Tag: Pisa

Donyell Malen hit a hat-trick as Roma revived their fading European hopes by cruising past Serie A’s bottom club, Pisa, 3-0 on Friday.

Roma, thrashed by runaway leaders Inter Milan in the last round, regained ground in the race for a top-four place.

“We had a great reaction, and it wasn’t easy because the second half in Milan was very disappointing,” said Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

His team moved level with Juventus, who are in fifth place, and one point behind Como in fourth. Como host Inter on Sunday. Juventus visit seventh-place Atalanta on Saturday.

“We’re still there, and now we should be rooting for Atalanta and Inter. We’re giving it our all to reach the Champions League,” said Gasperini.

Pisa remained anchored to the foot of the table.

Malen scored with all three of host Roma’s shots on goal as he took his total to 10 in 12 Serie A appearances since joining on loan from Aston Villa in January.

In the third minute, two visiting players had a chance to intercept a Roma punt forward, but Antonio Caracciolo could only knee the ball into Malen’s pass.

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The Dutch attacker sidestepped one more defender before firing home.

“Serie A matches are never easy; they become so if you break the deadlock after three minutes,” said Gasperini.

Lorenzo Pellegrini hit the angle of post and bar with a free kick before helping set up Malen’s second in the 43rd minute.

After Pisa repeatedly failed to clear, Devyne Rensch, who has yet to score in Serie A, picked up a loose ball in the box, played a one-two with Pellegrini and then poked a pass to Malen, who rolled in from close range.

Malen completed his hat-trick after 51 minutes, running onto a through pass from Matias Soule, turning away from two defenders and driving the ball home.

“He’s incredibly valuable,” said Gasperini of Malen.

“But if you play for Borussia Dortmund and in the Premier League as a young player, you’re bound to have significant resources.

“The central striker role was the key to convincing him to come to Roma.”

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Croatian veteran Luka Modric struck in the 85th minute as AC Milan eked out a 2-1 victory at Serie A’s bottom club Pisa on Friday to cement their grip on second place.

The victory means Milan will gain ground on a weekend when the four other teams in the top five meet.

In an often cagey game, Pisa left Ruben Loftus-Cheek alone near the penalty spot when Zachary Athekame swung in a cross from the right in the 39th minute. The towering English midfielder leant into the ball to head into the far corner.

After Niclas Fuellkrug, who had replaced Christopher Nkunku in the Milan attack at half time, hit the post with a 56th-minute penalty, the visitors sat back.

They were punished in the 71st minute when Felipe Loyola pounced on a loose ball to curl in his first goal since arriving in Pisa on loan from Independiente in Argentina in January.

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Milan roused themselves. Fuellkrug brushed the post from close range before Luka Modric won the game with five minutes left.

The 40-year-old midfielder, Luke Modric, slid the ball to Samuele Ricci on the penalty spot and scampered after his pass. The falling Ricci scuffed a pass to the surging Modric, who lifted the ball into the goal.

In added time, Milan’s French International Adrien Rabiot picked up a yellow card for a foul on the edge of the box and an instant second for protesting. Ten-man Milan held off a late flurry of Pisan pressure.

The victory left Milan still five points behind leaders Inter, but put them four points ahead of champions Napoli.

Inter host fourth-placed Juventus on Saturday, and Napoli entertain fifth-placed Roma on Sunday.

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Inter Milan roared back from two goals down to hammer promoted Pisa 6-2 on Friday and move six points clear at the top of Serie A.

Fans at a soaking San Siro were left in shock by Stefano Moreo’s early brace, including a brilliant chip over Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer from near the halfway line.

But Piotr Zielinski’s penalty in the 39th minute sparked a comeback at the end of the first half, with strike pairing Lautaro Martinez and Pio Esposito both thumping home powerful headers to put Inter ahead at the break.

Federico Dimarco, Ange-Yoan Bonny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan rounded off the scoring in the final 10 minutes to secure Inter’s ninth win in a 10-match unbeaten run in the league.

“When I came on, the idea was to score one before half-time, and after that it would have been a long second half (for Pisa),” said Dimarco, who was introduced shortly before Zielinski scored.

“But we scored three, we reacted well. Sometimes, when you play a lot of games, you can approach a game the wrong way, but it was important to turn it around.”

Inter’s thumping victory piled pressure on title rivals AC Milan and Napoli, who both have tough away fixtures this weekend.

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Inter’s closest challengers, Milan, travel south on Sunday to take on fourth-placed Roma, who are yet to win a high-profile fixture but continue to improve under Gian Piero Gasperini.

Meanwhile, Napoli are nine points back in third, with the champions in Turin on Sunday after a draw at 10-man FC Copenhagen left them at risk of being eliminated from the Champions League.

Pisa are bottom of the division, having collected just four points from their last 10 matches.

This heavy defeat came after a dream start in the Tuscan side’s first match against Inter at the San Siro since October 1990.

The 5,000 away fans roared their delight when Moreo pounced on a poor Sommer pass to fire back over his head into an empty net in the 11th minute before the Italian forward doubled the away side’s lead with his head midway through the first half.

But Alberto Gilardino’s team crumbled once Zielinski struck, and Pisa ended up conceding the same number of goals to Inter that they did over a quarter of a century ago.

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