Roma sealed a routine 1-0 victory over Genoa at Stadio Olimpico in Serie A on Sunday, thanks to a first half Gianluca Mancini goal.
The early exchanges saw Genoa standing their ground, holding back the Lupi away from goal, but Roma broke the deadlock midway through the first half through Mancini’s header, courtesy of Lorenzo Pellegrini‘s corner to score with their first meaningful effort.
The opening gave Roma a confidence boost as Pedro followed up with a long-range shot that forced Federico Marchetti to stretch out in order to keep it at 1-0.
Il Grifone’s attempts were never threatening enough throughout the rest of the first half, as Roma went into the break ahead.
More urgency was noticed on both ends of the pitch as the second half began. Just before the hour mark, Roma’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Gonzalo Villar came on for Stephan El Shaarawy and Amadou Diawara and thhe substitutes quickly caused problems for the visitors, with Villar going close with a deflected shot off the post.
Mkhitaryan attempted to leave his mark as well with a brilliant run that set Rick Karsdorp through for Pedro to backheel and Borja Mayoral to finish, though the Giallorossi were flagged offside in the build up.
Roma opted for a slower tempo as they looked to preserve their lead. Centre-back Federico Fazio replaced striker Mayoral late on, as the Giallorossi stood firm against renewed Genoa attacks.
Despite the risky game plan, the capital side sealed the three points and moved up to fourth in the Serie A table, ahead of Atalanta clash against Inter on Monday.
