Unbeaten Roma extends lead with Napoli victory
Print Edition
Miralem Pjanic scored a majestic free kick and a penalty as AS Roma continued its remarkable start to the season by downing previously unbeaten Napoli 2-0 on Friday to make it eight wins in as many games in Italian Serie A.
Pjanic’s brace completed a memorable week as it came three days after he helped Bosnia qualify for its first World Cup with a 1-0 win over Lithuania
Roma overcame injuries to talismanic forward Francesco Totti, who limped off in the first half, and Gervinho, who went off in the second, as it clocked up a maximum 24 points to move five clear of its opponent at the top.
Napoli hit the woodwork three times as Roma fortuitously kept a clean sheet for the seventh time this season, a far cry from last term when it had one of the worst defensive records in the league.
Napoli, which had only dropped two points in its first seven games, had the two best first-half chances, only for Pjanic to curl a 25-meter free kick into the top left-hand corner deep into first-half stoppage time.
The visitors, watched by their former player Diego Maradona in the stands, again seemed to be in control when Pjanic converted a penalty with 19 minutes to play after a foul by Paolo Cannavaro who was harshly sent off as a result.
“We had a couple of good chances in the first half and I think if we had converted them, we would have seen a different game,” said Napoli coach Rafael Benitez.
“We reacted well in the second half but the penalty and sending off changed the course of the game.”
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