ROME: An overhead kick from Domenico Berardi secured a 1-0 win for Sassuolo against Sam­pdoria on Saturday that moved the Neroverdi within three points of seventh-placed AS Roma.

Jakub Jankto hit the post for Sampdoria and Sassuolo winger Hamed Traore had a neat finish disallowed for offside in the first half, before Italy international Berardi’s inventive close-range finish put Sassuolo ahead on the 69th minute.

Roberto De Zerbi’s side have won four games in a row and are now within touching distance of Roma, who have a game in hand. Claudio Ranieri’s Sampdoria remained ninth and dropped to 10 points behind Sassuolo.

Earlier Genoa boosted their hopes of survival with a 2-0 win over Ligurian rivals Spezia, who still risk a return to the second-division.

Gianluca Scamacca and Eldor Shomurodov both came off the bench in the second half and scored to get the ‘Grifoni’ back winning after four matches.

Genoa move 13th and are now eight points clear of the drop zone. Spezia are five points ahead of Cagliari who occupy the final relegation place.

Bottom side Crotone’s relegation would have been assured with a defeat by second-bottom Parma, but two goals from Simeon ‘Simy’ Nwankwo earned the Calabrians a stay of execution with a thrilling 4-3 win.

Lisandro Magallan’s opener was cancelled out by Parma midfielder Hernani before Simy and Adam Ounas struck to give Crotone a 3-1 halftime lead.

Roberto D’Aversa’s side launched a spirited response as Gervinho and Valentin Mihaila drew them level, but a Simy penalty put the visitors back in front and lifted Crotone up to 18 points, two behind 19th-placed Parma but 13 adrift of safety.

With 19 goals, Simy trails only Cristiano Ronaldo (25) and Romelu Lukaku (21) in the league’s scoring chart.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2021