Sergio Oliveira scores on debut as Roma beat Cagliari

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Sergio Oliveira scored a penalty on his AS Roma debut as Jose Mourinho's side ended a three-match winless run by beating relegation battling Cagliari 1-0 in Serie A on Sunday.

Portuguese midfielder Oliveira, who joined the capital club on loan from Porto on Wednesday, calmly converted a spot kick in the 32nd minute following a Dalbert handball.

Jordan Veretout and Nicolo Zaniolo threatened a second for the hosts after the break, but the best chance fell to Cagliari when Joao Pedro's close-range shot was pushed onto the bar by Rui Patricio five minutes from time.

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It was Roma's first win in almost a month, after picking up one point from three games, and took Mourinho's side up to sixth place on 35 points, six behind Juventus in fifth.

Cagliari's bid to avoid the drop was boosted by back-to-back wins at the start of the year, but they were without 11 players due to injuries, COVID-19 and Africa Cup of Nations duties for their trip to the capital, and defeat left them 18th with 16 points.

Elsewhere, Luis Nani got an assist two minutes into his debut for Venezia, coming off the bench to set up David Okereke's equaliser in a 1-1 draw against midtable Empoli.

Antonin Barak scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win for Hellas Verona at Sassuolo that took Igor Tudor's side above their hosts into the top half of the table.