In a match in which one team was chasing a Champions League spot and the other had already been relegated, the ending seemed inevitable: AS Roma would pull off the win over hapless Bari. Yet the path Roma took to three points was anything but predictable (except, perhaps, the Daniele De Rossi elbow to the head of Simone Bentivoglio. Those are always predictable). Three penalties. Three red cards. Three points for Roma.
Bari Vs. AS Roma: An Immensely Entertaining Match Ends With Roma Victory
Surprisingly, the opening goal went to Bari, with Bentivoglio converting the penalty after Roma defender Juan made the wise decision to use his hand to stop a ball inside the area. Still 11-v-11, however, so no great worries for Roma yet. Sure enough, just five minutes later, Roma were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position (as I’m legally obligated to call it while writing about football). Francesco Totti shot the ball around the Bari wall, while Jean-François Gillet sent a lot of Belgian curses at his teammates for not managing to be competent enough to construct a wall that actually, you know, blocks something. 1-1.
Just before the halftime interval, Erik Huseklepp scored his first goal in Serie A, getting his head on the end of a cross from Jaime Romero. Another spectacular failure of the Roma defense, and one had to wonder what Vincenzo Montella was going to say to his team over the halftime cappuccino. Although the greater mystery may have been what on earth the Roma coach had elected to wear to work that evening -- a jacket apparently styled upon the fashions of early 19th century seamen.
Whatever it was Montella said to his team at the interval, De Rossi took to heart, committing yet another red-card offense, another elbow to the head. That left Roma down to ten men against Serie B Bari, and yet they still required a penalty to bring the scoreline level. Who else but el capitano, sending his shot against the inside of the post and under a diving Gillet.
Only Totti could be so arrogant, however, to think he could pull off the same penalty twice. When Roma were handed another free chance, the striker put his shot in the exact same place, and this time Gillet managed to push the ball away. Still all even at 2-2, but at least now the number of players was even as well, with Bari defender Kamil Glik sent off as well.
Bari very nearly managed to pull off the win in injury time, when Abdelkader Ghezzal sent a shot from just outside the area off the cross bar. As Roma advanced back up the field, Simone Perrotta, apparently taking advice from De Rossi, smacked a Bari player and was rewarded with a straight red. Instead it was nine-man Roma that managed the victory, the final goal coming from substitute Aleandro Rosi, brought on for Marco Cassetti in the 88th minute. The defender scored his first goal of the season by chesting the ball past Gillet.
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