Roma have closed the gap on Serie A leaders Juventus to one point by claiming a 1-0 win over 10-man Genoa this afternoon.
The visitors came close to opening the scoring when Gervinho and Miralem Pjanic saw efforts saved by Mattia Perin, before Alessandro Florenzi fired over the bar.
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In the 29th minute, Genoa found themselves down to 10 men and facing a penalty after Perin came rushing off his line and brought down Radja Nainggolan.
Eugenio Lamanna came on to take Perin's place in goal and his first touch of the ball was a save down low to his left from Adem Ljajic's spot kick.
Roma did manage to take the lead five minutes before the break, as Maicon picked out Nainggolan on the edge of the box for the Belgian to guide a precise volley into the bottom corner.
It was almost two for the Giallorossi on the hour mark, but, after being found by Maicon inside the box, Ljajic could not get enough power on his strike to turn the ball past Lamanna.
They had another chance to establish a two-goal lead when Gervinho was slipped through on goal, but the Ivorian placed his effort wide of the post with just the keeper to beat.
Deep into stoppage time, Tomas Rincon thought that he had levelled the scores for Genoa when he flicked in from a set piece, but the goal was ruled out for offside and Roma held on to claim the points.
Alex Meyers
