Milan, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Roma's hold on second place in Serie A took a big hit on Saturday as the club sustained a 2-1 defeat to AC Milan at the San Siro.
Roma entered the weekend one point clear of Lazio for second place, while the club was five points above Napoli in the battle for the final Champions League place.
But goals from Marco van Ginkel and Mattia Destro put Milan up 2-0 with 30 minutes to play, while Roma could only manage a 73rd-minute penalty kick from Francesco Totti in reply.
Lazio can now overtake Roma for second place with a win over Inter Milan on Sunday, while Napoli's Champions League will be revived with three points against Parma.
Roma almost got off to a good start when Kostas Manolas struck the post in the 17th minute, but Milan gradually took charge of the game, and after Giacomo Bonaventura went close with a header, Van Ginkel scored his first Serie A goal.
Keisuke Honda picked out Van Ginkel with a pass and he was able to beat Radja Nainggolan before firing a shot past goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis.
Destro is spending the season on loan at Milan from Roma, and he punished his parent club with a header in the 59th to double the Rossoneri's lead.
Juan Iturbe drew a penalty kick when he attempted to make his way to goal but was brought down by both Alex and Nigel De Jong.
Totti managed to squeeze his spot kick underneath goalkeeper Diego Lopez to cut the deficit in half, but Lopez denied Iturbe as Milan soaked up the Roma pressure over the final 10 minutes.
Saturday's other match saw champions Juventus play to a 1-1 draw with Cagliari, which got the equalizer from Luca Rossettini in the 85th minute to move to within five points of safety.
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