PARMA: Italy midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini scored both goals to send AS Roma into the Coppa Italia quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Parma on Thursday.
In a match between fifth-placed Roma and Parma, in seventh, the side from the capital prevailed to return to winning ways in the Ennio Tardini Stadium after back-to-back Serie A defeats.
After an unimpressive first half, Roma appeared transformed right from the start of the second period and took the lead four minutes after the restart.
Pellegrini, 23, played a swift one-two with Nikola Kalinic before placing an angled drive into the bottom right corner.
The home side pushed for the equaliser but instead Pellegrini converted a penalty the 76th minute following a handball from Parma midfielder Antonino Barilla.
Roma next play Juventus in the quarter-finals at the Allianz Stadium after the record 14-time Cup winners brushed aside Udinese 4-0 on Wednesday.
Roma are second only to Juventus in the number of Cup trophies with nine, most recently in 2008.
Holders Lazio made short work of Serie B side Cremonese in their 4-0 victory in Rome on Tuesday with last year’s finalists Atalanta falling 2-1 to 10-man Fiorentina.
Inter Milan beat Cagliari 4-1 while city rivals AC Milan dispatched SPAL, 3-0, with new star signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic remaining on the bench.
Quarter-final fixtures (all times 1945GMT):
January 21: Napoli v Lazio.
January 22: Juventus v AS Roma.
January 28: AC Milan v Torino
January 29: Inter Milan v Fiorentina.
Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2020
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