Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah created a goal and scored another as his side AS Roma defeated counterparts Sassuolo 3-1 in the Italian Serie A on Sunday. Roma responded to their midweek Europa League elimination by Olympique Lyonnais and kept a semblance of pressure on the leaders Juventus with a come-from-behind triumph against Sassuolo. The visitors took the lead through Gregoire Defrel in the ninth minute, but Roma shook off their European hangover and equalised when Leandro Paredes received a nice pass from Salah to struck a low drive from 25 metres in the 16th minute. Salah gave Roma the lead with a close-range finish moments before half time and Edin Dzeko made sure of the points in the 68th minute when he fired home after a superb one-two with Kevin Strootman. The Egyptian star is enjoying a fine run in his second season with the Giallorossi, scoring ten goals and dishing out seven assists in 22 Serie A games so far this term. Roma are now second in the table with 65 points, eight behind leaders and favourites Juventus. Also on Sunday, Napoli consolidated their grip on the Champions League places with an exhilarating win at Empoli, going 3-0 up after a double from Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens's free kick inside the opening 38 minutes, with the latter also having an early penalty saved. Empoli set up a nervy finale when Omar El Kaddouri scored with a delightful free kick in the 70th minute and Massimo Maccarone struck from the penalty spot 12 minutes later, but Napoli clung on to win. "We're growing, but a team that plays a second half like this cannot have strong ambitions," Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri told journalists. "Until we resolve this problem, we cannot bridge the gap with the top teams." Alejandro Gomez's double and a goal from Alberto Grassi saw Atalanta bounce back from last weekend's 7-1 humbling at Inter Milan and beat Pescara 2-0 to move back up to sixth on 55 points, while fourth-placed Lazio lost ground on the top three as they were held 0-0 at Cagliari. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
