Off the wire
Spanish La Liga results  • German Bundesliga standings  • Spanish La Liga standings  • PSG beat strugglers Nancy to go second in French Ligue 1  • German Bundesliga results  • Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Oct. 16  • Frankfurt hold Bayern, Cologne win in German Bundesliga  • Atletico, Real and Barca on fire as top 4 all win in Spain  • Messi back, Rafinha scores twice as Barca breeze past Depor  • China-Pak friendship car rally warmly welcomed in Pakistan  
You are here:   Home

Roma wins 3-1 at Napoli to Italian Serie A 2nd place

Xinhua, October 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Roma forward Edin Dzeko scored two goals as Roma beat Napoli 3-1 away on Saturday to move into the Italian Serie A second place.

Dzeko, who also scored twice for Bosnia and Herzegovina midweek, has seven goals in eight league appearances this season, just one less than he scored last season in 31 appearances in his debut Serie A campaign.

He tops the scoring charts, one ahead of Juventus forward Gonzalo Higuain, Inter Milan's Mauro Icardi, and AC Milan's Carlos Bacca.

"I've had preseason with the squad, I feel good, I feel everyone's confidence in me," Dzeko said when asked what had changed from last season. "I'm happy for myself and for the team which won a difficult match."

Dzeko netted his first goal two minutes from halftime when Mohamed Salah stole the ball off Kalidou Koulibaly at the byline and swung in a cross for Dzeko to volley home.

He doubled his tally nine minutes after the interval, placing a header into the bottom left corner from Alessandro Florenzi's free kick.

Koulibaly atoned for his earlier error by rising highest at the near post to head in a corner off the opposite upright, and getting Napoli straight back into the game.

But Salah sealed matters four minutes from time, beating the offside trap to race forward and fire in off the base of the left post.

It was Roma's first away win of the season, and the capital club leapfrogged Napoli into second spot, five points behind Juventus.

Napoli is two points further back after its first league defeat at Stadio San Paolo since May 2015. It was clearly missing striker Arkadiusz Milik, who has had a great start to the season but was ruled out for six months after tearing a ligament on international duty.

It was also the first time Napoli has lost two successive league matches under Maurizio Sarri.

Paulo Dybala scored for the third successive match, in all competitions, netting twice as Juventus fought back from surprisingly a goal down to beat Udinese 2-1.

Dybala equalized two minutes from halftime, curling a delightful free kick into the top right corner, and scored what was to prove the winner from the penalty spot in the 51st after Rodrigo De Paul tripped Alex Sandro.

Udinese, which is one point above the relegation zone, stunned the Juventus Stadium into silence on the half-hour following a series of errors by the hosts. Hernanes failed to control a poor pass from Patrice Evra and Jakub Jankto's effort slipped through Gianluigi Buffon's hands.

Pescara played half the match with 10 men but managed to cling on for a valuable point and could even have won had Gianluca Caprari not had a penalty saved by Sampdoria goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano in a 1-1 draw.

Pescara defender Andrea Coda was sent off in the final minute of the first half following a second yellow card. Endit