AS Roma 5 - 0 Palermo: Totti out in the cold, but five-star Roma claim thumping win

Exiled Roma captain Francesco Totti watched from the stands as the Giallorossi enjoyed an emphatic Serie A victory over Palermo without him.

The 39-year-old striker has barely featured this season and found himself cut from the squad completely after publicly criticising head coach Luciano Spalletti.

And Roma more than proved they can cope without their talisman. Edin Dzeko atoned for his glaring first-half miss with a goal in each half, with Seydou Keita and Mohamed Salah - providing his own acrobatic brace - propelling the capital club towards a resounding 5-0 win.

Dzeko had an easy chance to open the scoring in the 28th minute. However, to the horror of his team-mates, the Bosnian - standing four yards in front of an empty net - managed to drag Maicon's low cross past the far post.

The former Manchester City striker looked for the ground to swallow him up, but his embarrassment would not last long as he did notch two minutes later.

Miralem Pjanic's cross from deep should really have been cleared by Palermo's Aljaz Struna. Instead it reached Dzeko and he chested the ball down before slotting home.

Malian midfielder Keita doubled Roma's lead from an Alessandro Florenzi corner seven minutes after the break and Salah took that as his cue to begin dazzling the Stadio Olimpico crowd.

The Egyptian made it 3-0 when rifling Dzeko's assist across Fabrizio Alastra and, in the 62nd minute, scored his second from an improbable angle when the ball was about to go out of play at the byline.

Palermo were long since beaten when Dzeko headed home a fifth goal to lift Roma above Inter Milan and into fourth place.