Mourinho’s New-look Roma Kick off Serie A Season with Win

Jose Mourinho’s new-look Roma began the Serie A season with a hard-fought but deserved win at Salernitana.

Bryan Cristante’s first-half strike, which found the corner of the net via a slight deflection, earned Roma victory.

They could have won by more as debutant Paulo Dybala hit the post and Tammy Abraham’s follow-up shot was blocked.

Nemanja Matic and Georginio Wijnaldum also came off the bench to make their debuts, with the latter denied a goal on his Roma bow by the offside flag.

Former Manchester United and Chelsea midfielder Matic signed a one-year dealin Rome in May, while Dybala arrived on a free transferfrom Juventus in July and Wijnaldum joined last week on loanfrom Paris St-Germain.

Nicolo Zaniolo also went close on several occasions for the visitors against a Salernitana side who stayed up by a single point in only their third ever Serie A campaign last season.

Roma finished sixth in their first full season under Mourinho in 2021-22 but won the Europa Conference League and will play in the Europa League this term.