Paulo Dybala was once again the masked man
.
The thing is that the gesture that he immortalized for each goal celebration had been interrupted for 20 days after a muscle injury that left him out right in the middle of
José Mourinho's dismissal
.
This Monday, the new version of the capital team continued the positive trend since the arrival of
Daniele de Rossi
and it was partly due to the contribution of the world champion from Córdoba, fundamental for the 2-1 away win against Salernitana, last in Serie A.
The position in the standings did not prevent the Roman team from suffering unspeakable difficulties to defend their advantage in the final stretch of the match, as already happened last day against Verona in De Rossi's debut on the "giallorosso" bench.
But the lack of effectiveness of Salernitana, a team that has only been able to win two games this season, avoided disappointment for a Roma team that, if there was one thing that stood out during its visit to Arechi, was its effectiveness.
In fact, the capital team converted the only two shots between the three sticks that they signed in the entire match into goals: the penalty that Dybala scored, in the 51st minute due to a handball from Giulio Maggiore, and that of captain Lorenzo Pellegrini, who signed 0-2 fifteen minutes later, also with a magical intervention from the Córdoban cue.
It was the seventh goal in 20 games this season for the one who emerged from Instituto
Photo: EFE/EPA/MASSIMO PICA
Quite the opposite of Salernitana, which led by the former Lazio player Antonio Candreva and with the entry of the Argentine Agustín Martegani, challenged the goal defended by the Portuguese Rui Patricio on more than one occasion, although without success.
But when everything seemed resolved for the Roman team, the goal (1-2) by Cypriot Grigoris Kastanos came in the 70th minute, giving unexpected excitement to the final minutes in which Roma knew how to suffer to prevent Salernitana from achieving the equalizer.
Roma - which did not have Leandro Paredes, suspended - occupies 5th place with 35 points, one less than fourth-placed Atalanta (with one game less), which marks the qualifying positions for the next Champions League.
On the near horizon he has a new match against a team from the lower zone, Cagliari, next weekend, before De Rossi's first big test against Inter Milan on January 10 at the Olympic Stadium.