Henrikh Mkhitaryan leads Roma to first-half rampage against Bologna

Roma went on the rampage and blasted five first-half goals past a pitiful Bologna side on their way to a 5-1 away win in Serie A on Sunday, with Arsenal outcast Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring and assisting.

Each team also had two goals disallowed, and Roma hit the post as they went fifth in the table with 21 points, one more than Juventus who play away to Genoa later on Sunday.

Bologna midfielder Andrea Poli opened the floodgates when he turned a Leonardo Spinazzola pass into his own net after five minutes. Edin Dzeko ran onto Lorenzo Pellegrini's through ball to add a second for Roma five minutes later.

Bologna's second-choice goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia, making his Serie A debut, had to pick the ball out of the net again after only 15 minutes after Pellegrini scored from Spinazzola's geometric pass.

Pellegrini then had a goal disallowed for offside and Bologna pulled one back in the 24th minute - although it was scored by a Roma player, Bryan Cristante turning Musa Barrow's cross into his own net.

Jordan Veretout finished off a neat passing move for the fourth in the 35th minute, and Mkhitaryan put the finishing touch to Rick Karsdorp's run down the right for the fifth one minute before halftime.

Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic made three halftime substitutions, and his team stemmed the tide after the break.

Barrow and Nicolas Dominguez had goals disallowed for Bologna for offside while Pellegrini had another Roma effort chalked off as offside shortly afterwards, before Borja Mayoral hit the woodwork for the visitors.