Salah, Dzeko hit braces as Totti watches rout of Palermo
Mohamed Salah and Edin Dzeko hit second-half braces in a 5-0 rout of
Palermo as Roma put the drama surrounding Francesco Totti behind them to
claim their fifth consecutive victory under Luciano Spalletti on
Sunday.
The result pushed Roma up to fourth place, at the expense of Inter
Milan, to sit eight points behind leaders Juventus and just two behind
Fiorentina in the third and the last Champions League qualifying place.
Days after a 2-0 first leg defeat to Real Madrid severely dented
their Champions League last 16 hopes, Roma welcomed Palermo hoping to
boost their chances of qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition
next season.
Except the build-up did not go exactly to plan, a highly-publicised
spat between Spalletti and Totti overshadowing what should have been a
straightforward fixture against the struggling Sicilians.
Having recently recovered from a lengthy injury lay-off, Totti was
scheduled to make a rare start only to be dramatically excluded on
Sunday morning following criticism of Spalletti in a television
interview in which he demanded “respect and clarity”.
In his 23rd and possibly last season, Totti remains a legendary
figure at Roma and despite being only half-full the Olimpico resonated
with songs of support for the 39-year-old as he took his seat in the
stands, while several banners were dedicated to ‘Il Re di Roma’ (the
King of Rome).
The fallout from the controversy has yet to settle, but Spalletti said he has now “restored order”.
“Totti had a moment of anger and that can happen in certain circumstances,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.
“There are rules in place within the squad and I had to deal with
Totti’s reaction. I was called upon to restore order and that’s what
I’ve done. Otherwise, tomorrow everybody will do the same.”
The controversy looked to have swayed Roma’s players in a calamitous
first half, in which the hosts created a series of half-chances before
Dzeko compounded matters by producing the miss of the season.
Dzeko was unmarked yards from the back post when Douglas Maicon cut
back from the right byline, but with the goal at his mercy the Bosnian
skewed a left-footed shot wide when a small tap-in with his right would
have done the trick.
He later admitted: “When I saw the first chance I missed, I can’t be happy. Thankfully I made up for it with two goals.”
Fortunately for Dzeko, he made amends in quick fashion. The Bosnian
chested down a Miralem Pjanic cross and fired it through Fabrizio
Alastra’s legs from 10 yards.
In his first game back in charge following his sacking in November,
Palermo coach Giuseppe Iachini was forced to play 18-year-old Alastra in
place of the injured Stefano Sorrentino.
It is a Serie A debut the teenager will want to forget.
Iachini, meanwhile, said it’s time to get back to work as Palermo edge ever closer to the drop zone.
“Some players looked totally different from three months ago and
that’s something we have to improve if we’re going to get the points
that will keep us up,” he told Rai Sport.
Although Palermo had shown little desire to score in the opening
half, Roma re-emerged in determined fashion and doubled their lead seven
minutes after the restart when Keita toe-poked Alessandro Florenzi’s
corner into the roof of the net from 12 yards.
Salah made up for an opening half miss, when he hit the side-netting,
with two quickfire goals on the hour, his second a spectacular effort
that he curled from an impossibly tight angle into the net after picking
up his own rebound.
Fans were given another treat when Dutchman Kevin Strootman made his
comeback 13 months after a second operation on his knee when he replaced
Maicon with 13 minutes remaining.
Dzeko capped a memorable night, and weekend, for the hosts when he
powered a header from Diego Perotti’s cross into the roof of the net in
the dying minutes.
Earlier, Fiorentina held off the threat of Champions League rivals
Inter in a dramatic 3-2 win at Atalanta that saw second-half goals from
Matias Fernandez, Cristian Tello and Nikloa Kalinic.
Fiorentina remain third at six points behind Juve, who, after a
scoreless draw at Bologna on Friday, could lose top spot to Napoli if
they beat AC Milan on Monday.