A look at Mario Rui's encouraging Roma debut against Sampdoria

After suffering an ACL injury in pre-season, Mario Rui finally made his Roma debut on Thursday. Our columnist looks at his promising performance...

Having suffered a devastating ACL knee injury in a freak pre-season training accident just weeks after completing his dream move to AS Roma, it was great to see Mario Rui finally make his full Giallorossi debut on Thursday night.

The former Empoli star marked the occasion in fine style by producing a performance that showed glimpses of his best characteristics against Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia, in a game where he reminded us all of his undoubted quality.

To start with, whenever he pushed forward he illustrated just how valuable he can be offensively, with his dynamism, technical qualities and pacy forward bursts seeing him have a solid impact. Moreover, his capacity to make coherent decisions whether to take on his man, fire in a cross or play a more cautious pass along the carpet only amplified his worth to the squad going forward.

With Sampdoria defending in a narrow, compact shape, Rui's occupation of the wide areas successfully stretched out the visitors and created openings for the likes of Radja Nainggolan and Stephan El Shaarawy to exploit.

Meanwhile, on the defensive end, he coped manfully with whatever the Blucerchiati threw at him, as his strong spatial awareness and ability to read the play ensured he took up excellent positions. Moreover, Rui's strength, in combination with his low centre of gravity, served him well too, allowing him to outmuscle any adversaries, while importantly still keeping his balance.

Although there were some signs of rustiness by the diminutive Portuguese, which were to be expected, all things considered, Rui did a fine job on his Roma bow. A satisfied Luciano Spalletti was duly pleased with the 25-year-old's work, saying: “He played well, although we didn't get him involved as much as we could have. He might have had space. I took him off towards the end because he was a bit tired but he fared well.”

When speaking after the match, Rui was just delighted to have finally got back out on the pitch, even though he wasn't entirely happy with his outing. "I definitely could have done a bit more but at this moment in time I'm satisfied with the way things are," he explained.

"I'm grateful to the coach for his praise today – it's really good to hear. It wasn't easy to go out there and play after all this time on the sidelines.”

Fittingly, his first game for his new side actually came against his former manager at Empoli, Marco Giampaolo, in what was a nice side story and hopefully a good omen of things to come for him.

Following a tough six months on the sidelines, Rui really couldn't have dreamt of a better way to step out for his long awaited Roma debut.

Now, he'll just be desperate to remain fit so he can not only get back to his powerful best, but also play a key role in what looms as an exciting second half of the season for the Giallorossi.