Rome, Jan 10 (DPA) Roma overcame an early red card and retained a 1-0 lead over visiting Chievo to move to fourth place in the Italian Serie A Saturday.
The Rome side took a first-minute lead through a Daniele De Rossi corner-kick header, but complicated their game on 13 minutes with the dismissal of Brazilian goalkeeper Doni for handling the ball outside the area.
Doni was coming back from a long absence to fill in for the injured compatriot Julio Sergio and was hardly to blame as he tried to block the storming Elvis Abbruscato.
To adjust Roma’s line-up, coach Claudio Ranieri brought on Romanian Bogdan Lobont while pulling out forward Mirko Vucinic, which left newcomer Luca Toni to fend for himself upfront.
The former Bayern Munich striker had an early attempt deflected to trigger Roma’s successful corner and missed a header on five minutes as he played from the start after coming on late in a disappointing 2-2 Wednesday.
Mindful of the two-goal lead they blew at Cagliari, Roma avoided to be entrenched in their midfield as Chievo lacked the grit to profit from the hosts’ dismissal also due to the absence of hitter Sergio Pellissier.
De Rossi, who donned the captain’s band instead of the injured Francesco Totti, came close with a free kick on 26 minutes and Brazil’s Rodrigo Taddei missed from close range off a feed from John Riise.
There were problems for Chievo’s defence as Toni displayed strength and dynamism despite often being isolated.
In one of his spurts, he had the better of Davide Mandelli, who pulled his jersey in a glaring foul sanctioned with a spot kick.
Chilean David Pizarro squandered the penalty on 55 minutes, but bore little responsibility for the mistake as Stefano Sorrentino produced a marvelous dive on his right to slap wide the fast ball.
There should be no major problems for leaders Inter Milan in their late home game to bottom side Siena, while chasers AC Milan and Juventus risk losing ground when they clash late Sunday in Turin.
As the Serie A seasons this weekend hits its half-way mark, Milan have an eight-point deficit, with a game in hand, as Juve trail one more point adrift.
rounak