El Shaarawy brace as Roma down Udinese

Milan (AFP) – Stephan El Shaarawy bagged a first-half brace as AS Roma overwhelmed Udinese 3-1 to secure a third straight Serie A win on Saturday.

Italian forward El Shaarawy scored twice after Edin Dzeko’s 12th-minute opener, as Roma move up to fourth in Serie A with 12 points from five games, and with a game in hand just three points behind leaders Napoli and Juventus who play later.

Coach Eusebio Di Francesco said he was delighted that the pieces were beginning to fit into his jigsaw after early criticism of his tactics.

“I see the lads are ready to do what I ask,” said Di Francesco. “El Shaarawy is an ideal forward for my system.

“I saw an excellent team movement. It’s a pity we conceded that goal, and we could have scored a few more, but were not determined enough. I can’t help but be satisfied with my team.”

Luigi Delneri’s visitors were struggling from the outset at the Stadio Olimpico with Dzeko on hand for the opener and his sixth goal of the season after Radja Nainggolan pushed his way through a porous Udinese defence.

Dzeko rolled in a cross for El Shaarawy’s first after half an hour with a blunder by Udinese’s Danish defender Jens Stryger Larsen giving the player nicknamed ‘The Little Pharaoh’ his second just before the break.

Diego Perotti had a chance to make it 4-0 late in the game but fired his spot-kick off target with Stryger Larsen getting one back after his earlier misfortune beating the offside trap to score a consolation goal in the final minutes.

It was a confidence-boosing performance for Di Francesco’s side ahead of their midweek Champions League trip to Qarabag in Azerbaijan.

But for Udinese the nightmare start to the season continued as they fell to a fifth defeat in six matches.

“We have had a complicated calendar and teams like Roma and Milan hurt you if you give them the ball,” said Delneri.

“Football also takes a bit of luck. We did not have much of this,” he added. “We also need to improve our attitude. Roma today showed great personality and great team play.”

Champions Juventus and Napoli will be looking to make it six wins out of six in Serie A later Saturday.

Juventus host city rivals Torino in the highly-anticipated Turin derby as Napoli travel to struggling newcomers SPAL.