AS Roma came from behind to beat Cagliari 4-2 at the Stadio Olimpico, with three goals in the final twelve minutes of normal time turning a nervous evening into a comfortable margin. The result was shaped less by Roma's early industry than by Gian Piero Gasperini's substitutions and the collective collapse of a Cagliari side that had briefly threatened to make the night awkward.
The match's opening sequence set an uncomfortable tone for the hosts. A VAR review at 7' confirmed a penalty against Roma, and M'Bala Nzola, Cagliari's forward, converted from the spot at 10' to give the visitors the lead. Roma's response was immediate and purposeful. Emanuele Lulli, Roma's midfielder, levelled at 15' with an assist from Nahuel Molina, and Niccolò Pisilli, also of Roma, put the home side ahead at 21' — Lulli turning provider this time. Two goals in six minutes, and Roma led 2-1 before the half-hour. That was the score at the interval, and it held through the first twenty minutes of the second half without further incident.
The match's decisive passage began with Roma's substitutions. Gasperini made two changes simultaneously at 56', sending on Rodrigo Mora for Marten de Roon and Donyell Malen for Santiago Castro. Cagliari responded with their own changes at 63' and 76', and it was one of those substitutes — Daniel Maldini, introduced at 76' — who pulled the visitors level at 81', assisted by Adam Obert. At 2-2 with nine minutes remaining, the match was genuinely open. Roma's answer came within four minutes: Mora, the substitute, scored at 85' with an assist from Daniele Ghilardi — himself only on the pitch since 82' — and Malen added a fourth at 87' to seal it. Two substitutes, two goals, two minutes apart.
Mora is the player this match will be remembered for. Introduced to add dynamism in the second half, the Roma forward waited until the moment of maximum pressure — the score level, the clock running — to produce the goal that broke Cagliari's resistance. That Ghilardi, another late arrival, provided the assist only reinforces how completely Gasperini reshaped the match from the bench. The winning goal came not from Roma's starters but from the infrastructure Gasperini built around them.
Cagliari's evening contained the seeds of their own undoing. They arrived at the Stadio Olimpico having taken one point from their previous three matches, and the pattern of that run — conceding heavily, scoring rarely — repeated itself here. The penalty conversion at 10' gave them a lead they could not protect, and their substitutions at 76', intended to change the game, instead coincided with the period in which they conceded twice. Maldini's equaliser at 81' was a moment of genuine quality, but Cagliari had neither the defensive structure nor the time to hold what they had briefly reclaimed. Across their last three matches including this one, they have now lost all three, conceding ten goals in the process.
For Roma, the form picture is improving at the right gradient. Coming into this fixture, Gasperini's side had won one and drawn two of their previous three matches; the win here moves that window to two wins and one draw. The unbeaten run across the last five matches — two wins and three draws — remains intact, and the attacking numbers are trending upward: Roma have scored eleven goals in those five fixtures. The concern, if there is one, is that they required a comeback to beat a Cagliari side in poor form, and that the margin only became comfortable in the final minutes.
A month from now, this match will be remembered as the night Roma's bench won the game that Roma's starting eleven had made complicated.