Brighi sends irrepressible Roma second

Unstoppable Roma roared back up to second in Serie A after a 4-1 home success against Palermo extended their unbeaten run to 20 games.

Claudio Ranieri’s team have now won 17 and drawn three of their last 20 matches in all competitions and show no signs of letting up.

Matteo Brighi scored a brace while Brazilian substitute Julio Baptista and Norway left-back John Arne Riise added the others with Fabrizio Miccoli scoring a late consolation for the Sicilians from the spot.

The victory brought Roma to within six points of leaders Inter Milan, having played a game more, and Brighi suggested his team believe they can overhaul the champions, who travel to fifth-placed Napoli on Sunday.

“Things are going well for us and we’re aiming for as high as possible,” he said. “Tonight was difficult, we struggled but we took home the three points.

“Tomorrow we’ll be supporting Napoli. Of course we’re well behind and we know that Inter are a great team. They need to drop points but we’ll do what we can and then see what they do.”

This victory, much like Roma’s 1-0 win away to Fiorentina last week, owed as much to early resilience as later brilliance.

In Florence Roma had been outplayed for almost the entire game before picking their hosts’ pockets with a late winner.

And here in the capital they were second best throughout the first half but still turned around with a 1-0 lead at the interval.

And Ranieri admitted they cannot keep riding their luck forever.

“We knew it would be tough and Palermo made life difficult for us, particularly in the first half, but then things went well in the second,” he said.

“The result doesn’t reflect the struggles we had. Both Fiorentina and Palermo have had more shots on goal than us. We need to understand why and improve before it’s too late.”

Palermo, who dropped a place to sixth, had much to play for knowing they could move into the Champions League places with a win but they could not match Roma’s clinical finishing.

There was a touch of fortune about their opener on 33 minutes as Francesco Totti’s corner found Brighi just inside the area and his volley looked like it might drift wide but Cesare Bovo got his head on it and diverted the ball past his goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu.

Palermo came roaring back and Fabio Liverani’s cross to the back post found Edison Cavani, whose volley from a tight angle was kicked away by Julio Sergio.

Moments later the Brazilian stopper tipped another shot from the Uruguayan forward away at full stretch.

Miccoli then curled a free-kick just past the near post with the unsighted Sergio a static spectator.

Palermo came out for the second period fired up and reported Manchester United and City target Simon Kjaer headed over from five yards.

But they soon fell further behind when Brighi teed up Baptista, who had replaced Totti at the break.

And just after the hour mark Brighi surprised Sirigu from distance to make it 3-0.

Ten minutes from time Palermo got on the scoresheet from a controversial penalty as Rodrigo Taddei and Daniele De Rossi sandwiched Javier Pastore, although the offence appeared to occur just outside the box.

But just three minutes later Riise settled any doubts as he met David Pizarro’s cross at the far post and thrashed a shot into the roof of the net.

Early-season pace-setters Sampdoria continued their recent resurgence following a mid-season blip with their fourth straight victory in a 2-0 success against free-falling Fiorentina that moves them up to fourth and a Champions League position, for a day at least.

Franco Semioli’s wickedly deflected header opened the scoring for the hosts on 16 minutes before club top scorer Giampaolo Pazzini added the second on 40 minutes.