MILAN - On-loan AC Milan forward Stephan El Shaarawy hit a spectacular debut goal for Roma in a 3-1 win over regional rivals Frosinone to secure a first win for the club's new coach Luciano Spalletti.
Roma forward Stephan El Shaarawy celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match against Frosinone at Rome's Olympic stadium on January 30, 2016
El Shaarawy signed for the Serie A club in midweek after French league side Monaco opted not to buy the striker outright.
But Monaco's loss became Roma's gain as the 23-year-old, who is keen to work his way back into Italy's plans for this summer's Euro 2016 in France, connected with Ervin Zukanovic's short delivery to beat Nicola Leali on 48 minutes.
Radja Nainggolan had given Roma an 18th minute lead as he lay prone inside the area, only for Daniel Ciofani to finish off a great Frosinone move by firing under on-loan Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny six minutes later.
El Shaarawy's spectacular effort settled nerves but it took until Miralem Pjanic's 84th minute strike for the hosts, who saw Francesco Totti come off the bench to make his long-awaited comeback, to begin playing with swagger.
Roma should have added more, with both El Shaarawy and Nainggolan coming close with late strikes as the hosts held on for a first win in five games.
The capital side remain in fifth place but have closed the gap on leaders Napoli, who host Empoli Sunday, to nine points. Frosinone's 14th defeat kept them second from bottom, seven points from safety.
A rash of injuries meant Alessandro Florenzi, Vasilis Torosidis, Lucas Digne and Iago Falque were missing, prompting Spalletti to deploy a comparatively unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation that Roma struggled to master.
Indeed Frosinone, based 75km to the south of Rome, earned the first chance when an inviting ball was headed towards Leonard Blanchard at the back post, where an alert Zukanovic made a timely intervention to head over.
Roma broke the deadlock in somewhat chaotic fashion minutes later when Nainggolan stuck out a leg while he lay on the ground to prod past Leali from 12 yards.
But when Frosinone's leveller came, it was fully deserved.
A last-ditch tackle by Zukanovic on Ciofani only served to flick the ball up in front of the striker, who did well to control and fire through the legs of Szczesny on 24 minutes.
Roma spurned further chances before the interval when Leali tipped Nainggolan's 25-metre drive over and Mohamed Salah opted to pass to El Shaarawy instead of shooting from inside the box.
Misfiring Bosnian Edin Dzeko did well to chest El Shaarawy's cross down but a fully outstretched Leali was equal to his follow-up.
El Shaarawy restored Roma's lead three minutes after the restart when he somehow twisted his body to flick Zukanovic's short cross from the left to beat Leali from 12 yards.
The visitors had calls for a penalty waved away when Dzeko used his upper arm to deflect Paolo Sammarco's piledriver from the edge of the area.
Minutes later, Dzeko was replaced by Totti, the Roma veteran making his return to competition after a lengthy injury lay-off.
Roma began to play with more confidence, but not until Pjanic's late strike.
The Bosnian did well to find space on the right, where he collected a long punt from midfield to run down unchallenged before beating Leali with a low strike at his far post from outside the area.