Fiorentina’s Marcos Alonso, third from right, celebrates with his teammates after he scored during an Europa League, round of 16, second leg, soccer match between Roma and Fiorentina, at Rome's Olympic Stadium, Thursday, March 19, 2015. (Photo: AP)
Fiorentina have reached the Europa League last eight after demolishing AS Roma 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday.
The Viola scored three goals in the opening 22 minutes to set up a 3-0 away win over struggling Roma with the all-Italian matchup finishing 4-1 on aggregate.
Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah, who is back in the starting eleven after being rested against AC Milan last Monday, missed out the chance to increase the score line, twice.
Just after the interval the in-form forward made a splendid run for 40 yards, brushing aside a couple of defenders, only to smash his shot against the crossbar.
In the 77th minute his left-foot shot was rejected by the post to keep his tally at 6 goals in 10 games in all competitions since joining Fiorentina in January.
Elsewhere, Napoli defended stoutly to draw 0-0 with Dinamo Moscow and progress 3-1 on aggregate, reaching the quarterfinals of a European competition for the first time since 1989 — the year it won the UEFA Cup.
Everton was thrashed 5-2 at Dynamo Kiev to fall out 6-4 on aggregate. Arsenal and Manchester City were knocked out of the Champions League this week.
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