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Paulo Dybala came off the bench to score the only goal and help Jose Mourinho's Roma beat Genoa in the Coppa Italia.
Roma kicked off their Coppa Italia campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Genoa thanks to a 64th-minute strike by substitute Paulo Dybala
The Giallorossi began their Coppa Italia campaign in the round of 16 with a tricky home tie against fellow Serie A side, Genoa.
The visitors were determined to make it as hard as possible for Roma by defending resolutely while Mourinho's men played like the favourites as expected.
The first half saw Roma establish their dominance with 58% possession and 14 shots but only one of those was on target which perfectly captures the home team's lack of cutting edge and penetration.
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Jose Mourinho cited the problem from the Roma dugout and made a game-changing substitution at half-time, with Argentine forward Paulo Dybala coming off the bench to replace injured captain, Lorenzo Pellegrini.
Dybala needed 19 minutes to repay Mourinho's trust with an agile and impressive effort, charging into the box after receiving the ball on the turn and blasting his shot into the near post.
That proved to be the decisive moment in the game to hand Roma a hard-fought 1-0 win and guarantee safe passage to the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.
How it happened
The assist will go to Gianluca Mancini which is fair as the central defender did pass the ball to Dybala but the game's special moment was very much a solo goal.
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Mancini played a straightforward short-range pass to Dybala who was dropping deep to receive passes and from there till the ball hit the back of the net, it was all the Argentine's doing.
Dybala got the ball about 30 yards from goal with his back turned, he took the ball in his stride and turned away from two Genoa defenders outside the box.
The 29-year-old then breezed past another opposition defender, this time in the box to create a shooting angle from a tight position but he still finished superbly into the roof of the net.
Key talking point
The pivotal moment in the game was the substitution by Roma manager Jose Mourinho which changed the game around and produced the winning goal.
Mourinho started the game with a 3-4-2-1 formation but Roma's lack of cutting-edge coincided with Lorenzo Pellegrini's flexor problem which led to the captain getting subbed off.
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Mourinho could have replaced the midfielder with a like-for-like substitution but he opted to bring on Dybala and change the Giallorossi shape, a move which ultimately bore the match-winner.
Game-changing substitutions at that level used to be Jose Mourinho's calling card, so what he did against Genoa was a throwback to vintage Mourinho.
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