Rejuvenated Gervinho produced another inspirational performance for Roma yesterday, setting up one goal and scoring with a stylish effort of his own in a 3-1 win over Verona.

Adem Ljajic and Francesco Totti were also on target as second-placed Roma cut the gap between themselves and leaders Juventus to six points and re-ignited the Serie A title race.

Gervinho has been a different player following his close season move from Arsenal, where his sometimes comical finishing and bizarre performances made him the object of criticism and sometimes derision.

The Ivorian, who scored the only goal in Wednesday’s Coppa Italia win over Juventus, created Roma’s first chance with a typical surging run down the left only to see his effort wasted by Mattia Destro who prodded the ball over from six metres.

Undeterred, Gervinho produced a similar run in first-half stoppage time and pulled the ball back for Ljajic, who had no trouble in tapping the ball in from close range.

Verona quickly got back into the game after the break when Roma lost possession and Emil Hallfredsson fired the equaliser.

Gervinho put Roma back in front on the hour when he collected the ball in the penalty area with his back to goal, skipped past two defenders and scored with a low shot through a crowd of players, his sixth goal of the season in all competitions.

The visitors wrapped up the three points with a controversial penalty after Alejandro Gonzalez was judged to have fouled Vasileios Torosidis, although the Uruguayan appeared to play the ball.

Stalwart Totti ignored the angry Verona protests as he converted his fifth league goal of the season.

“This week, we’ve seen that Juventus are not invincible, although they are still very strong,” Roma coach Rudi Garcia told reporters.

“We must keep following our path and if they slip up again, we must be ready to take advantage. We didn’t play that well in the first half, we need to play simpler as we did in the second half.”

Juventus have 56 points from 21 games, with Roma on 50 and Napoli 44. Fiorentina are fourth on 41 points following a thrilling 3-3 draw with Genoa in the late kick-off.

Elsewhere, Milan’s crisis eased when they scored twice in the last five minutes to win 2-1 at Cagliari but Inter’s deepened when they were held to a goalless draw at home to bottom club Catania at a tense San Siro.

Mario Balotelli scored direct from a free-kick and substitute Giampaolo Pazzini hooked in from a corner to give Milan their second straight Serie A win since their former player Clarence Seedorf took over as coach.

Inter, with new club president Erick Thohir making a rare appearance at San Siro, dominated possession but created few real chances, further angering their already restless fans who greeted the team bus with jeers outside the ground.

Inter have won only one of their last nine Serie A games, a run which coincidentally began after the Indonesian business tycoon’s consortium completed its takeover of the club in November.

Inter are fifth with 33 points, only one ahead of Parma, Torino and Verona while Milan climbed to ninth with 28 points.

Serie A

Cagliari 1
Sau 28;
Milan 2
Balotelli 87; Pazzini 89;

HT: 1-0. Att: 6,000.

Fiorentina 3
Aquilani 33p, 42; Aquilina 57;
Genoa 3
Gilardino 27p; Antonini 34; De Maio 77;

HT: 2-2. Att: 30,000.

Inter 0
Catania 0

Att: 49,000.

Livorno 3
Greco 5; Paulinho 11; Benassi 26;
Sassuolo 1
Berardi 29 pen;

HT: 3-1. Att: 11,000.

Parma 1
Amauri 35;
Udinese 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 12,000.

Sampdoria 1
Gabbiadini 62;
Bologna 1
Diamanti 90 pen;

HT: 0-0. Att: 22,000.

Torino 1
Cerci 60 pen;
Atalanta 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 17,000
Red card: Brivio (A) 90.
Missed penalty: Immobile (T) 90+.

Verona 1
Hallfredsson 49;
Roma 3
Ljajic 45; Gervinho 60; Totti 83 pen;

HT: 0-1. Att: 23,356.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	21	18	2	1	51	15	56
Roma	21	15	5	1	45	11	50
Napoli	21	13	5	3	44	23	44
Fiorentina	21	12	5	4	40	23	41
Inter	21	8	9	4	38	24	33
Torino	21	8	8	5	34	27	32
Parma	21	8	8	5	32	27	32
Verona	21	10	2	9	35	34	32
Milan	21	7	7	7	34	31	28
Lazio	21	7	7	7	27	29	28
Genoa	21	7	6	8	23	27	27
Atalanta	21	7	3	11	21	30	24
Sampdoria	21	5	7	9	25	32	22
Cagliari	21	4	9	8	20	31	21
Udinese	21	6	2	13	20	32	20
Chievo	21	4	6	11	16	27	18
Bologna	21	3	9	9	20	36	18
Sassuolo	21	4	5	12	22	46	17
Livorno	21	4	4	13	19	37	16
Catania	21	3	5	13	13	37	14

Top scorers
14 goals: Rossi (Fiorentina).
12 goals: Berardi (Sassuolo).
11 goals: Tevez (Juventus).
10 goals: Palacio (Inter), Vidal (Juventus), Higuain (Napoli), Immobile (Torino), Cerci (Torino).

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Bologna vs Udinese; Cagliari vs Fiorentina. 20.45 Milan vs Torino.
Sunday: 12.30 Genoa vs Sampdoria. 15.00 Atalanta vs Napoli; Catania vs Livorno; Chievo vs Lazio; Roma vs Parma; Sassuolo vs Verona. 20.45 Juventus vs Inter.

Prima Divisione ‘A’
SudTirol vs Como 4-3; Reggiana vs Carrarese 1-0; AlbinoLeffe vs P. Patria 2-1; Savona vs Cremonese 1-1; San Marino vs Pavia 0-0; Entella vs Lumezzane 4-5; Feralpisalo vs Pro Vercelli 1-0; Vicenza vs Venezia 2-1.

Prima Divisione ‘B’
Gubbio vs Prato 1-0; L’Aquila vs Ascoli 2-1; Barletta vs Frosinone 2-1; Noce-rina vs Pisa 0-2; Catanzaro vs Lecce 0-0; Pontedera vs Salernitana 2-0; Paganese vs Viareggio 0-3.