Football
PA Sport 7y

Nainggolan brace sees Roma past Inter; AC Milan and Lazio both win

Roma kept up their pursuit of Serie A leaders Juventus with a 3-1 win over Inter Milan at the San Siro.

Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan scored twice as Roma did the league double over Inter to close the gap on Juventus to seven points.

Nainggolan opened the scoring with a well-hit shot early in the first half and doubled Roma's advantage with a superb rising shot 10 minutes into the second period.

With nine minutes remaining, Mauro Icardi marked his return from suspension with a close-range finish to reduce the deficit but Diego Perotti converted a late penalty to seal victory for Roma.

The defeat leaves Inter sixth in the table, two points behind Lazio who occupy the Europa League qualifying spot.

Gianluigi Donnarumma kept a clean sheet on the day after his 18th birthday as AC Milan won 1-0 at Sassuolo in a controversial game on Sunday.

Carlos Bacca scored the only goal of the match in the 22nd minute from the penalty spot, but Sassuolo thought it should have been ruled out after the forward touched the ball with both feet as he slipped when taking the kick.

The penalty was awarded after Alberto Aquilani had tripped Andrea Bertolacci -- and it came after Domenico Berardi had fired wide from the spot from Sassuolo.

Lazio are back in the fight for a Champions League place after beating Udinese 1-0 to move to within four points of third-placed Napoli, who were beaten at Atalanta on Saturday.

Ciro Immobile scored from the spot in the 72nd minute after Lazio were awarded a debatable penalty for an apparent handball by Ali Adnan.

Palermo inched a point closer to safety with a 1-1 draw against Sampdoria, although they remain seven points below 18th-placed Empoli.

The home side went in front after 31 minutes when Ilija Nestorovski struck from the penalty spot, but Fabio Quagliarella wrecked their hopes of all three points with a 90th-minute penalty.

Pescara lost 2-0 at Chievo Verona, Valter Birsa and Lucas Castro scoring in each half, while Cagliari won 2-1 at Crotone as Joao Pedro and Marco Borriello cancelled out an early strike by Adrian Stoian.

Elsewhere, Olivier Ntcham's stoppage-time goal handed Genoa a 1-1 draw against 10-man Bologna, who had led through Federico Viviani but had Vasileios Torosidis sent off.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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