Roma continued its superb start to the season with another Serie A victory—making it a perfect 12 points from 12 to open the season. The win puts Roma top of the table with a +11 goal differential, giving the Giallorossi the tiebreaker over their next opponent, Inter Milan. But before we turn our attention to the Nerazzurri, let’s take a look at some of the key numbers from Roma’s 2-0 victory over la Granata.
20
As for the number of goals scored since his arrival in Serie A, Donyell Malen has been lethal
in attack. Malen’s 20 goals for Roma in the 2026 calendar year are double the next-best total in the league—10 by Anastasious Douvikas of Como. Additionally, Monday’s tally gives Malen 6 in four matches to open the season. Malen is only the 3rd Giallorossi player in the club’s history to score five or more goals in the club’s first four matches. The others: Pedro Manfredini (7 in 1960/61) and Francesco Totti (6 in 2001/02).
11
As in the number of defensive interventions for Leonardo Balerdi in his first start in a Roma kit—the most of any player in the match. Balerdi has fit seamlessly into Roma’s backline and looks like he’ll be a key contributor to the side. He also drew rave reviews from his managerafter the match.
“Balerdi is a very strong, modern defender, physically powerful and quick. The greatest defender of all was Franco Baresi, and I am not making comparisons here, but the way he interprets the role and participates in the game, he has those characteristics. Obviously, nobody touches Baresi, but it’s that type of defender.”
85+
As in the number of minutes plus stoppage time of combined rest, Gasperini was able to give three of his most-used players by subbing them off in the second half: Dybala, Malen, and Cristante. In his pre-match press conference, Gasperini said he would choose his lineups based on how players are feeling and wouldn’t rotate just for the sake of rotation. He backed that up with his starting XI today, with only Wesley (minor ailment), Ndicka (stomach bug), and Koné (returning from a minor issue) not starting this one out of the usual XI.
However, the 30 or so minutes that each of this trio, plus the limited number of minutes for Koné could pay dividends in the long run when the minutes pile up. That’s something Gasperini acknowledged post-match.
“We need to get everyone in this squad stepping up a level, it was our third game in eight days, and you can’t have players with 90 minutes that regularly,” noted Gasperini.
“If we manage to give them 20-30 minutes off, it can make a difference in the long run. We also need to get those in the wake of champions like Dybala and Malen to step up, ready to be protagonists. If we manage to do that, the whole team becomes stronger.”
47%
As in the amount of possession that Roma had in this match. In the first three matches of the season, we grew accustomed to seeing Roma dictate play and dominate the ball. In the previous 3 matches, the lowest possession percentage was 61. This time around Roma conceded more possession, but still managed to keep its third clean sheet of the domestic campaign. Roma won’t always be able to have its way in terms of dominating the ball and will have to adapt accordingly. Even while almost sharing the ball equally, Roma still more than doubled Torino’s xG 1.85 to 0.86 and conceded just three big chances.
