Roma are close to winning the Coppa Italia title after thrashing Italian champions Inter Milan 6-2 in a thrilling first-leg encounter at Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday. The Giallorossi went three-up after 15 minutes, thanks to goals from Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi and Simone Perrotta. Hernan Crespo notched Inter's first goal five minutes later but Alessandro Mancini added Roma's fourth 15 minutes before the break. A second-half brace from Roma's right-back Christian Panucci put the game beyond doubts despite Crespo's second for Inter. Inter, who won the Italian Serie for the second successive season, have an uphill task if they are to overturn the big deficit in the return-leg at San Siro. Totti needed just 54 seconds to put the hosts ahead when he controlled Rodrigo Taddei's low cross inside the area before drilling a low shot past Francesco Toldo, who was given a rare start instead of Julio Cesar. Italian international midfielder De Rossi doubled the lead five minutes later after he diverted Philippe Mexes' misdirected shot into the back of the net from close range, capitalizing on a terrible marking by Inter defenders. Roma added the third on the quarter hour mark when Cristian Chivu raced down the left flank before providing a low cross to Perrotta, whose left-footed shot went into the bottom corner despite Marco Materazzi's presence in front of the Italy midfielder.
The Nerazzurri paid for their flimsy defense but still managed to pull one back through Crespo in the 20th minute. The Argentinean striker capitalized on a poor back pass by David Pizarro before rounding the keeper and slotting into the empty net. Mancini widened Inter's misery in the 30th minute when he notched home from the rebound after Panucci's cross was poorly parried by Toldo into the Brazilian winger's path. Luis Figo fired a powerful drive from the edge of the area four minutes before halftime but was denied by the post. Panucci added the fifth nine minutes after re-start as he connected with Pizarro's corner to head home. Crespo narrowed the gap two minutes later with another header after being set-up by Maicon's pinpoint cross. However, Panucci completed the rout one minute from time on the rebound after Tott's free-kick was terribly blocked by Toldo.
