Brighi scores twice in Roma's 2-1 win over Palermo

Feb 13, 2010 - 9:57 PM By JEREMY INSON Associated Press Writer

MILAN(AP) -- Matteo Brighi scored twice and created another Saturday to help AS Roma beat Palermo 4-1 in the Serie A.

Julio Baptista and John Arne Riise also scored for Roma, while Fabio Miccoli scored a penalty for Palermo late in the game.

In the only other match, Sampdoria scored twice in the first half to beat Fiorentina 2-0 with goals from ex-Fiorentina players Franco Semioli and Giampaolo Pazzini.

Inter Milan, which plays Napoli on Sunday, leads the league with 53 points. Roma has 47, two more than AC Milan. Sampdoria has 39 points, Napoli has 38 with Palermo on 37.

"We are going well at the moment and hopefully we can go as far as we possibly can," Brighi said. "This evening was tricky and we had to work hard, but we won and played well.

"Tomorrow, we shall be supporting Napoli. We know we are behind and we know that Inter is a strong team and that we need Inter to drop points. We did what we had to do and now we shall see what they do."

After a slow opening 30 minutes, Roma took the lead in the 33rd when Francesco Totti's corner picked out Brighi, whose volley took a deflection off Palermo defender Cesare Bovo on the way past goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu.

Palermo hit back immediately with Roma goalkeeper Julio Sergio twice keeping out shots from Edinson Cavani.

Palermo's defense was unable to clear and Brighi backheeled the ball along the line for Baptista to hit it into the empty net in the 53rd.

Nine minutes later, Roma scored its third. Again Palermo's defense was unable to clear and Brighi took one touch and fired a low shot in to the corner of the goal.

Miccoli scored a penalty in the 80th after Taddei brought down Javier Pastore, but Riise added Roma's fourth three minutes later.

Sampdoria took the lead in the 16th when Nicola Pozzi's header hit the bar, and Semioli reacted quickest to send a looping header over Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien Frey.

Five minutes later, Semioli nearly doubled his tally, but Frey pushed his low shot away for a corner.

In the 40th, Pazzini scored the second goal by rising high to head in Reto Ziegler's free kick.

For Fiorentina, it continues a worrying run of one point from its last five matches, ahead of its game against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.