Roma ended their recent poor run with a 2-0 win against Novara on Saturday that moved them up to seventh in Serie A ahead of yesterday’s matches.
Bojan Krkic and Pablo Osvaldo scored the goals three minutes apart to give the capital-based club only their second win in five games.
Earlier, Palermo beat Bologna 3-1 to maintain their perfect home record in Serie A.
Roma enjoyed two-thirds of possession, but took 72 minutes to break the deadlock.
Bojan latched onto a delightful chip over the top from Miralem Pjanic to finish with a fierce volley.
Bosnia international Pjanic set up the second as well with a pinpoint cross for Osvaldo to head home his fifth league goal of the season.
Although Roma had created far more, until that point they had been in danger of losing.
Novara had the ball in the net through a Nicolas Burdisso own goal in the first half, but it was chalked off for offisde.
Riccardo Meggiorini escaped one-on-one with goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the second period, but the Dutch shot-stopper saved his team.
In Sicily, Eran Zehavi, Matias Silvestre and Josip Ilicic scored the goals that sent Palermo fifth ahead of yesterday’s matches.
Palermo have won all five home encounters this season, but away from the Renzo Barbera stadium, they have picked up just one point and are yet to score.
Palermo coach Devis Mangia hit out at his critics and praised Slovenian playmaker Ilicic.
Zehavi opened the scoring on 13 minutes with his second goal of the season after Bologna goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet spilled Ilicic’s shot.
Silvestre lost marker Nicolo Cherubin and kept his concentration despite the defender’s blatant attempt to push him, to head home a corner at the back post seven minutes into the second period.
Ilicic wrapped up the victory after running onto a through-ball from Ignacio Varela, holding off two defenders and slipping the ball under Gillet.
Gaston Ramirez scored a brilliant consolation goal three minutes from time, firing low into the corner following a one-two with Henry Gimenez, whose back-heeled return pass was ingenious.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS