Romavs
FiorentinaSome nights the scoreline tells the whole story before you even read the report. Roma 4, Fiorentina 0 is one of those nights.
Roma came into this one with five wins from five. Fiorentina arrived patchy — one win in their last five, a draw, two losses. The gap in confidence showed from the first whistle, and it only grew wider once Donyell Malen got going.
The Malen-Dybala Assembly Line
The opener came in the 27th minute. Paulo Dybala found Malen, Malen finished. Simple enough, but Fiorentina's response was to foul their way back into it — Nicolò Fagioli picked up a yellow in the 30th, Mario Hermoso earned one for Roma in the 39th — rather than actually play their way back into it. By half-time the visitors had managed just nine shots across the full match, and their defensive shape looked shaky every time Dybala had space to turn.
The second half was over fast. Malen made it two in the 52nd minute — Dybala again with the assist, cabal, the same combination, the same result. Eight minutes later Malen completed the hat-trick, and once more the pass came from Dybala. Three goals, three assists, one partnership doing whatever it wanted against a Fiorentina side that had no answer.
Manu Koné picked up a yellow in the 49th — sandwiched between Malen's second and third — and Mateo Pellegrino was booked for Fiorentina in the 63rd, by which point the visitors were just trying to get through the night with some dignity intact.
Niccolò Pisilli added a fourth in the 86th to put a proper stamp on it.
What the Numbers Say
Roma controlled this comfortably: 61% possession, 538 passes at 90% accuracy, 17 shots to Fiorentina's nine. The visitors did put four shots on target — same as Roma's eight, relatively speaking — but their goalkeeper was kept busy in a way Roma's simply wasn't. Four saves apiece, but the distribution of danger was nowhere near equal.
Our pre-match read made Roma the favorite at 55%, and they left absolutely no doubt.
Where This Leaves Both Clubs
El chispudo de Dybala is the thing to watch here. Three assists in one match, all carved out against a side that knew what was coming and still couldn't stop it. If he stays healthy, Roma's attack is going to cause problems for anyone in Serie A this season.
For Fiorentina, this is a rougher picture. One win in six now, and a 4-0 loss on the road doesn't do much for a squad still searching for consistency. They've got work to do.
Roma, meanwhile, look like the real thing. Six games, six wins. The question now is whether anyone in the league has the personnel to slow down Dybala and Malen before this run becomes something worth talking about all season.
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