A good Cagliari fought to the finish against Roma, but at the Olimpico the final blow fell to the Giallorossi: the match finished 4-2, despite Maldini's equaliser in the 81st minute.
Cagliari made four changes compared to Bologna, lining up with a 3-4-2-1 formation . Mancini had his first chance in the 4th minute, with a foray into the box on the right, but Caprile blocked his shot with his foot. A corner from the left, on the other side, deflected to the near post, and Pisilli touched it with his arm: referee Feliciani allowed play to continue, but VAR called for a clear penalty. Nzola sent Gollini the wrong way from the spot, making it 0-1 and the Angolan's first goal for the Rossoblu . It was the 10th minute, and shortly after, Rodríguez attempted a run with the ball at his feet but was stopped on the edge of the box.
Cagliari's lead lasted just five minutes, and after 15 minutes, Roma equalized with a move from the left by Molina and a cross for winger Lulli, who headed the ball past Obert to make it 1-1. Immediately afterward, Lulli broke through from the right, playing the ball in for Castro, whose deflection missed the target. But by the 21st minute, Roma were already ahead, with Lulli this time managing to provide the assist and crossing for Pisilli to deflect the ball into the net .
Cagliari falters, finding themselves behind and at the mercy of the Giallorossi's pressure. On the half-hour mark, Molina tries, but his deflection leads to a corner. Then the Rossoblu recovers and comes close to equalizing in the 34th minute: Adopo shoots, Gollini makes a great save, and Nzola taps in the rebound with his right foot to send the ball out for a corner . The Angolan strikes again in the 43rd minute, but his left-footed shot goes wide. Halftime is called after a minute.
Roma resumed with Wesley replacing Molina, while Cagliari remained with the same eleven. After Castro's deflected right-footed shot was easily scored by Caprile (48'), Fadera made a serious mistake when he failed to control an assist from Nzola, causing a great counterattack to go up in smoke: he could have found himself alone in front of Gollini . The Giallorossi goalkeeper was instead called upon in the 54th minute, blocking a fine right-footed shot from Deiola from the edge of the area that went over the crossbar.
Gasperini made more substitutions in the 58th minute, bringing on Mora for de Roon and Malen (one of the notable exclusions) for Castro. Nzola tried to pair up with Fadera again, and in the 61st minute, the Gambian found the back of the net on the left, whose right-footed shot to the near post was promptly saved by Gollini for a corner . The Angolan was replaced in the 63rd minute by Mendy.
A fine solo effort from Rodríguez saw the Rossoblu number 15 reach twenty meters, strike a powerful left-footed shot, and Gollini tipped it out for a corner . Adopo headed the ball from the corner and the Giallorossi goalkeeper made an easy save. Then came a double substitution: Maldini replaced Fadera in the 76th minute, and with him, surprisingly, was Liteta for Deiola. Roma's 1-1 scorer Lulli was replaced by Rensch.
Mendy almost equalized in the 81st minute, but Maldini, with the home defense poorly positioned, played the Senegalese forward on the left, and his shot was saved by Gollini. Less than a minute later, Obert, determined, won a duel and played Maldini to the center-left: his left-footed shot was the winner, as the goalkeeper came out to make it 2-2 . Roma responded two minutes later (83'), with Soulé playing the ball into the box and a weak left-footed shot saved by Caprile.
The final score, however, belonged to Roma, who regained the lead in the 85th minute with a cross from Ghilardi (who had been on for Mancini for three minutes) that found fellow substitute Mora for a header to make it 3-2. The Portuguese, again, in the 87th minute, won a duel in the box with Mina on the left and fed Malen in the center. Rodríguez blocked the first shot, but not even Caprile's attempted save prevented the second from making it 4-2 . For injury time (four minutes), Adopo was replaced by Massolin and, more importantly, Sugawara replaced Mendy, who marked his return with a fine run and a shot that was saved for a corner by Gollini.