Roma overcame a tough Palermo side 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday afternoon in Serie A thanks to a stunning goal from Erik Lamela.
The Argentine made his first start for the Giallorossi and was inspirational as he claimed the only goal of the game early on.
Francesco Totti was still out injured along with Aleandro Rosi, Bogdan Lobont and Cicinho, Simon Kjaer was suspended due to the red card he picked up last week in the Derby. While Palermo’s Fabrizio Miccoli could only make the bench due to an injury.
Luis Enrique’s side were looking to make amends to last week’s late derby defeat to Lazio but Palermo were also looking to bounce back after their defeat to AC Milan last weekend.
Roma: Stekelenburg, Cassetti, Burdisso, Juan (Heinze 79), Jose Angel, De Rossi, Pizzaro, Gago, Lamela (Bojan 81), Osvaldo, Borriello (Perrotta 69)
Palermo: Tzorvas, Pisano, Silvestre, Migliaccio, Balzaretti, Acquah (Miccoli 82), Barreto, Della Rocca (Cetto 54), Zahavi (Ilicic 73) Hernandez, Pinilla
Just eight minutes into the game, Roma took the lead and it came from Lamela, as he cut in from the right and side and curled in a brilliant left footed effort past Tzorvas to make a brilliant start to his Roma career following his move from River Plate in the summer.
After Roma scored Palermo got into the game a little more and things started to get very edgy in the Olimpico. Roma were beginning to sit back as Palermo made inroads in the Giallorossi backline.
Roma keeper Maarten Stekelenburg made two very telling saves in the first half, first denying Israeli Eran Zahavi with a brilliant one handed save, after some brilliant work from Federico Balzaretti. Then the Dutch keeper parried a powerful Abel Hernandez effort over the bar.
Early in the second half Roma had a telling chance that really should of doubled the lead. Daniele De Rossi played a brilliant cross field ball to Pablo Osvaldo, who could only head wide when it seemed easier to score. However, after that chance Roma were on the back foot as Palermo were on top for most of the second half and nearly equalised as the impressive Alfiyie Acquah made an excellent run down the right hand side but his cross to the unmarked Mauricio Pinilla was over-hit. The Chilean was free and if it was right he would have scored.
In the final twenty minutes Roma were playing on the counter-attack and could have scored a second when Lamela broke from deep and should have gave the ball to Osvaldo, who was in a better position on the left, but the youngster decided to go on eventually giving away possession.
Palermo then nearly equalised with fifteen minutes remaining after substitute Josip Ilicic sprung the offside trap following a Marco Cassetti mistake, the Palermo midfielder rounded the keeper but his effort was brilliant blocked by the onrushing De Rossi.
It was end to end stuff in the closing stages of the game as Roma were trying to add a second to kill the game off while Palermo were desperately trying to equalise. Both Bojan and David Pizarro missed chances to double the lead as both players fired wide of the post from inside of the area.
At the other end Migliaccio saw a cheeky back heel go just wide of the post after he came on to a shot from outside of the area.
Substitute Miccoli had two opportunities to equalise for Palermo, first his volley went over the bar from the right hand side of the area. Then his second effort was well saved by Maarten Stekelenburg.
Finally, Roma had a golden chance to double the lead when Osvaldo lobbed the ball over the onrushing Palermo keeper but he was brilliantly denied by Balzaretti who cleared the ball out for a corner.
It was a frantic end to the game and it was clear to see that there was some relief at the final whistle as Roma got of jail a little as Palermo were a very good side and deserved something out of the game. A point would have been the fair result. But Erik Lamela was the sole difference between the two clubs, a stellar debut.
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