AS Roma boosted their chances of a top-four finish this season with a determined showing against Genoa on Sunday to climb temporarily above Atalanta into fourth place.
A first-half strike from Gianluca Mancini was all Paulo Fonseca’s needed to go home with all three points in a game that saw a few chances between both sides. The win which was their second in two games and 15th in the league thus far will
Roma started the brighter of both teams and were the first to threaten their visitor’s goal in the 6th minute, but Chris Smalling header was poor and sailed high over the bar following a well-taken corner by Lorenzo Pellegrini.
The next chance of the game fell to the visitors in the 14th minute, but Pau Lopez was on hand to deny Mattia Destro a certain goal.
Gianluca Mancini then opened the scoring for the home side in the 24th minute following a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner. The assist was the Italian’s sixth this season and means that he has been involved in at least ten goals for Roma in two straight seasons.
Pedro was the next to test the Genoa goal with a ferocious shot which Federico Marchetti could only tip over for a corner to keep the scoreline at one-nil as both teams headed for the half-time break.
After the restart, Gonzalo Villar hit the post in what was the only meaningful chance for Roma while Gianluca Scamacca came closest to scoring for Genoa in the 80th minute, but he could not direct his shot towards the goal.
The result sees Genoa extend their winless run to five games in the league as they also remain in 13th place after 26 games.
Roma’s next game is on Thursday when they host Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League, while Genoa are back in League action when they play Udinese on Saturday.
