The Malta Independent 24 April 2024, Wednesday
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Roma beat Frosinone 3-1 to consolidate fifth position

Sunday, 31 January 2016, 07:11 Last update: about 9 years ago

New Roma coach Luciano Spalletti earned his first win back in charge by beating relegation-threatened Frosinone 3-1 in Serie A on Saturday.

It was Roma's second win in 14 matches in all competitions and Spalletti's first following a draw and a loss in his two matches since replacing Rudi Garcia as coach.

Roma remained fifth, provisionally nine points behind leader Napoli.

"The thing that stood out the most tonight was seeing the lads hugging each other at the end of the match, as if it was a sort of liberation," Spalletti said. "This win will give us an important push. There were difficult moments during the match also because of the difficult period we are going through.

"We need to get back to playing the kind of football we know, and the kind these lads also played before, under Garcia."

New signing Stephan El Shaarawy restored Roma's lead at the start of the second half after Daniel Ciofani canceled out Radja Nainggolan's opener.

Miralem Pjanic sealed the win six minutes from time.

Frosinone was second from bottom, seven points off safety.

Carpi has three points more than Frosinone after drawing with Palermo 1-1.

Atalanta also drew 1-1, against Sassuolo.

Roma was desperate for a win and it took the lead early when Nainggolan was tripped right on the edge of the area but managed to stick out a leg and slot it past Frosinone goalkeeper Nicola Leali.

The midfielder also scored Roma's only other goal in Spalletti's two previous matches.

Ciofani leveled five minutes later, bringing down the ball wonderfully to volley in between the legs of Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

El Shaarawy joined Roma on loan from AC Milan following a disappointing loan spell at Monaco, and he fired Roma back in front three minutes after the interval, flicking the ball into the bottom left corner after a cross from fellow debutant Ervin Zukanovic.

Pjanic finished off the victory after running onto a perfectly timed Francesco Totti throughball and drilling across into the far bottom corner.

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