soak up the Sardinian pressure and rely solely on brief counter-attacks or set pieces.
This tactic paid off once again in the 57th minute when the away side doubled their lead thanks to a headed goal from substitute Gomez. Hallfreddsson was yet again the provider as he swung in an enticing left footed cross that caught out the catastrophic Cagliari defence and was easily nodded home by the 29-year-old Argentinian.
The Isolani did come agonizingly close in the 66th minute when Diego Farias skipped past his opponent and flashed a low ball across the face of the goal, however no player was present to turn the ball into the back of the net.
Verona really should have ended the match in the 72nd minute when they spurned a glorious chance to go 3-0 up. Once again they broke forward with pace and took advantage of the unorganised Cagliari defence. With three attackers in the opposition penalty area, the ball eventually fell to Arthur Ionita whose shot was cleared off the line well by Zeljko Brkic.
After 90 minutes of persistence, Cagliari finally managed to get on the score-sheet after a well taken free kick from captain Daniele Conti. The 36-year-old was able to curl a superb strike over the top of the wall and past the helpless Verona goalkeeper.
But it was not enough and the home side left the pitch to jeers and whistles from their own fans.
