Carpi 1 Roma 3: Dzeko ends drought as Spalletti's men win again

Roma's good form under Luciano Spalletti continued as Friday as a 3-1 win away to Carpi propelled the Giallorossi into Serie A's Champions League qualification places.

The capital city club, who sacked coach Rudi Garcia last month, have now won four league matches in succession under Spalletti, their latest victory seeing them climb to third at the expense of Fiorentina and Inter ahead of a crunch meeting between La Viola and the Nerazzurri, now fourth and fifth respectively, in Florence on Sunday.

Roma found Vid Belec in a determined mood during the first half at Stadio Alberto Braglia, the Carpi goalkeeper denying Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah, who struck the bar a minute before the break.

Stephan El Shaarawy was replaced by Miralem Pjanic at half-time and the visitors took the lead nine minutes after the restart.

It was the unlikely figure of defender Lucas Digne who broke the deadlock, smashing a long-range screamer past the helpless Belec.

Carpi levelled five minutes later, Jerry Mbakogu taking advantage of some half-baked defending from Antonio Rudiger to feed Kevin Lasagna, who slotted home.

Despite dominating possession and chances, the away team from the capital looked set to be frustrated in Modena until the 84th minute, when Salah's square ball across the face of goal found Dzeko, who scored his first Serie A goal since November to restore Roma's lead.

And they made sure of all three points 60 seconds later when Salah, provider of the first two, got in on the scoring act by gathering a rebound and beating Belec.