New AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti earned his first win back in charge by beating relegation-threatened Frosinone 3-1 in Serie A on Saturday.
It was Roma’s second win in 14 matches in all competitions and Spalletti’s first following a draw and a loss in his first two matches since replacing Rudi Garcia as coach.
Roma remained fifth, provisionally nine points behind Serie A leaders SSC Napoli.
“The thing that stood out the most tonight was seeing the lads hugging each other at the end of the match, as if it was a sort of liberation,” Spalletti said. “This win will give us an important push. There were difficult moments during the match also because of the difficult period we are going through. We need to get back to playing the kind of football we know and the kind these lads also played before, under Garcia.”
New signing Stephan El Shaarawy restored Roma’s lead at the start of the second half after Daniel Ciofani canceled out Radja Nainggolan’s opener.
Miralem Pjanic sealed the win six minutes from time.
Frosinone are second from bottom, seven points off safety.
Carpi have three points more than Frosinone after drawing with US Citta di Palermo 1-1. Atalanta BC also drew 1-1, against US Sassuolo.
Roma were desperate for a win and they took the lead early when Nainggolan was tripped right on the edge of the penalty area, but managed to stick out a leg and slot the ball past Frosinone goalkeeper Nicola Leali.
The midfielder also scored Roma’s only other goal in Spalletti’s two previous matches.
Ciofani leveled five minutes later, bringing down the ball wonderfully to volley in between the legs of Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
El Shaarawy joined Roma on loan from AC Milan following a disappointing loan spell at AS Monaco and he fired Roma back in front three minutes after the interval, flicking the ball into the bottom-left corner after a cross from fellow debutant Ervin Zukanovic.
Pjanic finished off the victory after running onto a perfectly timed Francesco Totti through-ball and drilling across the goalkeeper into the bottom corner.
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