Stephan El Shaarawy hit a brace as AS Roma continued their push for a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League with a 3-1 win over Empoli on Saturday.
Roma’s sixth consecutive win moved them up to third place in Serie A, five points behind leaders Juventus and four behind second-placed SSC Napoli ahead of their respective games against Inter and ACF Fiorentina yesterday.
“Our sixth win in a row is a huge boost to morale, now we have to wait to see what happens with Fiorentina and Napoli,” El Shaarawy told Sky Sport.
Photo: EPA
In Saturday’s late match, AC Milan secured a 1-0 home win over Torino thanks to Luca Antonelli’s goal on the stroke of halftime which saw them consolidate sixth place with a fourth win in five games.
Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic is now casting his eye on Roma, six points ahead of them in third place.
“Over the next three games we will see if we have what it takes to finish in third place. I believe we do and so do the lads,” Mihajlovic told Sky Sport.
Roma have been transformed since Luciano Spalletti took over from sacked Frenchman Rudi Garcia for his second spell at the club, but it was an enterprising El Shaarawy who made all the difference as the Giallorossi kept themselves in the hunt for Europe’s premier club competition.
The Italian, who failed to find the net for the first six months of a loan spell at AS Monaco in Ligue 1, broke the deadlock after just five minutes at the Stadio Carlo Castellani when he curled a right-footed long-range shot into the top corner.
An Ervin Zukanovic own-goal, after Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny punched Mario Rui’s cross into Zukanovic’s face, leveled the game on 22 minutes, but Roma were back in front five minutes later thanks to Miralem Pjanic after the Bosnian scored from the rebound from his own free-kick off the wall.
Empoli came fighting back late in the second half, but El Shaarawy grabbed his fourth goal in five league games 16 minutes from time to wrap up a precious win.
The Italy international suggested Spalletti deserved as much praise as either himself or his teammates.
“It’s my first brace for Roma, but the result is what matters most. The coach asked us to keep possession and try to punish Empoli on the counter, and that’s what we did,” he said.
A highly organized AC Milan finally cracked Torino’s busy defense after sustained pressure when Antonelli fired home a loose ball at a corner just ahead of halftime.
Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma only turned 17 this week, but he again pulled off a couple of fine saves to show why Mihajlovic continues to trust him.
Carlos Bacca headed home after another Milan corner, but the referee correctly ruled the Colombian striker was offside.
Torino ran out of steam in the later stages and Milan played out the game comfortably.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB