ROME — Stephen El Shaarawy continued his fine form to help Roma beat Fiorentina 4-1 Friday in a showdown for third place in Serie A and the final Champions League berth.
The Italy forward scored one goal and set up another as Roma enjoyed its seventh successive league win. It was El Shaarawy’s fifth goal in six matches for Roma.
Mohamed Salah netted twice and Diego Perotti was also on target as Roma moved three points above fourth-place Fiorentina. Perotti also hit the post in a sparkling first half for Roma.
Josip Ilicic converted a penalty for Fiorentina on the stroke of halftime. The capital side is now just two points behind second-place Napoli, which hosts Chievo Verona Saturday. It will be a boost ahead of the second leg of its Champions League last-16 tie against Real Madrid, with Roma 2-0 down.
“We want to try to play football and if possible have fun and make others have fun,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. “When you get certain results everything becomes more enjoyable, but we need to keep our feet on the ground and go forward. “Tonight we had a great match against a really great opponent.”
“Today everything which could have gone wrong did, let’s hope we’ve got it all over with in just one go,” Fiorentina coach Paulo Sousa said. “But we shouldn’t take anything away from Spalletti and his Roma team, they had a great game, and played at a really high level in attack.”
Monaco stumbles on road
Monaco suffered a fifth Ligue 1 away match without a win Friday when a last-minute goal from Christian Kouakou allowed Caen to snatch a 2-2 draw. Monaco remains in second spot, a huge 22 points behind defending champion Paris Saint-Germain, while Caen is third, eight points further back.
All four goals came in the second half with Thomas Lemar putting Monaco ahead on the 56th minute mark with a sweetly-struck direct free-kick.
Julien Feret leveled after 64 minutes with a penalty awarded when Brazilian defender Wallace was punished for a hand ball.
Four minutes later, Monaco were back in front when Alaeddine Yahia put through his own goal as he struggled to clear a cross from Bernardo Silva. Ivory Coast’s Kouakou then ensured a share of the spoils with an acrobatic strike from a last-minute corner.
