MILAN (AP) — Fan favorite Tammy Abraham scored two goals as Roma swept aside Lazio 3-0 in the capital derby in Serie A on Sunday.
That took Abraham’s tally to 15 in the league this season and nine since the start of January. In 2022, only Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski has scored more goals than the England international in Europe’s top five leagues.
Roma had its first goal with less than a minute on the clock and was 3-0 up at halftime in a dominant performance from José Mourinho’s side.
Roma moved up to fifth. Atalanta can move above sixth-place Lazio with a win at Bologna later.
Lazio won the opening derby this season but Roma got off to the perfect start this time. After just 56 seconds, Lorenzo Pellegrini’s inswinging corner hit the crossbar and rebounded in off Abraham’s thigh.
Abraham doubled his tally in the 22nd when he acrobatically turned in Rick Karsdorp's cross into an empty net with Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha stranded at his left post.
Roma’s third goal was a stunner as Pellegrini curled a free kick into the top right corner from nearly 30 yards out to all but wrap up the points with five minutes remaining until the break.
Lazio was lucky not to go in even further behind as Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s effort bounced off the crossbar.
DUSAN DELIGHT
Dušan Vlahović set up one goal and scored another as Juventus eased to a 2-0 win over bottom club Salernitana to move within a point of defending champion Inter Milan.
Paulo Dybala marked his return to the starting lineup following injury by scoring the opener as fourth-place Juventus closed in on the top three, although Massimiliano Allegri’s side is still seven points behind Serie A leader AC Milan.
Juventus plays third-place Inter — the club that ended its run of nine straight Serie A titles — after the international break.
Salernitana remained nine points from safety.
Juventus was anxious to move on from its Champions League exit against Villarreal midweek and was on a 15-match unbeaten run in the league.
It took the Bianconeri less than five minutes to break the deadlock as Vlahović latched onto Juan Cuadrado’s cross and sent a clever ball through to Dybala, who drilled in from a tight angle.
A lively Dybala had several chances to double his tally but chipped one over the bar when clear on goal and was also denied by a flying, one-handed save from Salernitana goalkeeper Luigi Sepe.
Juventus doubled its lead in the 29th minute thanks to a towering header from Vlahović on Mattia De Sciglio's cross.
The Bianconeri sat back on their lead in the second half and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny had to make a couple of impressive saves.
MISTAKES
Two first-half mistakes gifted Francesco Caputo two goals as Venezia lost 2-0 in a relegation fight against Sampdoria.
The first came in the 24th minute when Venezia goalkeeper Niki Mäenpää took too many touches in his own penalty area and Abdelhamid Sabiri stole the ball off him, allowing Caputo to deposit into an empty net.
It was the fault of Venezia midfielder Luca Fiordilino 14 minutes later as he lost the ball easily to Sabiri. Mäenpää could only parry Stefano Sensi’s strike and Caputo tapped in the rebound.
Venezia remained three points from safety while Sampdoria climbed seven points above the bottom three.
Hellas Verona drew 1-1 at Empoli after striker Giovanni Simeone failed twice with the same penalty. His first attempt was saved by Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario but had to be retaken following an encroachment. Simeone smashed his second effort off the upright.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
