Roma needed one answer after Manchester United turned a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford on Tuesday. They gave it at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday: a 3-0 win over Sassuolo that keeps them unbeaten through the first 11 games of a Serie A season for only the third time in club history, after 2003-04 and 2013-14.
Three minutes that settled it
Sassuolo coach Alberto Aquilani, facing Roma as a manager for the first time, set up in a 3-5-2 that dropped into a back five without the ball. It held for 27 minutes. Then Mario Hermoso carried the ball into the box from center back, exchanged passes with Donyell Malen and hammered a left-footed shot under the bar.
Three minutes later Malen's scuffed shot from the edge of the area took a deflection off Jay Idzes and then off Sebastian Walukiewicz into Sassuolo's own net. Rodrigo Mora made it 3-0 in the 58th minute, cutting right after a give-and-go with Malen and curling a low shot inside the far post.
It could have been more. In the 12th minute, Tin Caleta-Car cleared a Leonardo Balerdi header off the line. Early in the second half, Matias Soulé rounded goalkeeper Josip Muric and chose to square the ball instead of shooting, and Malen could not finish from about a yard out.
The numbers behind the reply
Roma are now 8-3-0 in the league with 31 goals, the most the club has ever scored after 11 Serie A games. The last team in the league to reach 30 at this stage was Atalanta in 2019-20, also coached by Gasperini. The win lifts Roma into second place, a point behind Lazio, and above Inter at least until Inter host Como on Sunday.
Before kickoff, Roma were one of only four teams still unbeaten in the league among Europe's big five competitions, alongside Lazio, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Lazio visit Napoli on Sunday.
Mora's goal was his third in three straight league appearances after strikes against Cagliari and Udinese. He had never scored in three consecutive league games untill now, either at Porto or in Rome. Malen did not get on the scoresheet, but he came into the night with 22 goals in the 2026 calendar year, the most of any player in the big five leagues.
The men from Old Trafford
Several of the players at the center of Tuesday's collapse were at the center of Saturday's response. Bryan Cristante, whose foot on the edge of the box forced Bruno Fernandes' saved penalty to be retaken, captained the side. Devis Vasquez, beaten three times on his debut in Manchester, kept a clean sheet and kept his place ahead of Marco Gollini.
Balerdi, whose missed clearance let Matheus Cunha score United's second goal in the 83rd minute at Old Trafford, was replaced in the 85th minute on Saturday and walked off to applause from a crowd that had put Tuesday's mistake behind him. Gianluca Mancini, who conceded the penalty against United, was not in the squad and will also miss Italy's international camp.
After Tuesday's loss, Gasperini said Roma had to pull something out of it "that can absolutely help us in the future" and called the next match one that "serves us more than the others." Sporting director Tony D'Amico went further before kickoff, telling Sky Sport Italia that the penalty for United was "very generous" and that Roma will try in January to add the fast wide player he said the squad still lacks.
Sassuolo's slide deepens
For Sassuolo it was a fifth straight league defeat. The only previous time the club lost at least five Serie A games in a row was between January and March 2014, when the run reached seven. They have the league's worst defense, now 29 goals conceded in 11 games, and sit 17th on eight points, level with Parma and Fiorentina.
Roma go into the international break with a club-record attack and a historic unbeaten run intact. The Champions League problem is still there: they have now let leads slip against Real Madrid and United. In Serie A, though, the reply to Old Trafford was the one Gasperini asked for.
