Roma blew Fiorentina away 4-0 at the Olimpico on Sunday and moved into fifth place alone, cutting the gap to Juventus to one point and to Milan to three. The night was over as a contest before halftime, when Gian Piero Gasperini's team scored three times in a little more than half an hour.
Gianluca Mancini opened the scoring in the 13th minute, Wesley added the second four minutes later and Mario Hermoso made it 3-0 before the break. Niccolo Pisilli completed the rout in the second half, and Roma could have won by more after hitting two posts or crossbars as Fiorentina were pinned back for long stretches.
The result mattered because Roma are chasing a Champions League place with three league matches left, and this was the sort of home performance they needed to stay in the race. Gasperini started Soulé and Malen up front with Cristante behind them, while Pisilli lined up in midfield alongside Koné, and that shape gave Roma control from the first whistle. David de Gea kept Fiorentina from being overwhelmed even earlier with an important save on Malen in the first half.
Fiorentina had come in on a run of seven straight positive results and had not conceded four goals in a league game all season, but that momentum disappeared quickly. Kean and Piccoli were unavailable because of injury, Gudmundsson was used as a false nine, and Vanoli tried to change the flow at the start of the second half by sending on Comuzzo, Parisi and Braschi. Braschi promptly hit the post, but the visitors never found a response that changed the night, even after Cremonese also lost and left Fiorentina nine points above the third-from-bottom place.
Gasperini later brought on El Shaarawy, Dybala and Ghilardi as Roma managed the finish, and the coach's message afterward was blunt: there is no room for mistakes now, but the target remains the Champions League.