Cagliari beat Arezzo 1-0 at home in the Coppa Italia first round, and the margin was settled before the half-hour mark by a single penalty that Arezzo never found an answer to across ninety-plus minutes of football.
The decisive moment arrived in the 23rd minute. Cagliari midfielder Alessandro Deiola stepped up to convert from the spot, giving Fabio Pisacane's side the opener and, as it turned out, the only goal the match would produce. Arezzo had already been reduced to ten disciplined men — they collected a yellow card in the 16th minute — and the penalty compounded a difficult opening period for Cristian Bucchi's visitors. What made the goal more than a routine set-piece conversion was its context: Cagliari had arrived at this fixture carrying genuine momentum from the end of their Serie A campaign, and Deiola's finish extended that confidence into a new competition without interruption.
The second decisive passage came at the interval, when Cagliari made a notable change: Paul Mendy was withdrawn and Gennaro Borrelli came on. The data offers no stated reason, and it would be wrong to speculate, but the timing — with the lead secured and a full second half to manage — shaped how Pisacane deployed his resources from that point. A further double substitution in the 54th minute brought on Raphael Kofler and Daniel Maldini in place of Deiola and Yael Trepy, rotating the XI substantially while protecting the one-goal advantage. Mattia Felici replaced Jacopo Fazzini at the 67th minute, and Matteo Prati came on for Harry Winks with ten minutes remaining, giving the squad a thorough run-out across the full group.
Deiola was the central figure. The Cagliari defender-turned-penalty-taker scored the only goal of the match and was active enough to warrant a substitution in the 54th minute — a sign that Pisacane was content to bank the contribution and manage his minutes rather than push Deiola through the full ninety. In a Coppa Italia opener that demanded efficiency over spectacle, that is exactly what the role required.
Arezzo, making their first appearance in this data set, offered little that troubled the scoreline. Bucchi's side made five substitutions across the second half — including Andrea Cagnano entering in the 60th minute and Alessandro Arena departing in the 74th — but the changes produced no visible shift in the match's balance. A second yellow card in the 66th minute underlined a disciplinary afternoon that never translated into attacking threat. Against a Cagliari side that had conceded only twice across its last three matches, Arezzo's inability to register a single goal was not a surprise, but the manner of the defeat — passive, without a meaningful response to the early penalty — will concern Bucchi as his team prepares for the Serie B season ahead.
Cagliari's form arc through this fixture tells a coherent story. Across their last five matches — spanning four Serie A fixtures and this Coppa Italia tie — Pisacane's side have collected ten points from a possible fifteen, with five goals scored and four conceded. Narrow that window to the last three and the picture sharpens considerably: three wins, nine points, five goals scored, two conceded. The late drama in stoppage time — a yellow card for Maldini and a red card for an unnamed Cagliari player in the 90th minute — added unnecessary tension to what had been a controlled afternoon, and Pisacane will want that managed better in future rounds.
A penalty before the half-hour, a disciplined defensive second half, and a squad rotation that gave minutes to Borrelli, Kofler, Maldini, Felici, and Prati: Cagliari used this Coppa Italia tie exactly as a well-organised club should, and the three-match winning run now extends into a new competition.