Forward Gervinho and 37-year-old captain Francesco Totti produced virtuoso performances to help AS Roma maul a shambolic CSKA Moscow 5-1 against an ugly backdrop of crowd violence in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
Gervinho scored twice and set up another goal for new signing Juan Iturbe as Roma raced to a four-goal lead in just over half an hour against the Russian side, who were well out of their depth at the Stadio Olimpico.
Totti, starting his 23rd season at his only professional club, orchestrated the win, spraying passes around effortlessly from midfield in the Group E match.
Photo: Reuters
There were ugly scenes in the second half as CSKA fans let off flares in the stands and fought with stewards, before riot police were called in to stop the trouble.
At least two CSKA fans were rushed to hospital, one with suspected stab wounds, according to reports.
According to a report on the Web site of Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, one unnamed Russian was stabbed in the stomach and the arm, and was transported to the city’s Gemelli hospital.
Photo: Reuters
Initial reports said the man’s life was not in danger.
Another fan of the Russian Premier League side was taken to hospital with head wounds after being hit with what was thought to be a bottle.
Television pictures showed fans of both sides taunting and throwing missiles at each other, prompting the intervention of stewards.
When the Roma fans were cordoned behind a line of stewards, CSKA fans began attacking, many of the stewards having to defend themselves from punches being thrown and what appeared to be iron bars, before they moved back as police with guns and batons arrived.
“It’s not right. This is a football game and it shouldn’t turn into a battle,” Roma coach Rudi Garcia told Canal5 after the game. “We should take steps to get rid of people who are involved in this kind of behavior. Outside the stadium, there are police to deal with this kind of problem.”
Roma, back in the Champions League for the first time since 2010-2011, got off to a flying start when Gervinho created an opening for Iturbe and the 20 million euro (US$25.73 million) signing from Hellas Verona slotted past Igor Akinfeev in the sixth minute.
Iturbe returned the compliment four minutes later as he picked out Gervinho and the Ivorian produced some nifty footwork to fire home the second.
Ten minutes later, Maicon got behind the CSKA defense on the right and scored with a shot which slipped through the demoralized Akinfeev’s hands.
Totti set Gervinho free with an exquisite first-time pass and the Ivorian cut inside his marker, leaving him sprawling on the pitch, before firing the fourth after only 31 minutes.
CSKA suffered another defensive disaster when Sergei Ignashevich headed past Akinfeev five minutes after halftime, although the Russian side pulled themselves together after that.
Ahmed Musa pulled one back with eight minutes left, the first goal Roma have conceded this season.
The only dampener for Roma was when Iturbe limped off with an injury midway through the first half.
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