“It’s tough,” says Ranieri as four-goal Napoli run riot in Rome

Milan (AFP) – Napoli piled the pressure on Claudio Ranieri’s Roma with a 4-1 win in the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday consolidating second place, 15 points behind runaway leaders Juventus in Serie A.

Arkadiusz Milik put the visitors ahead after two minutes with Dries Mertens, Simone Verdi and Amin Younes adding three more in the second half to inflict another blow on the hosts’ Champions League ambitions next season.

Juventus continued their march towards an eighth consecutive Serie A title with on-form teenager Moise Kean scoring the only goal against Empoli on Saturday.

Napoli have almost no chance of winning the title with nine games to go, but extended their cushion on third-placed Inter Milan to ten points before Luciano Spalletti’s side host Lazio later on Sunday.

“I expected a performance like this. In training I had seen the right spirit, the team is growing,” said Carlo Ancelotti, whose side are building towards a Europa League quarter-final clash against Arsenal.

“We were masters of the pitch.”

It was a further blow for Ranieri in just his third game since taking over from Eusebio Di Franecesco as the Romans fell to their second consecutive defeat for the first time this season.

“We’re going through a period where we concede from the first attack,” said former Leicester boss Ranieri. 

“Do I regret having accepted Roma? Never. I could never regret training this club,” he added.

“It was tough, as Napoli swarm around you, change position constantly and make it very difficult to defend.

“We’re doing everything we can, but we’re not giving up.”

Roma’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League are dwindling and they are in danger of missing out on European football as their sixth position is under threat from Lazio who are two points behind but have a game in hand.

Roma failed to take advantage of fourth-placed AC Milan’s 1-0 defeat against Sampdoria on Saturday. A win would have moved them within a point of the Champions League places.

Instead, Atalanta jumped to fifth with a 3-1 comeback win against Parma.

– Ancelotti at home –

Ancelotti’s Napoli dominated against the club where he spent eight seasons as a player. Roma were struggling to keep up from the start when Verdi sent the ball over for Milik to blast the visitors ahead early.

The Polish striker had a second goal disallowed for offside before Diego Perotti pulled Roma level just before the break with a penalty after a foul on Patrik Schick.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2HQtDlQ