details: 24 august, 2026; stadio olimpico, roma, italia • 8:45 pm kick-off (11:45 pm pst in usa)• forecast: hot, clear, still (≈29˚ c; 85˚ f)
risultato finale: as roma 4 – acf fiorentina 0
roma managed by gasperini, fiorentina managed by fabio grosso
the roma support has shown in great numbers for a monday night and the atmosphere’s as good as it might get on any european night.
the sublime joys of a new serie a season:
- a reminder that footballers don’t have to be perfect
- a reminder of the subtle nature of intentional deceleration
- a reminder that in imperfection football becomes more refreshingly a human endeavor
both sides looking to bounce on from very promising yet in the end somewhat disappointing previous campaigns.
seeing fabio grosso with a close cropped head of salt and pepper incites within me an unsettling and heavy sense of the passage of time.
4′: first chance for dybala to run at the back line, quick transition leads to open space and he does well to test de gea, who makes a relatively simple save.
6′: very similar situation, ball won in midfield by ex-villain malen and dybala cuts in on favored left, curling high, but another big chance.
on paolo dybala: dybala might be my favorite footballer in the world to watch, and maybe has been over the last several seasons, but he is admittedly a difficult player to convince potential admireres (eg: those who fancy the profile of baggio, riquelme, messi, del piero, rui costa) to track and appreciate as i am wont to given his (wholly apparent) waverings in brilliance: a player who on his day leaves spectators gobsmacked; and on a day that is not his, leaves them baffled as to how a firecracker like him could have ended up a dud.
19′ biggest chance of the game so far: #86 mora dribbles inside from the left wing, leaving the right back chasng, curls a shot destined for the top corner, forcing a special save from de gea, who displays a vestige of the ability he has been known always to possess.
27′: gol della roma: ex-villain (a club who could greatly use this player at the moment) donyell malen, top scorer in the serie a since january 2026 (stretching back to last season when he signed for roma) scoring what might go down as goal of the matchday, from a dybala assist.
gol cont.: dybala dribbles inside and just before a defender, last defender in his way, is able to stop his progress, he knicks the ball through the defender’s legs and the ball ends up at malen’s feet, ~10 yards from goal. malen, with a defender properly in his line of sight to goal, chops the ball behind his standing left leg (a subtle forward moving variation of a cruyff turn) leaving the defender motionless having already lunged to block what they assumed would be a shot. malen taps the ball past de gea sans intervention.
<fiorentina haven’t offered much>
1-0 at half, all roma so far.
no changes for either team for the start of the second half.
on malen: the way roma have structured the team, in what at first appears to be a 3-4-2-1, has proven to be quite fluid, and this suits malen well. he prefers freedom from the strictures of “the wing” or “up front” and in setting themselves up as they have, in his freedom of mobility, shows that he is an attacking player motivated to work very hard defensively, making challenges near the corner flag even in the midst of a typical run of play.
52′: right on cue, malen doubles the lead. dybala assist, though all the work was donw by malen.
gol cont.: a pretty standard long pass from the back finds dybala in space at the edge of the fiorentina attacking third. he has time and space to look up and pick out malen charging down the left channel opposite the field. malen take the pass in stride and simply continues his charge forward, eventually shooting from close range but a tight angle to de gea’s right. he beats de gea by smashing the ball into the roof of the net, smashing it past the goal keeper at too quick a pace for reaction.
53′: on comes the very exciting roma player soulé for mora, who had a fantastic first half.
59′: deja vu in stadio olimpico. malen completes his hat-trick of goals, dybala his hat trick of assists.
gol cont.: a strong challenge in midfield leads to a turnover. dybala ends up charging down the wing into the box, sitting a few players down before making his way to the touchline and tapping the ball back aross the face of goal for a waiting malen who converts one of the easier chances he is likely ever to be gifted. three nil.
62′: three changes from fiorentina. later than they should have come:
- toward the front end of the pitch, moise kean in for franco mastantuono, a player i was hoping to see a lot more of
- in the number 6 position, in an effort to inject some work ethic into midfield, christ inao oulaï comes on for former juventude fagioli, who looked lost all day
- and alex jimenez on for brescianini as an attacking option in midfield
67′: malen comes off to a standing ovation. castro replaces him. also coming off for roma is unsung hero hermoso who was omnipresent. koulierakis for fresh legs in suring up the shut-out.
71′: fiorentina have pushed well since the changes. kean gets first big chance forcing a good save.
The game has also opened up dramatically, but it still feels like the visitors are both hestitant to send numbers forward, and at the same time easily caught out at the back, numbers down. so the question must be begged: is this the right system for this game?
if you find your team overwhlmed by opponent numbers when you feel as if the counter attack should be on and then suddenly scrambling to track players into your own box when you lose the ball, then are there too many players doing irrelevent jobs in midfield?
79′: dybala off, what a player. in his place el aynaoui, a total standout from morocco’s world cup squad. also off is kone, replaced by pisilli.
de gea fantastic save on 85′ when fiorentina seemed to be at peace with the result, then pisilli goal on 86′ after huge mistake from fiorentina defender places the ball in the onrushing pisilli’s path for what is essentially a tap in.
nothing else to report. four nil to roma to start the campaign.
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