AP, Rome :
Edin Dzeko’s recent scoring rate in the Champions League has put him on par with Lionel Messi.
Dzeko’s brace in Roma’s 3-0 win over CSKA Moscow on Tuesday gave the Bosnia and Herzegovina striker five goals this season to draw level with Barcelona’s Messi atop the competition’s scoring chart.
Moreover, Dzeko has scored 10 in his last eight matches stretching back to Roma’s semifinal run last season.
Dzeko’s two-goal performance follows his hat trick against Viktoria Plzen earlier this month.
Messi will miss Barcelona’s match against Inter Milan on Wednesday with a broken right forearm.
“This is the best competition to score in,” said Dzeko, who has two goals in eight Serie A matches this season. “Now we’ll try to win in Moscow, but we certainly can’t lose there.”
Roma moved atop Group G with six points, ahead of Real Madrid on goal difference.
CSKA, which host Roma in the next round, is next with four points while Plzen is last with one.
Madrid beat Plzen 2-1 in Tuesday’s other group match.
Dzeko also set up Roma’s third goal from Cengiz Under with a headed pass.
Before the match, at least 20 people – mostly CSKA fans – were injured when an escalator in the Rome metro broke. Videos showed the escalator accelerating suddenly, and people riding down on it collapsing one onto another.
Firefighters said seven people were in serious condition.
Also, one CSKA fan was slashed with a knife during clashes between opposing fans outside the Stadio Olimpico, the ANSA news agency reported.
Toward the end of the match, CSKA fans threw flares onto the running track surrounding the field.
Dzeko tapped in his first goal following an exchange between Lorenzo Pellegrini and Stephan El Shaarawy. In all, there were 29 passes in the buildup to the goal, the most in the Champions League since Lucas Digne scored for Barcelona against Celtic a year ago – when there were also 29 passes.
Dzeko’s second was again set up by Pellegrini and El Shaarawy, whose pass kept Dzeko onside for a shot into the far corner.
After the break, Dzeko rose to meet a pass from Alessandro Florenzi and nodded it toward under, who blasted it in.
