After seeing their 3-1 lead over Juventus disappear in a matter of minutes, quickly reversing to a 4-3 defeat, Roma should have spent the past week licking their wounds and crying woe is me. However, rather than ruing that embarrassing defeat, José Mourinho and Tiago Pinto got to work immediately, sewing up former Porto midfielder Sergio Oliveira on a six-month loan with an option to buy. Taken together with their previous capture of Arsenal utility man Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Roma’s Portuguese brain trust has focused on smoothing out the rough edges rather than dwelling on what's gone wrong in 2022.

The Serie A schedule makers, in their infinite asynchronous wisdom, have gifted the Giallorossi with an eminently winnable match: a home fixture against 18th place Cagliari. While the Islanders are riding a two-match winning streak, they've been among the worst teams in Italy this season, if not the whole of Europe itself.

With only three wins on the season and a -21 goal differential, Cagliari has struggled mightily this season and shouldn't give Roma, even in this depleted state, much trouble—we hope.

The lineups are in, so let's see if Roma can put last weekend's ghosts behind them.

Lineups

Roma

Cagliari