Dzeko helps Roma rout mediocre Milan
milan — Edin Dzeko hit a brace and former AC Milan striker Stephan El Shaarawy added a third as Roma secured a 4-1 win that sent the capital side back up to second in Serie A late on Sunday.
Roma travelled to the San Siro under plenty of pressure after Napoli’s 3-1 win over Cagliari on Saturday took the southerners up to second to sit eight points behind leaders Juventus.
Lazio also kept Luciano Spalletti’s men on their toes with a 7-3 thrashing of Sampdoria that moved them to within three points of third, and a possible Champions League qualifying place.
But Roma, who have finished runners-up eight times since they last won the scudetto in 2001, were in no mood to give up their chance of securing the league’s second automatic Champions League qualifying spot.
“We had to take the bull by the horns,” Spalletti told Mediaset when asked about last week’s 3-1 derby defeat to Lazio.
Dzeko had the visitors 2-0 up by the 28th minute, the Bosnian taking his league tally to 27 goals to move two goals clear of Torino’s
27 Goals Dzeko has scored, two shy of top scorer Belotti
Andrea Belotti at the top of the scoring charts.
Milan reduced the deficit in the 76th minute when Mario Pasalic dived low to meet the ball as it was knocked on from a corner, beating Wojciech Szczesny at the ‘keeper’s back post. But Roma hit back immediately. El Shaarawy had joined the capital club in 2015 after finding fewer opportunities in his final two seasons of a four-year spell at Milan.
And the 24-year-old made sure Milan knew what they were missing 12 minutes from the end when he beat Gianluigi Donnarumma in the Milan net with a superb curling effort from the edge of the area.
El Shaarawy refused to celebrate but minutes later punished Milan again with a quickly-taken free kick.