Roma seal morale-boosting win
ROME: Stephan El Shaarawy and Edin Dzeko scored early with Aleksandar Kolarov adding a third after the break as Roma eased past basement club Chievo 3-0 to get back to winning ways in Serie A.
Eusebio Di Francesco’s side had been coming off two league draws and a humiliating 7-1 Coppa Italia exit to Fiorentina.
The win is a welcome boost for Roma, ahead of their Champions League last 16, first leg tie against Porto next week.
“We could have scored a few more goals, but I hope we held them back for Porto,” said Di Francesco.
Chievo had held the Romans in their two previous meetings, battling back from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the Stadio Olimpico earlier this season.
This time Roma did not let their lead slip, after also throwing away a three-goal lead to be held by Atalanta two weeks ago.
Inter Milan, in third, are still looking for their first win of 2019 after being held by Sassuolo and defeats against Torino and Bologna with no goals scored.
Luciano Spalletti’s side have 40 points, but are now just two points ahead of Roma and Lazio.
Inter were playing Parma late yesterday.
BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen scored four times in an explosive first half to crush hosts Mainz 05 5-1 in the Bundesliga on Friday and continue their rise up the standings under new coach Peter Bosz.
The Dutchman, whose team beat champions Bayern Munich last week, took over at the start of the year and his attack-minded Leverkusen have now won three of their four league games under him.
Leverkusen have now scored a combined 11 goals in their last three league games.
MADRID: Barcelona midfielder Arthur Melo has been ruled out for up to a month with a hamstring injury, handing the La Liga leaders another fitness blow after Lionel Messi missed training on Friday with a thigh problem.
Arthur, who has quickly adapted to the Barca team since joining from Brazilian side Gremio last year, will miss the King’s Cup semi-final second leg with Real on Feb 27 and the Champions League last-16 first leg at Olympique Lyonnais on Feb 19.
He will also be sidelined for league games against Athletic Bilbao, Real Valladolid and Sevilla and faces a battle to be fit for the league ‘Clasico’ away to Real Madrid on March 2.
Barca captain Messi, the league’s top scorer with 21 goals, is a serious doubt for today’s testing trip to Athletic Bilbao after missing Friday’s training session with the thigh strain which made him unable to start the Cup game against Real.
Left back Jordi Alba has already been ruled out of the game at Bilbao due to suspension and Ousmane Dembele has not yet recovered from an ankle injury.