It took them six years, but Roma got there at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, as the Giallorossi claimed a 1-0 win over Sampdoria to record a tenth straight Serie A match without losing. A hard-fought victory in Genoa solidified Roma’s position in the European race in Serie A, extending their lead on seventh-placed Atalanta to three points.
Roma came out on top of a scrappy first half that saw both sides struggle to retain possession and create something meaningful up top. Armenia international Henrikh Mkhitaryan was quickest to react to the rebound inside Sampdoria’s six-yard box and slot the ball home for the visitors.
Tammy Abraham came close to doubling his team’s lead late in the first half. However, his effort went narrowly wide of the near post following Bartosz Bereszynski’s inexplicable mistake. Despite Roma’s uninspiring performance, Jose Mourinho’s men kept Sampdoria firmly at bay in the first half.
The Portuguese manager has not abandoned his ‘park-the-bus’ philosophy, as evidenced by his side’s lack of desire to search for goal in the second half. Roma settled for a narrow advantage, completely surrendering possession to Sampdoria, who failed to produce a single clear-cut chance beyond half-time.
A thoroughly disappointing second-half action saw the Giallorossi attempt zero shots on target. Luckily for Roma, Marco Giampaolo’s men were equally incapable of creating danger in the front third.
Sampdoria’s solitary chance to avoid defeat arrived in the 66th minute. Abdelhamid Sabiri picked up the ball inside Roma’s box, but despite having time and space to pick out his spot, he drilled his shot straight into Rui Patricio, who made a comfortable save.
Following another crucial three points, Mourinho was all praise for his side’s showing at Ferraris, even though Roma scored from their only shot on target.
“It was a difficult match, it’s tough to play here, Marco Giampaolo’s sides always have a clear philosophy,” he said, as relayed by TUTTOmercatoWEB.
“If it had been a different coach, people would be talking about our goal as fantastic football, building out from the back, but they won’t do that with me!
“We controlled the situation well, but could’ve scored a second goal and killed off the game. I don’t think we were distracted by Thursday, it’s that Samp changed their system in the second half, providing more width and making it difficult for us to press them.“