AS Roma 2-2 Salernitana: Candreva cancels out Andrea Belotti brace

Roma’s 2023/24 campaign started in disappointing fashion after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Salernitana at the Stadio Olimpico.

Both teams were led by a veteran attacker as the host’s Andrea Belotti and Salernitana’s Antonio Candreva each scored a brace.

Despite several key absences, Roma controlled the majority of the match but were ultimately punished by Candreva’s two spectacular finishes late in the first half and just minutes after halftime.

The hosts created plenty of goalscoring chances even though they were missing all three of their first choice attackers in Lorenzo Pellegrini (suspension), Paulo Dybala (suspension), and Tammy Abraham (injured).

With Belotti and Stephan El Shaarawy starting up top, Roma didn’t take long to open the scoring. After having his first goal ruled out by VAR, Belotti finally scored his first league goal for Roma in the 17th minute, ending his Serie A goalless streak at 34 games (or 476 days) and giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.

The hosts seemed destined to enter the break in front until Candreva fired the ball into the top of the goal to level the score 1-1 at halftime.

Following the break, the 36 year-old punished Roma for a second time when he held off Bryan Cristante then curled the ball into the top corner past Rui Patricio to give his side a 2-1 lead.

With less than ten minutes remaining, Belotti connected on a corner kick from Leandro Paredes and headed the ball beyond the grasp of Memo Ochoa to help the hosts avoid defeat.