Roma trounce SPAL 3-0

MILAN: Roma warmed up for next week’s Champions League clash with Liverpool by easing past SPAL 3-0 on Saturday to keep their push for elite European football next season on track.

Eusebio Di Francesco’s side have 67 points from 34 games — three ahead of city rivals Lazio who can pull level again when they host Sampdoria on Sunday. A Francesco Vicari own goal gave the Romans a first-half lead in Ferrara with Radja Nainggolan and Patrik Schick adding two more in an eight-minute spell in the second half.

SPAL fell to their first defeat in nine games leaving their top-flight survival increasingly in doubt as they sit just one point above the relegation zone. Di Francesco rotated his side ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final at Anfield with Argentinian left-back Jonathan Silva getting his first start since his January signing.

Roma’s top scorer Edin Dzeko stayed on the bench alongside captain Daniele De Rossi with the visitors missing three chances in the first half — Stephan El Shaarawy misfiring twice and Lorenzo Pellegrini also missing a third opportunity. But Pellegrini contributed to the opener, crossing a low ball into the area as Vicari turned into his own net when trying to anticipate Kevin Strootman in a scramble in front of goal. Nainggolan missed a chance for a second with the Belgian sending the ball into the side netting just before the break. But seven minutes into the second half Nainggolan broke through sending a diagonal half-volley into the bottom corner, with Pellegrini setting up Schick to head in the third on the hour mark.