Eight-man Roma beaten by Fiorentina
Reuters - Sunday 04 December 2011, 19:43
AS Roma, without top scorer
Pablo Osvaldo after he was banned for punching a team-mate in a
dressing-room row, had three players sent off in a 3-0 defeat at
Fiorentina in Serie A on Sunday.
There was also controversy at Juventus who beat Cesena 2-0
to stay unbeaten and go top with the help of a hotly-disputed
late penalty.
That match saw Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero's
frustrating season continue when he was taken off injured after
just eight minutes of yet another substitute appearance.
Colombian Victor Ibarbo scored a superb individual goal to
give Cagliari a 1-0 win at Catania, the Sardinians' first victory
since Davide Ballardini became their third coach of the season.
Juventus lead the table with 29 points from 13 games, two
ahead of AC Milan, who won 2-0 at Genoa on Friday, and Udinese,
who beat Inter Milan 1-0 away on Saturday.
Serie A's two crisis teams clashed in Florence where the
hosts this week fined Alessio Cerci and Andrea Lazzari for a
late night out and Roma were still reeling from the Osvaldo
incident, where he punched team-mate Erik Lamela after last
week's defeat at Udinese.
"I feel bad as any player Roma player does and as any other
coach would feel is this situation," said Roma coach Luis
Enrique.
"We coaches go through these situations, when you don't get
the results, the doubts start to build up."
Fiorentina, wearing black armbands in memory of former
Brazil captain Socrates who played for the club for one season
and died earlier on Sunday, were looking for their first win and
goals under new coach Delio Rossi.
They were quickly on top after Stevan Jovetic was hauled
back by Juan in the 15th minute.
The Brazil defender was sent off while the Montenegro
international coolly converted the penalty in the 15th minute
for his sixth league goal of the season.
ROMA RESPOND
Roma responded well but suffered another blow just before
half-time when Alessandro Gamberini headed in Riccardo
Montolivo's corner to make it 2-0.
The visitors went to pieces in the last quarter of an hour
when Fernando Gago was dismissed for a sliding tackle on Jovetic
in the 77th minute and Bojan Krkic followed nine minutes later
for punching a goal-bound shot off the line.
Uruguayan Santiago Silva converted the resulting penalty as
Fiorentina moved onto 16 points, one behind their ambitious but
troubled opponents and whose coach Enrique can look forward to a
torrid week.
In Turin, Juventus struggled to break down a defiant Cesena
and lost Del Piero with a gashed forehead just after the hour.
It was doubly frustrating for the 36-year-old who had been
brought on in the 56th minute, rather than in the last few
minutes as his been more common this term under coach Antonio
Conte.
Claudio Marchisio broke through in the 72nd minute with his
sixth goal of the season but Cesena were livid about Arturo
Vidal's penalty, which settled the match 11 minutes later.
Goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli punched away a cross but in
doing so caught Juventus forward Emanuele Giaccherini with his
outstretched arm.
The referee awarded a penalty and sent off Antonioli, who
had to be replaced by defender Guillermo Rodriguez as Cesena had
used up their substitutions, amid furious protests from the
disbelieving visitors.
The goal of the day was provided by Ibarbo who jinked his
way past two defenders and then cleverly rounded Catania
goalkeeper Mariano Andujar to give Cagliari a 1-0 win.
"It didn't look like a penalty and a sending off from the
bench and the replays have confirmed my feelings," said Cesena
coach Daniele Arrigoni.
Bologna beat Siena 1-0 while Atalanta held Chievo 0-0 in
Sunday's other games.