Saturday 17 October 2015 22:51, UK
Daniele De Rossi scored in his 500th game for Roma on Saturday as Rudi Garcia's side beat Empoli 3-1 at the Olympic Stadium to go second in Serie A.
Three goals in 13 second-half minutes did the damage as lowly Empoli slumped to their fifth defeat of the season.
Roma had threatened to open the scoring on several occasions during the first half but, despite the speed and movement of Mohamed Salah and Gervinho, were unable to unlock the resilient Empoli defence.
Miralem Pjanic broke the deadlock in the 56th minute with a long-range free kick after Alessandro Florenzi was brought down by Leandro Paredes.
Midfielder De Rossi, in his 15th season at the club, headed a Pjanic corner past Lukasz Skorupski three minutes later to delight the home fans.
Roma's two most eye-catching players on the day then combined in the 69th minute for the third.
Gervinho tore down the left flank, outpacing Marco Zambelli, before sending a cross into the box for Salah, who evaded the attentions of Mario Rui and beat Skorupski with a powerful shot into the roof of the net.
Empoli grabbed a 75th minute consolation goal when Marcel Buchel beat Wojciech Szczesny from outside the area, but Roma held on for their fifth league victory of the campaign.
The win left Roma on 17 points, one behind leaders Fiorentina who travel to Napoli on Sunday.
Colombia forward Carlos Bacca had only come off the bench seven minutes earlier when he scored for AC Milan just after the hour at Torino in the evening game.
But within 10 minutes, Daniele Baselli restored parity for Torino and the game ended 1-1.
A poor first half had seen just four attempts on goal in total from both sides, before Giacomo Bonaventura cut the ball back to a completely unmarked Bacca, who had plenty of time to control and pick out his spot for Sinisa Mihajlovic's side.
Bacca almost had a second moments later when he beat the offside trap but was denied by a Kamil Glik goal-line clearance.
Torino's equaliser came after substitute Andrea Belotti, who had only just come on, chested a Fabio Quagliarella ball down with his first touch for Baselli to smash past Diego Lopez at the near post.
Inter Milan and Lazio can overtake Roma if they defeat Juventus and Sassuolo respectively on Sunday.
