Salernitana 0-1 Roma: Cristante contributes decisive goal

Bryan Cristante scored the only goal of the game at the Stadio Arechi, after his low drive from the edge of the box midway through the first half was lightly deflected on its way into the far corner.

Jose Mourinho’s side had plenty more chances to score, however – with Paulo Dybala hitting the post and narrowly missing two other chances, with Nicolo Zaniolo and Rick Karsdorp also probably leaving the field wondering how they did not score.

Salernitana hung around, however, although in truth they struggled to create a clear-cut opening that could have enabled them to steal a point – with Federico Bonazzoli’s squirming first-half drive and Federico Fazio’s late flick about as close as they would come.

With Dybala showing glimpses of his class on his debut, he was joined in the second half by Nemanja Matic and Georginio Wijnaldum, who also showed moments of quality as they helped the side see out the contest.

The Giallorossi now have just over a week to prepare for their next encounter: Cremonese are the visitors to a sold-out Stadio Olimpico next Monday evening.