MILAN: Radja Nainggolan is proving to be one of the best midfielders in Europe this season and he reinforced that reputation with a spectacular double, leading AS Roma to a 3-1 win at Inter Milan at the San Siro on Sunday as they kept up their dogged pursuit of Serie A leaders Juventus.

The Belgian curled in his first from the edge of the penalty early in the first half and scored again with a run from the halfway line in the 56th minute.

Earlier, a controversially converted Carlos Bacca penalty gave AC Milan a 1-0 win at Sassuolo as the losing side argued that the goal should have been disallowed because the Colombian forward touched the ball twice.

Second-placed Roma’s win moved them on to 59 points, seven behind Juve who brushed aside Empoli 2-0 on Saturday, and left Inter stuck in sixth place with 48, one more than Milan.

Napoli have 54 points, five points behind Roma, in third after Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by surprise package Atalanta, who are fourth with 51.

Fifth-placed Lazio are also in the fight for a Champions League spot after beating Udinese 1-0 on Sunday to move to within four points of Napoli as Ciro Immobile converted a second-half penalty, controversially awarded for handball by Ali Adnan.

Inter welcomed Luciano Spalletti’s visitors confident of avenging their 2-1 defeat in the capital having suffered only one defeat, away to Juventus, in their past 10 league outings.

But in what is club captain Francesco Totti’s 25th and final season in Serie A, a rampant Roma had other ideas.

Nainggolan had the Giallorossi 1-0 up on 12 minutes with a ferocious strike and doubled their advantage with an even more impressive offering shortly after the restart.

Although Mauro Icardi marked his return from a two-game ban by reducing arrears on 81 minutes, Diego Perotti restored the visitors’ two-goal advantage from the spot on 85 minutes.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017