Oct 18 (Reuters) – Miralem Pjanic scored a majestic free kick and a penalty as AS Roma continued their remarkable start to the season by downing previously unbeaten Napoli 2-0 on Friday to make it eight wins in as many games in Serie A.
Pjanic's brace completed a memorable week as it came three days after he helped Bosnia qualify for their first World Cup with a 1-0 win over Lithuania.
Roma overcame injuries to talismanic forward Francesco Totti, who limped off in the first half, and Gervinho, who went off in the second, as they clocked up a maximum 24 points to move five clear of their opponents at the top.
Napoli hit the woodwork three times as Roma fortuitously kept a clean sheet for the seventh time this season, a far cry from last term when they had one of the worst defensive records in the league.
Napoli, who had only dropped two points in their first seven games, had the two best first-half chances, only for Pjanic to curl a 25-metre free kick into the top left-hand corner deep into first-half stoppage time.
The visitors, watched by their former player Diego Maradona in the stands, again seemed to be in control when Pjanic converted a penalty with 19 minutes to play after a foul by Paolo Cannavaro who was sent off as a result.
'We had a couple of good chances in the first half and I think if we had converted them, we would have seen a different game,' said Napoli coach Rafael Benitez.
'We reacted well in the second half but the penalty and sending off changed the course of the game.'
Napoli should have gone ahead when Goran Pandev broke clear of the defence but he dallied and saw his weak shot partially saved by Morgan de Sanctis, who joined Roma from Napoli in the close season, and then cleared off the line by a defender.
Shortly afterwards, Lorenzo Insigne hit the post after he broke clear of the Roma rearguard.
In between, 37-year-old Totti limped off injured, although Roma had chances as Alessandro Florenzi's angled drive fizzed wide from the edge of the box while Kevin Strootman's long-range strike flew over.
Napoli took the initiative after the break as Gokhan Inler's long-range drive shaved the post and Marek Hamsik also hit the woodwork.
Roma made the game safe when Cannavaro was harshly judged to have fouled Marco Boriello as the pair tugged each other's shirts and Pjanic blasted home the penalty. – Nampa-Reuters
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