Serie A: Totti inspires Roma to beat Cagliari

Milan: Back in the lineup, Francesco Totti inspired Roma with the opening goal in a 3-0 win at home over Cagliari in the Serie A on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, he sat out the 2-1 win against Lazio in the Italian Cup.

The Roma captain converted a penalty and kept Cagliari's defence occupied for the rest of the match.

"We are playing a lot of games — one every three days — and that is hard for the players," Roma coach Ranieri said. "We are having to chop and change but the results speak for themselves."

Roma rose to provisional second in the standings, one point above Napoli and three behind AC Milan, both of whom play on Sunday.

Simone Perrotta grabbed the second goal in the 70th when he was first to the ball after Cagliari goalkeeper Michael Agazzi spilled it in the box.

Substitute Jeremy Menez added a third in second-half stoppage time. He ran through Cagliari's defence before bamboozling Agazzi and stroked the ball into the empty net.

"I had to tweak things at the start of the first half because we were leaving too much space down the wings," Ranieri said, "but we worked extremely hard, especially our midfield."

Cagliari began the stronger and in the seventh minute, Roma goalkeeper Julio Sergio had to acrobatically push Andrea Cossu's powerful shot over the bar.

Robert Acquafresca then forced Sergio into a low save.

Roma won its penalty when Michele Canini was adjudged to have pulled Daniele De Rossi down as he was trying to reach Totti's cross.

Totti smashed the penalty straight down the middle for his third goal of the season.

It boosted Roma's confidence and Ranieri's team stayed in control for the rest of the half. Shortly before halftime Agazzi had to react quickly to stop Marco Borriello from doubling the lead.

De Rossi came close to adding to the score in the 69th but Agazzi pushed his powerful drive away.

From the corner, though, Agazzi's error presented Roma with its second score. The goalkeeper failed to hold Juan's header and Perrotta poked the rebound in from close range.

Agazzi recovered to stop Totti from scoring a second, when he dived low to push his shot away after Totti shaped to cross to Mirko Vucinic.

In injury time, Philippe Mexes hit the top of the bar with a header but it was his fellow Frenchman Menez who grabbed the third as his fresh legs allowed him to get away from the tiring Cagliari defence to score.

"Roma is among four or five clubs that can win the title," Ranieri said. "AC Milan and Inter Milan are the favorites. We have to fight to compete with them but it will be fun."

Palermo kept up its pressure on the European places with a 1-0 win over Brescia but needed a late goal from Cesare Bovo to secure the win.

Parma also won. Antonio Candreva and Sebastien Giovinco scored in the 56th and 62nd to secure a 2-0 victory over Catania in Diego Simeone's first match since taking over as coach of the Sicilian side.