Totti leads Roma to win over Fiorentina

ROME (AP)

SERIE A FIXTURES

 

Saturday, December 15
Home		Road
Udinese	1-1	Palermo
Lazio	1-0	Inter
Sunday, December 16
Fiorentina	4-1	Siena
Juventus	3-0	Atalanta
AC Milan	4-1	Pescara
Parma	4-1	Cagliari
Chievo	1-0	Roma
Genoa	1-1	Torino
Catania	3-1	Sampdoria
Napoli	2-3	Bologna
More: Scores | Stats | Serie A

 

Roma captain Francesco Totti scored twice and set up two more goals in a 4-2 win that ended Fiorentina's nine-match unbeaten run on Saturday.

The result left both clubs tied for fourth in the Serie A and marked a forgettable return for Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella, who played with Roma alongside Totti for a decade then coached the Giallorossi briefly last year.

Earlier, Atalanta beat Parma 2-1 to move into a tie for seventh.

German Denis put Atalanta ahead with a header four minutes in, and Federico Peluso doubled the lead in the 38th from a rebound of a shot from Denis. Amauri pulled one back for Parma in the 45th with a header.

On Sunday, league leader Juventus visits Palermo in coach Antonio Conte's return from a four-month touchline ban. Also, second-place Napoli visits third-place Inter Milan.

Roma, Fiorentina and Lazio are each six points behind Juventus.

At the Stadio Olimpico, both teams scored their first goals following free kicks.

Leandro Castan gave Roma the lead with a close-range header in the seventh minute following a free kick from Totti, and Facundo Roncaglia equalized seven minutes later with a similar scheme.

Totti's first goal came with a nifty shot using the outside of his foot in the 19th following an unselfish pass from Mattia Destro. Then, with the referee about to blow the whistle to end the half, Totti scored from 35 meters with a powerful shot that Fiorentina goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano nonetheless should have blocked.

Fiorentina substitute Mounir El Hamdaoui cut Roma's lead to one goal with a header from the edge of the box in the opening minute of the second half.

Roma should have scored in the 73rd but a tap-in goal from Marquinhos was waved off for a questionable offside call after Destro hit the crossbar with a header.

Anyhow, Totti set up Pablo Osvaldo with only Viviano to beat in the 89th.