 |
| Paolo Cannavaro (blue shirt) pleading his case off a foul on Marco Borrielo (maroon) in the Roma-Napoli encounter |
Miralem Pjanic become the hero as Roma came out victorious in the Round 8 of the Serie A.
Pjanic's goal came in the 45th minute after being awarded a free kick by a Paolo Cannavaro foul on Gervinho. Pjanic scoop a looping shot that not even Pepe Reina's top hand diving save could prevented it.
Before that, Napoli was poised to take the lead particularly in the 34th minute when Goran Pandev's shot bounced off from Morgan de Sanctis arm in a diving save and the ball slowly headed to the net. But the timely clearance of Daniele de Rossi turned Napoli's gold into stone. In the 45th minute mark also, Lorenzo Insigne's shot missed few inches from the net.
 |
| Miralem Pjanic |
In the second half, Napoli became the aggressive team. It made several goal potential attempts. In the 49th minute, Gokhan Inler shot grazed the net while in the 61st minute, Marek Hamsik's shot hit the near post in the left side.
Napoli's chase for a win became more difficult when in the 79th minute Paolo Cannavaro was given his second yellow and automatic red off a foul on Marco Borrielo in Roma's penalty box. Cannavaro was sent off and Roma is given a penalty shot which was converted again by Miralem Pjanic. Napoli tried to come back but to no avail even if Goran Pandev was already subbed by former Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain. AS Roma secured the 2-0 lead and went on to win the game.
