ROMA’s exciting 3-3 draw with rivals Juventus on Sunday will forever stay with Paulo Dybala and wife Oriana Sabatini – but not because of the scoreline.
The Argentina star, 32, and his wife announced last September that they were expecting their first child together.
But neither of them could have predicted that the birth would arrive slightly sooner than expected thanks to the excitement of a Serie A clash.
Dybala was on the bench to watch his side storm into a 3-1 lead thanks to on-loan Aston Villa star Donyell Malen.
But he wasn’t as invested as his wife, who began having contractions immediately after the goal, according to her mother.
Sabatini’s mum Catherine Fulop spoke to Argentinian outlet Teleshow after the birth on Monday and revealed the strange timeline of events.
She told Teleshow, via Football Italia: “On Sunday, she started having contractions in the stadium, right after the third goal.
“Initially, they were every five minutes and they hurt, but not that much.
“Oriana said she wanted to go home, relax in a hot bath, but the contractions were getting more intense and more frequent.
“They initially wanted to go to the Gemelli hospital, but it was around 50 minutes away and Ori was already in a lot of pain, so we went to a clinic nearer to us instead at about 3am, as she was already at an advanced stage.”
The birth went smoothly and the couple announced the arrival of their daughter Gia on Instagram the day after the match.
The couple co-released a post with the newborn captioned: “A round of applause for mommy and daddy.”
Dybala’s World Cup-winning Argentina team-mates including former Manchester City man Julian Alvarez and Villa star Emi Martinez took to the comments to congratulate the new parents.
Roma went on to drop their two-goal lead, with the match finishing 3-3 to miss the chance to jump into 3rd place.
But the happy couple won’t be dwelling on that as they enjoy their first days with a new member of the family.
