Perugia grab good 2-2 draw at the Stadio Olimpico

PFDC - A good performance by Perugia today saw Serse Cosmi's side grab a draw at Rome's Stadio Olimpico. Despite being 2-0 up at half-time, Perugia could do nothing to prevent a spirited comeback by Roma, lead once again by inspirational captain Francesco Totti.

Perugia displayed what has become the standard setup in defense, with Rezaei, Di Loreto and Milanese providing the backbone of a solid back four. Captain Tedesco ably handled the beginning of Perugia's offensive forays, that often ended with a Miccoli shot. It was Miccoli that caught the entire Roma defense off-guarded and presented himself with a one on one chance in front on Roma goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli, who could do nothing but block the Perugia foward's sprint towards goal by fouling him and conceding a penalty kick. Antonioli was also red carded and Pelizzoli, the substitute goalkeeper that came in for Montella, could do nothing but merely touch the ball as it went stright into the corner to his right, courtesy of an excellent Ze Maria penalty spotkick.

No sooner than Roma had shrugged off the double shock of being both a man and a goal down did Perugia score the second goal. A careless backwards header by Lima presented Miccoli with yet another one on one, this time converting before Pelizzoli could get near him. Roma did little or nothing to break the flow of game and the first half ended with a self-confident Perugia already thinking of a famous victory at hand, with Roma happy that a close-range Ze Maria chot whistled past the Pelizzoli's left-hand side post and not inside it.

Fabio Capello, the Roma coach, has a reputation for locker-room tactics and events today prove that reputation right. His side came back into the field and displayed a masterful second half performance. The quality of the individual Roma players came soon into evidence as the built up attack after attack. Despite a good performance by Rezaei and his defense team mates that saw them repel several Roma attacks, the tide of play was now decisively in favour of the Italian Capital's side, whose superior ball possession made everyone forget the fact that they were playing one man down. It took two consecutive Roma attacks, in the 67th and 71st minute, to level the game at 2-2. Perugia then were unable to produce any counterattack and seemed satisfied with a hard-earned draw, while the fatigues of the memorable Champions League victory against Real Madrid and scoring two goals with a man down diminished Roma's chances of completing the comeback with a third, and winning goal.

Rezaei's performance was quite good, and the former Zob Ahan defender seems to have completely recovered from the spate of poor performances of the beginning of October. His confidence boosted by his excellent performance against Modena last week that saw one of the best goals in the Serie A season so far scored by Rezaei himself, he is firmly into the Perugia starting eleven once again, despite the fact that he is going to miss the midweek Serie A due to suspension, having been booked for the second time running in today's game.