Italian Supercup: De Rossi Penalty Sees Roma Down Inter

he Giallorossi made it two in a row against Inter as the Capital city side defeated the Nerazzurri 1-0 at San Siro to take home the second trophy in the space of a few months.

Roma cold not have hoped for a better start to their season. After some disappointing performances in the pre-season, when the real football came, the Giallorossi proved that they are up there with both Inter and Milan.

On the other hand, the Nerazzurri continued on the same path of the past pre-season friendlies, with Roberto Mancini’s side disappointing and proving that they are far from their best condition with the Serie A season round the corner.

Roma started out well as the Giallorossi took control of the game in the first 30 minutes, with Inter being too slow and without many ideas to really worry Luciano Spalletti's side.

The most active forward for Roma was Giuly who missed a couple of good chances early on in the game which went wide. Inter started to push forward in the final 15 minutes of the first half thanks to David Suazo's incredible speed, but in the end it was the Giallorossi who had the better of the game in the first 45 minutes.

The second half continued on the same lines of the first half, with Roma playing the better football and creating the most chances throughout the second 45 minutes.

Luis Figo almost scored on a counter attack, but Doni was extremely good to stop him when the Portuguese faced him on a one-on-one situation mid-way through the second period.

However, tension was rising, and after referee Rosetti failed to award a penalty to Roma for a handsball by Luis Figo in the Nerazzurri's penalty area, Simone Perrotta was sent off in the 52nd minute before even coming in on the pitch as the Italian international protested too much with the fourth official.

However, five minutes later, Roma were awarded a legitimate penalty as Francesco Totti was tripped inside the penalty box by a clumsy Burdisso. De Rossi took the responsibility and made it 1-0 for the Giallorossi.

Roma kept on pushing forward, whereas Inter relied on the counter attack thanks to Suazo's speed. However, the Nerazzurri failed to create any clear cut chances, whilst Roma almost doubled the score with Vucinic, but Julio Cesar reacted well to parry his close range shot.

In the end it was a deserved win for Roma and the Giallorossi fans will be hoping that this bides well for the new season. Inter, however, still need to work a lot, especially in the defensive department where they allowed too much space to the Roma forwards.

Serie A will kick-off next weekend and by the looks of it, this one will be a very balanced season with many teams competing for the top honours.