Francesco Totti fired Roma to a thumping home Serie A victory over
Fiorentina this evening.
The Roma captain got the ball rolling for the hosts by converting
from the penalty spot in the 27th minute before adding his second
of the evening shortly after.
Totti then provided the assist for Daniele De Rossi to make it
3-0 before half-time.
Fiorentina mustered little in the opening half but showed more
determination after the restart and Alberto Gilardino got a consolation
goal with six minutes remaining.
Roma coach Claudio Ranieri had demanded his players to show more
fighting spirit following their 2-0 midweek defeat at Basle in the
Europa League.
The Giallorossi players responded in emphatic fashion, much to
the delight of the fans at the Stadio Olimpico.
Ranieri gave Mirko Vucinic his first start of the campaign playing
alongside Totti up front.
John Arne Riise warmed the palms of Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien
Frey with a stinging drive from the distance.
Roma continued to attack and their efforts would have paid off
shortly after, had Frey not come off his line to anticipate Vucinic
who was ready to fire from Totti's assist.
In the 15th minute, Vucinic failed to punish Fiorentina's defensive
distraction. Riise's pass into the area was not cleared by the Viola
defence leaving Montenegrin forward with only Frey to beat but he
was unable to find the finishing touch.
Fiorentina almost made Roma pay.
Alessandro Gamberini latched onto Marco Marchionni's corner kick
and his powerful header went just wide of Roma goalkeeper Julio
Sergio's far post.
The Giallorossi made no mistake when the referee pointed to the
spot after Gamberini cleared Vucinic's cross with his hand.
Totti coolly struck towards the near post to beat Frey.
Fiorentina had little time to recover as Totti struck again five
minutes later.
The Viola defence failed to clear a corner kick and the ball fell
to Totti at the heart of the area, whose powerful shot went into
the back of the net.
Roma made no signs of slowing down and added their third in the
41st minute.
De Rossi latched onto Totti's cross from the left to head past
Frey.
The Viola showed more determination after the re-start and Gilardino
should have done better but his central header from Riccardo Montolivo's
cross did not trouble Julio Sergio.
In the 55th minute, Montolivo forced Julio Sergio to fully stretch
to clear his right-footed strike from the distance.
Julio Sergio's next save was all the more spectacular as he had
to make an acrobatic clearance from Gilardino's header from Cristiano
Zanetti's assist.
Fiorentina continued to surge forward and were unlucky not to reduce
the deficit with 18 minutes left to play.
Manuel Pasqual's strike from the edge of the area went inches high
over the bar.
The Viola were finally rewarded in the 84th minute.
Gilardino intercepted a back-pass from Simone Perrotta and surged
inside the area before firing past Julio Sergio.
But time ran out as the Viola lost their first Serie A game of
the campaign.
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