The pattern of play in the first half was somewhat of a surprise to most onlookers, given that title-chasing Roma were given the runaround by their relegation-threatened hosts.
Cagliari could have had a penalty with seven minutes on the clock when Gennaro Borrelli went down inside the area, however the referee adjudged that he had been dispossessed fairly.
Roma’s haul of 27 points is their best at this stage of a season since 2017/18, and has come despite netting just 15 times in their opening 13 league games, and those struggles continued as they registered just one shot on target before half-time.
Instead, it was Gli Isolani who came closest to opening the scoring when Sebastiano Esposito’s effort from just inside the area was saved by Mile Svilar at his near post, as the teams headed into the break goalless.
The hosts carried that momentum into the second half and thought they had been presented with a golden opportunity to take the lead just four minutes after the restart when Zeki Celik was adjudged to have brought down Michael Folorunsho inside the area.
However, referee Luca Zufferli was instructed to consult the pitchside monitor, and he decided that the foul started outside the area and downgraded the penalty to a free-kick, before showing Celik a red card.
With a renewed sense of belief, Cagliari came close to hitting the front shortly after when Adam Obert won possession back inside the area and turned two Roma defenders before seeing his shot saved by Svilar.
Roma had won five of the previous six head-to-heads, and despite battling manfully to stave off waves of attack from the hosts, their resistance was finally broken with eight minutes of normal time remaining.
A corner found its way through to the unmarked Gaetano at the far post, and his low driven effort found the bottom left-hand corner to mark his first league goal of the campaign and spark scenes of wild celebration from the home supporters.
This dramatic victory - Cagliari’s first at home in five matches - sees them open up a four-point gap to the relegation zone. A dejected Roma remain fourth, although they are only three points adrift of leaders Inter.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mile Svilar (Roma)
