Cagliari stun Roma to climb out of Serie A drop zone, Atalanta win to go second in the table
ByReuters
Updated 25/04/2021 at 20:54 GMT
Roma, who visit Manchester United in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday, risk losing seventh place after picking up one point from their last three league games. Paulo Fonseca’s side are three points ahead of Sassuolo, who have won four consecutive matches, with five games to go.
Joao Pedro, Marin e Lykogiannis esultano, Cagliari-Roma, Getty Images
Image credit: Getty Images
Cagliari moved out of the Serie A relegation zone with a 3-2 win over Europa League semi-finalists AS Roma at the Sardegna Arena, while, Atalanta hit five past Bologna to move into second.
Leonardo Semplici’s side moved to 31 points and above Benevento into 17th place on goal difference. There are now three points separating both teams from Fiorentina in 14th.
Teams level on points are ranked by their head-to-head record at the end of the season, making Benevento's clash with Cagliari in two weeks' time hugely significant, after Filippo Inzaghi's side won their last meeting 2-1 in January.
Charalambos Lykogiannis fired the hosts in front after four minutes, but Carles Perez equalised before the break.
Cagliari pulled away with a swerving Razvan Marin strike and Joao Pedro header. Roma's Federico Fazio pulled one back with a header but the capital club failed to complete a comeback.
Pedro’s goal made him the first Brazilian to score at least 15 times in two consecutive Serie A seasons since AC Milan great Kaka between 2007 and 2009.
Roma, who visit Manchester United in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday, risk losing seventh place after picking up one point from their last three league games.
Paulo Fonseca’s side are three points ahead of Sassuolo, who have won four consecutive matches, with five games to go.
Atalanta are always a joy to watch and they turned on the style to go second with a 5-0 win over Bologna.
The victory leaves Gian Piero Gasperini’s side on 68 points from 33 games, 11 adrift of runaway leaders Inter Milan but two ahead of AC Milan and Juventus. Milan have a game in hand at Lazio on Monday.
Ruslan Malinovskyi latched on to an inspired backheel from Luis Muriel to rifle home the opener after 22 minutes and Muriel converted a penalty just before halftime to double the lead.
The Colombian striker set a personal record for goals, with 19, and assists, with eight, in a single Serie A season.
Any hope of Bologna getting back in the game disappeared when Jerdy Schouten was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Cristian Romero early in the second half.
Remo Freuler and Duvan Zapata scored in the space of two minutes to put the hosts out of sight before substitute Aleksey Miranchuk completed the rout with a well-placed shot into the bottom corner.
Bologna fell to 12th place on 38 points after Udinese’s 4-2 win at Benevento earlier on Sunday saw them move to 39 points
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