Hart spoils Totti party; Lazio join scudetto chase

MILAN: England goalkeeper Joe Hart upset the upcoming birthday celebrations of Francesco Totti in a 3-1 win for Torino over Roma as rivals Lazio brazenly joined the scudetto race Sunday.

Ousted from Manchester City by Pep Guardiola last month, Hart joined unfashionable Serie A side Torino in a bid to maintain his status as England’s number one shot-stopper.

Having kept ‘Granata’ fans guessing during a few nervous displays in recent weeks, the onloan City ‘keeper was rock solid throughout at Torino’s Stadio Olimpico where the only blot on his report card was Totti’s 55th minute penalty for the visitors.

It marked Totti’s 250th goal in Serie A, but plans to count a Roma win among his 40th birthday presents this Tuesday were dashed by a defeat that moved Torino up to midtable, and left Luciano Spalletti’s Romafive points behind leaders Juventus.

Roma were looking to reply to Juve’s cagey 1-0 win at Palermo on Saturday.

But Andrea Belotti headed an eighth-minute opener past Wojciech Szczesny, and at the other end Hart was on fire.

He was out smartly early on to steal the ball from Edin Dzeko, then got down low to save with one hand from the Bosnian striker’s snap shot from close range.

An alert Hart then tipped over Dzeko’s header from Mohamed Salah’s delivery.

“Before I took Hart I spoke to him to try and understand what kind of state of mind he would have here,” Torino coach Sinisa Mihajlovic told Sky Sport minutes after they secured only their second win of the campaign.