Roma thump Torino in Serie A

Rome, March 10: AS Roma defeated Torino 3-0 here to consolidate their hold on the third place in the Serie A with 56 points from 28 matches.

Trailing Roma by four points are Lazio, who will play their 28th match on Sunday, away to Cagliari, reports EFE news agency.

Torino, at 36 after 27 matches, remain in ninth place but are hardly secure, as the three teams behind them are within three points of them and each have a game in hand.

Friday's contest was preceded by a minute of silence for Fiorentina captain and Italian international Davide Astori, who died last Sunday of heart failure at the age of 31 just hours before a match.

The teams came together in the center of the field in a gesture of unity to honor Astori, who spend the 2014-2015 season with Roma.

Coming off an impressive 4-2 away victory over leaders Napoli, Roma were missing two players to suspension, defender Federico Fazio and forward Edin Dzeko, who scored a brace in the upset win in Naples.

The hosts struggling to mount any offense against a well-organized Torino squad and the first 45 minutes ended scoreless.

Roma's breakthrough came in the 56th minute, when Kostas Manolas got his head to a perfect cross from Alessandro Florenzi to make it 1-0.

Torino failed to respond and Roma captain Daniele De Rossi produced his first goal of the season in the 73rd minute to double the lead. Lorenzo Pellegrini added a goal in stoppage time.