Miralem Pjanic scored twice, once from the spot, to hand
Roma a 2-0 win over Napoli and extend their lead in Italy's
Serie A to five points on Friday.
Napoli, under the watchful eyes of former star Diego
Maradona, began the match two points off the pace and
hoping to upset Rudi Garcia's early season pacesetters.
However, Rafael Benitez's men spurned two great chances
in the first half when both Goran Pandev and Lorenzo
Insigne missed the target from scoring positions.
After Pjanic's curling free kick gave Roma a 1-0 lead late in
the first half, the Bosnian midfielder made it two – this time
from the spot –after Napoli defender Paolo Cannavaro saw
red for a clumsy challenge on Marco Borriello.
Roma now sit top with a maximum 24 points from eight
games with Napoli, conceding their first defeat of the
season, losing second place to Juventus, who visit
Fiorentina on Sunday.
Having equalled Juventus's record streak of eight opening
wins under Michel Platini, Garcia admitted Roma's eighth
win made up for losing captain Francesco Totti to a
suspected thigh injury in the first half.
"I'm happy with the win, but it comes with us losing our
captain to injury. But tonight the Roma of Totti has
equalled the Juventus of Platini," Garcia told Sky Sport
Italia.
"He (Platini) was one of the greats. It's nice to be in this
position."
It capped an eventful day for Maradona, who helped
Napoli to their only two league titles in 1987 and 1990,
but on Friday was served a €39-million tax bill, which he
still disputes.
After leaving minutes before the final whistle, Maradona
was reported to have said by domestic news agency
ANSA: "Emotional? Do I look emotional? We lost. It's a
shame I'm no longer playing."
Pjanic fired a warning early on when a goalbound rocket
was blocked and after Gervinho scuffed his shot high and
wide with Pepe Reina at his mercy Pjanic hit a low angled
drive from distance which whizzed past Reina's upright.
Tempers flared just before the half hour when Maicon was
fouled by Giandomenico Mesto, handing possession to
Pandev who was then cautioned for a wayward elbow as
he was challenged from behind.
Pandev somehow spurned Napoli's best chance of the half
after escaping his marker in midfield to run on to Insigne's
superb long ball.
The striker was clear on goal but former Napoli 'keper
Morgan De Sanctis shut down the angle and got a hand to
Pandev's shot, which was then cleared acrobatically by
Daniele De Rossi.
Roma, however, had the momentum Florenzi's angled low drive went just a metre wide of Reina's upright and Gervinho had claims for a penalty waved away after he tumbled in the area as he cut in from the left.
Kevin Strootman then saw a drive from distance just sail
over the bar.
Insigne spurned a second great chance for Napoli when he
sent his low shot from close in off the post after evading a
clumsy challenge from Maicon.
Roma finally broke the deadlock late in injury time, Pjanic
stepping up to send a sublime curling free kick past Reina
after Gervinho had been upended and won a free kick 25
metres out.
Napoli dominated the opening exchanges after the restart
and Gokhan Inler almost levelled with a superb first-time
drive the came off de Sanctis's upright.
But there was never much threat from Benitez's men, who
appeared to be missing the power and drive of Gonzalo
Higuain.
Maicon showed good skill deep on the right to squeeze
between two defenders and send in a low cross for Florenzi
which the forward narrowly missed.
Higuain finally made his appearance on 68 minutes,
replacing Pandev, but Napoli suffered a blow moments
later when Cannavaro was sent off for manhandling
Borriello in the area.
Pjanic made no mistake from the spot, sending Reina the
wrong way with a powerful shot that rocked the back of
the net.
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