Paulo Dybala shot Roma into a potential Italian Cup quarter-final clash with Serie A leaders Napoli with the only goal in Thursday’s 1-0 win over second-tier Genoa.
Substitute Dybala struck in the 64th minute at a packed Stadio Olimpico in Rome after skipping past the Genoa defence and rifling home from a tight angle.
His goal means Roma will likely face Napoli in the last eight next month, with both sets of fans set to be banned from going to away games after a motorway dust-up at the weekend.
Italian media report that Roma and Napoli supporters could be barred from travelling for a month due to serious clashes between hardcore “ultra” supporters of the two teams on the A1 motorway on Sunday afternoon at the Badia al Pino service station in Tuscany.
Napoli blasted the hooligans, dozens of whom had running battles which led to the motorway being blocked for 50 minutes, creating queues up to 15 kilometres long.
Matches between Roma and Napoli, already fiery affairs due to the rivalry between two of Italy’s largest and most passionate fan bases, were made more poisonous by the killing of a Napoli fan by a Roma supporter before the 2014 Italian Cup final.
Roma fans will be barred from travelling to Naples for their team’s league match at the Stadio Maradona at the end of this month.
Napoli will reach the quarters if they beat Serie A’s bottom team Cremonese on Tuesday.
Earlier on Thursday Fiorentina set up a last-eight clash with AC Milan, extra-time winners on Tuesday against Torino, with a 1-0 success over Sampdoria.
