Roma in free-fall
Roma defender Cicinho (L) holds off Juventus striker Amauri (3rd from R) during their Serie A clash at the Olympic Stadium in Turin on Saturday.Photo: AFP
Juventus piled more misery on crisis-ridden Roma with a 2-0 home victory on Saturday while Colombia centre-back Ivan Cordoba scored an injury-time winner to send Inter Milan top with a 3-2 win at rock bottom Reggina.
Juve were good value for their victory and found themselves in fifth place at the end of the day following a third straight Serie A victory.
Veteran forward Alessandro Del Piero scored the first and created the second.
But the crisis continues at Roma who have just eight points from nine games, are down in 17th place, just one above the relegation zone, and have lost their last four Serie A matches.
They have lost six of their nine matches, including all five away from home.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti admitted his team were having difficulties overcoming their current malaise.
"We started off with the right enthusiasm and then we became disorganised and there was a little bit of fear," he said.
"Mentally we're a team that is having more difficulty rebounding from this situation."
Juve quickly established control and centre-back Giorgio Chiellini forced Roma's Brazilian goalkeeper Doni into a point-blank reaction save on 33 minutes.
Six minutes before the break, though, Del Piero gave the hosts the lead, planting a sumptuous free-kick from 25 yards into the top corner.
Juve kept dominating after the break as Doni saved a speculative bicycle kick from compatriot Amauri before Marco Marchionni took a pass from Del Piero, beat Jon Arne Riise and dinked the ball over a sprawling Doni to double the advantage on 48 minutes.
In Reggina the hosts will have felt hard done by after battling back from 2-0 down after 24 minutes.
But Inter, who avoided a third consecutive draw and will be top for a day at least, delighted coach Jose Mourinho for their reaction to losing their lead.
"We played a great match, in the second half, after it went to 2-2, we had a great reaction with excellent football and eight clear chances," said the Portuguese former Chelsea boss.
"I'm happy with the way the guys worked, their spirit, their quality of play, they played a great match, played with heart and right now they deserve the joy of three points."
Having not scored in their previous two games Inter came out with a clear intent to end that run and Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma crashed a shot off the post on just six minutes after a mistake from Bruno Cirillo.
But the champions didn't have to wait long to open the scoring as Zlatan Ibrahimovic fed full-back Maicon, who was charging into the area, and the Brazilian's shot beat Andrea Campagnolo and hit the roof of the net on nine minutes.
France midfielder Patrick Vieira doubled the visitors' advantage on 24 minutes as he finished off good work from Ibrahimovic and Quaresma, slipping the ball between Campagnolo's legs.
But the basement sitters showed that they had no intention of lying down to die when captain Francesco Cozza fired home via a slight deflection from the edge of the box 11 minutes before the break.
Despite Inter's bright start the hosts had actually had more of the game in the first half and they continued in that vein at the start of the second period as Franco Brienza thrashed home a crisp strike from the edge of the box on 53 minutes.
But Cordoba was luckily in the right place at the right time to prod home the late winner from a corner.
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