Roma 0-2 Sampdoria: Lorenzo De Silvestri and Luis Muriel strike to hand Rudi Garcia's side first Serie A home defeat of the season

Luke Littler is one night from world domination and a cheque for £500,000 as he reduces Stephen Bunting to darting rubble to set up a final for the ages, writes KIERAN GILL
Pep Guardiola targets Bundesliga hotshot in bid to shore up his creaking squad this month - but there WON'T be a clearout of struggling stars
NEWCASTLE CONFIDENTIAL: Inside Toon's hunt to sign Tyler Dibling, the £25m Manchester City star on transfer radar and a double defensive injury boost ahead of Tottenham clash
Revealed: Marcus Rashford has REJECTED three huge offers from Saudi Arabia - worth £35m-a-year - with Man United willing to let wantaway star leave in January
Michael van Gerwen makes X-rated comment in live interview after beating Chris Dobey at World Darts Championship as Sky Sports forced to apologise
Steve Smith and Virat Kohli to score the most runs in the first innings for their respective teams is 25/1 - as Australia and India clash in the fifth and final Test in Sydney
Arsenal 'still keen on raiding Premier League rivals for star striker' in shock move - as Mikel Arteta looks to boost forward options ahead of title run-in
Inside Everton's Sean Dyche dilemma: The players love him and he knows the Premier League inside out, but fans hate his 'negative football' - even when it gets results
While this resounding Old Firm victory may not change anything in terms of the destination of the title, it was hugely significant for Rangers manager Philippe Clement, writes JOHN McGARRY
PLAY TEAMSHEET: Can YOU remember the Tottenham side that thrashed Fulham 5-1 on Boxing Day in 2007?
PREMIER LEAGUE REPORT CARD - PART ONE: Arsenal need to make do without Bukayo Saka, Chelsea's brief title charge is slipping away, while Bournemouth are knocking on the door
The secrets of Evangelos Marinakis' ambitions for Nottingham Forest, Man United players start their own hunt for team news mole and Bukayo Saka's club-v-country dilemma: THE SAMI MOKBEL COLUMN
Ange Postecoglou looks lonely at Tottenham - but Newcastle's Jason Tindall could show him an unlikely route to success, writes IAN LADYMAN
Luke Littler sends warning to Michael van Gerwen ahead of World Darts Championship final - after smashing Stephen Bunting 6-1 to book showdown
Michael van Gerwen cruises past Chris Dobey to reach World Darts Championship final for the seventh time as he eyes his first title for six years
Revealed: The Premier League fixture where Thomas Tuchel will make first scouting trip as England manager this weekend
Players move on so Liverpool fans will just have to get over Trent Alexander-Arnold, writes SIMON JORDAN - the club is bigger than one of its parts
SIR CLIVE WOODWARD's 10 wishes for 2025: How to get England playing rugby from the gods, a World Cup win and how RFU should spend Allianz's £100m
Inside Ruben Dias' love life as Man City defender sparks Maya Jama dating rumours after romantic New Year's Eve celebrations... with exes including a singer and ANOTHER Love Island star
Liverpool set to REJECT Real Madrid's pending £20m offer for Trent Alexander-Arnold - and make decision on Federico Chiesa's future amid interest from Italy
Man City weighing up surprise move for Lens starlet to ease defensive injury concerns... but the champions face competition from TWO Premier League rivals
Aston Villa submit improved offer for Borussia Dortmund striker Donyell Malen - as Unai Emery looks to land the first big-money deal of the January transfer window
Revealed: When Everton fans can get their first glimpse of new £550M stadium
Ruben Amorim's plan against Newcastle was football suicide, writes DANNY MURPHY - but here's how the Man United boss can tweak it to stop the rot

Sampdoria earn 2-0 Serie A victory against Roma
Lorenzo De Silvestri gives away side 60th minute lead
Luis Muriel doubles Sampdoria's advantage in 78th-minute
Seydou Keita shown second yellow card for sarcastically applauding referee

Published: 18:23 EST, 16 March 2015 | Updated: 21:00 EST, 16 March 2015

e-mail

Roma's season went from bad to worse after losing 2-0 at home to Sampdoria on Monday to leave Rudi Garcia's team in danger of losing out on second place in Serie A after Lazio won 2-0 at Torino.

Lorenzo De Silvestri and substitute Luis Muriel scored to inflict Roma's first home league loss of the season amid loud jeers at the Stadio Olimpico, and the hosts' misery was compounded by Seydou Keita's late red card.

Roma had started the year battling with Juventus for the title but Garcia's side have now fallen 14 points behind the defending champions.

Sampdoria's defender Lorenzo De Silvestri (centre) fires Sampdoria in a second half lead

De Silvestri celebrates putting his side into the lead midway through the second half

Roma were looking to get back to winning ways after five successive league draws at home and things looked promising in the first half as Sampdoria goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano was forced into a series of fine saves to keep the home side at bay.

The visitors took the lead against the run of play on the hour mark when Samuel Eto'o held off two Roma players to pull back from the byline for De Silvestri and the former Lazio defender fired into the bottom right corner.

Muriel doubled Samp's lead in the 78th, four minutes after coming off the bench. He sped forward and his initial effort came off the post but Roma failed to clear and Muriel hit the target at the second time of asking.

There was more misery for Roma as Keita was cautioned and then immediately shown a second yellow card and sent off after sarcastically applauding the referee.

The midfielder was distraught and his team-mates struggled to get him off the pitch.