Torino spoil Francesco Totti’s birthday

England goalkeeper Joe Hart answered his critics with a standout performance as Torino dampened Francesco Totti’s upcoming birthday celebrations with a 3-1 win over Roma on Sunday.

Roma travelled to Turin looking to close a five-point gap to leaders Juventus after the champions scraped a 1-0 win at Palermo on Saturday.

But Andrea Belotti’s eighth-minute opener, the striker’s header beating Wojciech Szczesny at his near post, had Luciano Spalletti’s men under pressure from the off.

The Giallorossi heads dropped further when Iago Falque beat the Polish international from the spot on 53 minutes after a foul on Belotti by former Torino defender Bruno Peres.

Roma were given brief hope of a fightback when Totti, who will celebrate his 40th birthday on Tuesday, came off the bench to beat Hart from the penalty spot two minutes later.

But any hopes of a late fightback were quashed when Falque capitalised on a defensive blunder to fire a deflected shot over Szczesny halfway through the second period.

Two years ago Totti, three days after his 38th birthday, became the oldest player to score in the Champions League when he beat Hart to net a 23rd minute leveller in a 1-1 draw at Manchester City.

It was the Roma icon’s 300th career goal and his first on English soil.

Juve record cagey win On Saturday, Dani Alves’s deflected strike kept Juventus top of Serie A as they warmed up for a Champions League clash at Dinamo Zagreb with a cagey 1-0 win at Palermo.

Juventus travelled to Sicily looking to protect a one-point lead on Napoli but with one eye on claiming a win in Croatia on Tuesday after a scoreless draw at home to Sevilla in their Group H opener.

Coach Massimiliano Allegro rested Paulo Dybala in place of Mario Mandzukic, a choice that almost paid dividends when the Croatia international came close on several occasions.

But days after calling for the Turin giants to start “taking command” of their games, the 49-year-old Allegri was perhaps left with more questions than answers.