LONDON: Fiorentina’s Mario Gomez rediscovered his goal-scoring touch in Serie A to keep AS Roma choking in the title race on Sunday, while Valencia beat Sevilla to climb up to fourth in La Liga and Zlatan Ibrahimovic earned a scrappy Ligue 1 win for Paris St Germain.

Former Fiorentina forward Adem Ljajic cancelled out Gomez’s strike but couldn’t prevent Roma from drawing their third successive league match with the 1-1 stalemate seeing them fall seven points behind Serie A leaders Juventus.

Dani Parejo scored twice to lead Valencia to a 3-1 win over Sevilla as they leapfrogged the Andalusians into the final Champions League place in La Liga while Ibrahimovic scored the only goal in PSG’s 1-0 win at St Etienne that allowed them to move level on points with second-placed Olympique Marseille.

Roma then travelled to Stadio Artemio Franchi looking to end a run of two consecutive draws but German forward Gomez followed up his midweek Coppa Italia brace by diverting David Pizarro’s wayward shot towards goal to give Fiorentina the lead in the 19th minute.

Roma equalised straight after half-time when Juan Manuel Iturbe got around the back of the Fiorentina defence and pulled the ball back for Ljajic but their fourth draw in five Serie A matches saw their hopes of a first Scudetto since 2001 seriously compromised.

“We had a great second half, there was a good reaction,” Roma coach Rudi Garcia, whose side have 42 points from 20 matches, said. “I saw an ambitious team which is capable of scoring. With this spirit we will win many matches.”

With both Valencia and Sevilla having their sights set on Spain’s last Champions League spot, a physical and up-tempo contest ensued at the Mestalla which saw three penalties awarded in the first half.

The hosts sped into a 2-0 lead as Dani Parejo opened the scoring from the penalty spot before adding the finishing touch to a fine counter-attack.

However, Parejo was then lucky to escape a second yellow card when he upended Diogo Figueras inside the area and Carlos Bacca halved Sevilla’s deficit from the spot.

The Colombian couldn’t repeat the trick moments later against penalty specialist Diego Alves, though, as the Brazilian keeper dived to his left to stop the third penalty of the night and Javi Fuego compounded his error with Valencia’s third after the break to move his side to 41 points, two more than their rivals who have a game in hand.

“It was a great result against a team that is also looking to finish fourth. We knew that we would have to fight to the end and that there wouldn’t be much between the teams,” Parejo told reporters.

“We had the right intensity and motivation that has helped us all season. We know that there is still a long way to go and I think the team can still get better.”

In the big game in France at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Ibrahimovic netted a 60th-minute penalty for PSG to move them level on 44 points with Marseille, four behind leaders Olympique Lyon and four ahead of fourth-placed St Etienne.

“We’re still within touching distance and that’s a good thing, because it’s very important not to let Lyon get too far ahead of us,” PSG midfielder Blaise Matuidi said.

The penalty was awarded after midfielder Jeremy Clement was adjudged to have handled the ball, with replays showing it struck him just at the top of his right arm.

As he was preparing to take the kick, Ibrahimovic removed some debris thrown onto the pitch and composed himself before shooting hard to the left of goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier, who almost got his fingers to the ball.

Published in Dawn January 27th, 2015

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