Roma keep up dogged pursuit of Juventus, Inter stunned

ByReuters

Published 09/04/2017 at 21:19 GMT

AS Roma maintained their dogged pursuit of Serie A leaders Juventus with a 3-0 win at Bologna on Sunday while Inter Milan's European hopes suffered a setback as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at lowly Crotone.

Roma's forward from Bosnia-Herzegovina Edin Dzeko (R) celebrates after scoring a goal with Roma's midfielder from Italy Daniele De Rossi during the Italian Serie A football match Bologna vs AS Roma at "Dall'Ara Stadium" in Bologna on April 9, 2017.

Image credit: AFP

Crotone's win was only their fifth of the season and by far the most impressive scalp for the team from Calabria who are playing in the top flight for the first time.

Roma stayed six points behind Juventus who beat Chievo 2-0 on Saturday. Both teams have seven matches to play, including a meeting at the Stadio Olimpico on May 14.

Napoli strengthened their grip on third place, which earns a place in the Champions League playoff round, with a 3-0 win at fourth-placed Lazio, opening up a seven point gap over their opponents and remaining four behind Roma.

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Federico Fazio put Roma ahead from close range in the 26th minute and Mohamed Salah added another before halftime when he latched onto Edin Dzeko's pass and cleverly lobbed the ball over Antonio Mirante.

Roma's defender Federico Fazio from Argentina celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal with Roma's midfielder from Netherlands Kevin Strootman during the Italian Serie A football match Bologna vs AS Roma at "Dall'Ara Stadium" in Bologna on April 9,

Image credit: AFP

Dzeko completed the scoring in the 75th minute when he tapped in Diego Perotti's cross for his 24th goal of the season, making him the league's joint topscorer.

Crotone floored Inter with two goals from forward Diego Falcinelli in four minutes midway through the first half.

Falcinelli converted a penalty, awarded for handball by Gary Medel, in the 19th minute and then beat the offside trap to run onto Marcelo Trotta's pass and lob the ball over Samir Handanovic.

Danilo D'Ambrosio pulled one back for Inter in the second half but Crotone held out for an historic win which increased their hopes of pulling off a great escape.

They remain in the drop zone but are just three points adrift of Empoli and safety.

Inter, meanwhile, dropped to seventh and outside the Europa League places, increasing the pressure on coach Stefano Pioli.

AC Milan moved above their neighbours into sixth with a comfortable 4-0 win over Palermo, who are one off the bottom with 15 points and look almost certain to go down.

Jose Callejon gave Napoli a first-half lead at Lazio by finishing off a typical flowing move and Lorenzo Insigne latched onto to Allan's pass to add the second six minutes after the break.

Napoli's forward from Spain Jose Maria Callejon celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match Lazio vs Napoli on April 9, 2017 at the Olympic stadium in Rome.

Image credit: AFP

Napoli saved the best for last, scoring their third in injury time with a passing move which started on the halfway line, went back to goalkeeper Pepe Reina and then all the way up the other end of the field where Insigne finished it off for his second.

Fiorentina twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Sampdoria and Torino's Andrea Belotti scored his 24th goal of the season in the 3-2 win at Cagliari to stay neck-and-neck with Dzeko at the top of the scoring charts. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ian Chadband)

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