Rome — Donyell Malen scored in each half as Roma beat Cagliari 2-0 and stayed in touch with the chasing pack at the top of Serie A on Monday.
Dutch center forward Malen had scored only once in four appearances since joining on loan from Aston Villa in January and he proved his worth with two excellent finishes.
He ran on to a clever through ball from Gianluca Mancini and his deft chip over the goalkeeper was equal to the set-up pass. His second was more of a poacher's effort as he got on the right side of a packed defense to turn in a low cross 20 minutes after the break.
The result served as a confidence booster ahead of next weekend's crunch tie at Napoli.
Serie A Standings: Leader Inter Milan was eight points clear of city rival AC Milan and nine ahead of reigning champion Napoli. Roma was three points further back along with Juventus. Cagliari remained 12th.
Atalanta Beats Cremonese
Atalanta moved to within two points of the European places after beating Cremonese 2-1.
Nikola Krstovic put Atalanta ahead after 13 minutes when he got on the end of a nice cross from Giacomo Raspadori. Davide Zappacosta made it 2-0 minutes later with a neat individual goal.
Atalanta was unbeaten in its last seven league matches and in seventh spot, two points behind Como and seven behind Roma and Juventus.
Morten Thorsby's last-minute consolation for Cremonese gave the scoreline a more respectable sheen than the action suggested. Cremonese was without a win in 10 games and sat 16th, just five points above the relegation zone.