Roma beat Sampdoria in Italian Serie A

Irish Sun (IANS) Sunday 23rd December, 2007

Roma beat guests Sampdoria 2-0 thanks to a brace from their returning captain Francesco Totti in football's Italian Serie A.

With the win late Saturday, Roma go into a three-week winter break lying second on 36 points from 17 games. Serie A champions Inter Milan lead the standings with 40 points ahead of Sunday's city derby against AC Milan.

The Roma captain displayed good form on his return from a long injury lay-off and scored his ninth goal this season, beefing up his record of best Serie A scorer in activity with 160 goals.

Totti on 18 minutes took a penalty awarded for a Stefano Lucchini foul on Marco Ferrari and fooled Luca Castellazzi with one of his trademark drooping shots.

Marco Cassetti had brought an earlier threat for Roma firing a firm but central shot, while the guests twice came close before the break.

Christian Maggio in the 29th minute tried to finish off a counter attack but found Brazilian keeper Alexander Doni ready for a stunning deflection two minutes before Lucchini missed from close range.

Roma's second goal went begging on 53 minutes when Castellazzi slapped above the bar a nasty long-range shot from Simone Perrotta.

Four minutes later, Samp's equalizing efforts lost steam as they had captain Sergio Volpi dismissed for a double yellow card.

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