Pellegrini double lifts Roma past Parma in Italian Cup

Milan (AFP) – Italy midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini scored both goals to send Roma into the Italian Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Parma on Thursday.

In a match between fifth-placed Roma and Parma, in seventh, the side from the capital prevailed to return to winning wayss in the Ennio Tardini Stadium after back-to-back league defeats.

Pellegrini, 23, struck the first just after the break and added the second from the penalty spot on 76 minutes after an Antonino Barilla handball in the penalty area.

Roma next play Juventus in the quarter-finals at the Allianz Stadium after the record 14-time Cup winners brushed aside Udinese 4-0 on Wednesday.

Roma are second only to Juventus in the number of Cup trophies with nine, most recently in 2008.

Holders Lazio made short work of Serie B side Cremonese in their 4-0 victory in Rome on Tuesday with last year’s finalists Atalanta falling 2-1 to 10-man Fiorentina.

Inter Milan beat Cagliari 4-1 while city rivals AC Milan dispatched SPAL, 3-0, with new star signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic remaining on the bench.

Quarter-final fixtures (all times 1945GMT)

Tuesday, January 21

Napoli v Lazio

Wednesday, January 22

Juventus v AS Roma (1945)

Tuesday, January 28

AC Milan v Torino

Wednesday, January 29

Inter Milan v Fiorentina