MILAN: AS Roma maintained third spot in Serie A on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Hellas Verona to keep the pressure on the Milan teams leading the title race.

Roma took firm control of the match with three goals in nine minutes to stay six points behind leaders AC Milan and four adrift of Inter.

Gianluca Mancini headed Roma in front in the 20th at the Stadio Olimpico and Henrikh Mkhitaryan doubled the lead two minutes later. Borja Mayoral had set up that goal and he got the third in the 29th.

Ebrima Colley netted a consolation for Verona in the 62nd.

Verona beat Roma 3-0 by default earlier in the season after the capital side fielded an ineligible player.

Napoli, in fifth, two points behind Roma, rebounded from last weekend’s loss at Verona, with a 2-0 win against 19th-placed Parma.

Eljif Elmas broke through after half an hour in Naples, collecting the ball in midfield, beating four opponents and finishing off the solo effort from an angle.

Matteo Politano added a second eight minutes from time with a shot which took a deflection off Parma defender Yordan Osorio.

Gennaro Gattuso’s side are equal on points with sixth-placed Lazio who rebounded after their midweek Coppa Italia defeat to Atalanta with a 3-1 win on their return trip to Bergamo.

Lazio went ahead in just the third minute with Adam Marusic curling in from a distance. Joaquin Correa doubled the lead from a tight angle six minutes after the break.

Mario Pasalic pulled a goal back for Atalanta with 10 minutes to go, sending in a rebound after Luis Muriel hit the post.

Andreas Pereira and Vedat Muriqi both came off the bench after 80 minutes with the pair combining to create Lazio’s third which Muriqi tapped in two minutes later.

Atalanta drop to seventh, one point behind Lazio.

Mattia Destro scored twice as Genoa’s revival continued with a 3-0 win at bottom club Crotone that saw them move further away from the relegation zone.

Genoa have now lost only one of their past seven league matches to move six points above the drop zone. Crotone are three points from safety.

Spezia are just three points above the relegation zone after losing 1-0 at home to Udinese. Cagliari came close to moving out of the bottom three but a late equaliser saw them held 1-1 by eighth-placed Sassuolo.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2021