What a bonkers ending. Roma have bottled a 2-0 lead away to nine-man Cagliari in Serie A, allowing the home team to come away with a draw in a collapse for the ages.
With the score at 2-0 entering the final 10 minutes, Roma seemed well on their way to securing a much-needed victory. Goals from Brian Cristante and Aleksander Kolarov had given them a comfortable lead, and Cagliari never really looked like coming back into the contest.
They gave themselves a glimmer of hope in the 84th minute, when Artur Ionita headed home from a corner.
However any hopes they had of a comeback seemed to vanish in stoppage time, when two of their players received red cards in a crazy sequence of events.
Roma goalkeeper Robin Olsen went down in the penalty area holding his face after coming into contact with Cagliari's Deigo Farias, with players from the home side feeling the player was time-wasting.
They remonstrated with the referee, with Luca Ceppitelli receiving a second yellow card for dissent. Defender Dario Srna then appeared to put his hands on the official, and was given a straight red card.
While Roma seemed to have escaped with the win, the drama was not over yet. Some slightly questionable defending from visitors allowed substitute Marco Sau in on goal, and the Italian finished wonderfully to give his side an unlikely point.
This result is the latest poor showing in a disappointing season for Roma, who currently sit in seventh place in the Serie A table despite having played a game more than most of the teams around them.
Some had them pegged as potential title contenders prior to the start of the season, but they already find themselves a whopping 22 points behind leaders Juventus.
Manager Eusebio Di Francesco is finding himself placed under mounting pressure, with a draw against bottom half side Cagliari unlikely to ease the tensions at the club. Finishing outside the top four would be seen as a major step backwards, and it would not be surprising to Roma make a change of manager in the coming weeks.
