Nainggolan and Dzeko fire Roma past Crotone

REUTERS - Goals from Radja Nainggolan and Edin Dzeko helped Roma see off Crotone 2-0 away in Serie A on Sunday as Luciano Spalletti's side made light of a first-half missed penalty to provisionally close the gap to league leaders Juventus.

Nainggolan lashed past Alex Cordaz from a tight angle in the 40th minute after being picked out by Mohamed Salah as the vistors edged a first half in which they had only hinted at their wealth of attacking quality.

Salah then squared for Dzeko, who had sent a hesitant first-half penalty wide, for a simple tap-in in the 77th minute as Roma moved up to second on 53 points at the expense of Napoli, 2-0 victors against Genoa on Friday. Juventus have 57.

"Our aim today was not to encourage our opponents because when the situation is uncertain and the supporters get involved, Crotone have a team that can play well," Spalletti told reporters.

"I was a bit concerned by the missed penalty, but then we took the game in hand and controlled things."

Juventus can re-establish their seven-point lead over Spalletti's team when they travel to Cagliari later on Sunday.

Inter Milan moved up to 45 points in fourth after seeing off Empoli 2-0 at home with goals from Eder and Antonio Candreva.

Surprise package Atalanta, also on 45, remain firmly in the hunt for European qualification after their 3-1 win at struggling Palermo.

Bottom club Pescara trailed 5-0 after 61 minutes at Torino but scored three times in 10 minutes after the break. They were unable to salvage a draw though and remain hopelessly adrift with only nine points from 24 matches.

(Reporting by Ed Dove; editing by Martyn Herman)