Claudio Ranieri's AS Roma side suffered a blow to their top-four hopes in Serie A as they went down to a surprise 2-1 defeat at struggling SPAL on Saturday.

Mohamed Fares gave SPAL a 22nd-minute lead but Diego Perotti's penalty 10 minutes after halftime levelled it up.

SPAL were awarded a penalty of their own on the hour and Andrea Petagna tucked away what proved to be the winner.

Ranieri has been put in charge until the end of the season after the departure of Eusebio Di Francesco and began his tenure with a 2-1 win over Empoli.

Roma stayed in fifth place, three points behind Inter who are in action in the Milan derby on Sunday. (Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)