Roma are 1-0 up against Catania at half time in their Serie A clash at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

The visitors took the game to Rudi Garcia's side in the opening minutes as Tiberio Guarente, Sebastian Leto and Lucas Castro all had chances to open the scoring.

However, it was Roma who broke the deadlock on 18 minutes through Mehdi Benatia, who headed home Mattia Destro's headed pass following a corner.

Gervinho came close to making it 2-0 to the hosts midway through the first half when he shot on target, only to see his effort saved by goalkeeper Alberto Frison.

Miralem Pjanic also had a chance to double Roma's lead just past the half-hour mark when he was set up by Michael Bradley outside the box, but his shot was too high.