Malen double lifts Roma level with Juventus

Two goals from on-loan Donyell Malen drove Roma to a 2-0 win over Cagliari on Monday, lifting them level with fourth-placed Juventus in Serie A.

Speedy Dutch forward Malen only arrived at Roma on loan from Aston Villa in January to boost Gian Piero Gasperini’s side in their bid for a Champions League spot.

A tight-angled shot found the roof of the Cagliari net on 25 minutes and Malen doubled the tally running onto a through ball to beat the ‘keeper one-on-one on 65 minutes.

After Juventus dropped two points at home to Lazio on Sunday they sit fourth on 46 points with Roma now on level pegging, with 14 matches to go.

Inter Milan are the runaway leaders of Serie A with 58 points, eight ahead of city rivals AC Milan, while Napoli, who host Roma this weekend, have 49 in third place.

Roma have won the UEFA Conference League and reached the Europa League final in recent years but last featured in Europe’s elite club competition in the 2018/19 season when they were eliminated by Porto in the last 16.

Earlier on Monday, Atalanta beat struggling Cremonese 2-1 to consolidate a run of three wins and two draws over their last five Serie A games.

Nikola Krstovic and Davide Zappacosta put Atalanta two up within 25 minutes, but a goal from Cremonese’s Morten Thorsby in time added on forced Atalanta to sweat it out.

Atalanta sit two points behind sixth-placed Como in the UEFA Conference League spot.