Serie A | Cagliari 1-0 Roma: Another painful loss for 10-man Giallorossi

CAGLIARI, ITALY – DECEMBER 07: Gianluca Gaetano of Cagliari celebrates his goal 1-0 during the Serie A match between Cagliari Calcio and AS Roma at Stadio Sant’Elia on December 07, 2025 in Cagliari, Italy. (Photo by Enrico Locci/Getty Images)

Roma fell to their second consecutive Serie A defeat, as Gianluca Gaetano struck late on after Zeki Celik was sent off, giving Cagliari their first win since September 19.

The Giallorossi slipped off top spot following their defeat to Napoli, confirming a negative record in the big games, and lost Wesley along with Artem Dovbyk and Angelino, plus Paulo Dybala and Evan Ferguson not at 100 per cent. The Sardinians were without a Serie A win in nine rounds, but forced Napoli into a midweek Coppa Italia sudden death penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw. Mattia Felici tore his ACL in that game, joining Yerry Mina, Luca Mazzitelli, Ze Pedro and Andrea Belotti in the stands.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Evan Ndicka slipped early on, allowing Gennaro Borrelli to go clear, but got back on his feet and sprinted back in time for a decisive sliding tackle on the edge of the six-yard box.

Michael Folorunsho’s header on a Marco Palestra cross was straight at Mile Svilar, while the goalkeeper had a much tougher save to make on Sebastiano Esposito from another Palestra assist.

The game changed when Folorunsho won back the ball in midfield and surged forward, going down under a clumsy Zeki Celik challenge. The referee initially awarded a penalty, but following the VAR On-Field Review, he saw the contact was outside the area, so instead Celik was sent off for denying a clear scoring opportunity.

Svilar made a sensational double save, rushing off his line to deny Adam Obert after a smart one-two and turn inside the crowd, then also managing to capture the rebound.

The Roma goalkeeper was again quick off his line to make the desperate save on Folorunsho, then Palestra rode two tackles down the right to pull a shot across the face of goal from the by-line.

Moments later, Palestra sprinted into the box again and went down under a Daniele Ghilardi nudge, but it was insufficient for a penalty.

Cagliari finally broke the deadlock when a Sebastiano Esposito corner found Gianluca Gaetano at the back post, he chested it down and hit the half-volley from the tightest of angles through a sea of legs to nestle into the far bottom corner.

A couple of angry scuffles broke out, one caused when Cagliari were trying to put it out of play so Folorunsho could get treatment for cramp, but Mario Hermoso intercepted before it could roll out completely and tried to counter. Paulo Dybala attempted an acrobatic volley on the Devyne Rensch cross, but it was nodded practically off his foot.

Cagliari 1-0 Roma

Gaetano 82 (C)

Sent off: Celik 51 (R)

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