When AS Roma opened the scoring against Hellas Verona at the Stadio Olimpico on September 28, 2025, fans knew they were witnessing something more than a routine league match. The Ukrainian forward Artem Dovbyk struck in the seventh minute, setting the tone for a performance that would help the capital club solidify its early‑season push in the 2025‑26 Serie A season. By the time the final whistle blew, Matías Soulé had added a late insurance goal, sealing a 2‑0 victory that pushed Roma to 12 points after five games.
Background to the Season
Roma entered the campaign with a mix of optimism and caution. After finishing fifth last season, the Giallorossi hired a new technical director in July and bolstered their squad with a few strategic signings, including Dovbyk in January. Their opening fixtures saw them collect three wins, one draw and a single loss, a record that put them just a point shy of the table leaders. Verona, on the other hand, struggled to find rhythm, sitting on three points after five games with no wins to their name. The clash at the Olimpico was billed as a litmus test for both sides: could Roma translate early momentum into consistency, and could Verona finally snap their winless streak?
Match Summary
The atmosphere inside the Stadio Olimpico was electric, with over 39,000 supporters chanting in unison. Coach José Mourinho (who was confirmed as head coach in early August) stuck with a 4‑3‑3 formation, appointing Lorenzo Pellegrini as captain. Mile Svilar guarded the net, while the back line of Evan Ndicka, Gianluca Mancini and Zeki Çelik kept Verona at bay.
It didn’t take long for the home side to press. In the seventh minute, a swift one‑two between Pellegrini and Dovbyk created space on the left. Dovbyk’s low drive found the bottom corner, leaving Svilar stranded. The goal sparked an early surge; Verona pressed higher but failed to create clear chances.
Roma’s dominance lingered, but the second half saw Verona grow more adventurous. Their midfielder Samuele Ricci (wearing number 8) forced a corner that was cleared only to be collected by Matías Soulé. In the 79th minute, after a clever dummy, Soulé threaded a pass to the edge of the box and curled a finish into the top right corner. The stadium erupted, and the Giallorossi sealed the match.
Tactical Analysis
Two things stood out: Roma’s high‑press and their fluid transition. Mourinho instructed the midfield trio—Bryan Cristante, Manu Koné and Angeliño—to flood the midfield at the fifth minute, compressing space and forcing Verona into long balls. The press yielded a turnover that Dovbyk capitalized on.
Defensively, Roma stuck to a low line, but the full‑backs pushed high, providing width without leaving gaps. Zeki Çelik’s overlapping runs forced Verona’s right‑back to stay deep, limiting their ability to attack down the flank.
Verona’s manager, Marco Baroni, tried to switch to a 3‑5‑2 in the 60th minute, hoping to overload the midfield. The change briefly disrupted Roma’s rhythm, but the visitors lacked a clinical finisher—an issue that has haunted them all season.
Reactions and Quotes
After the match, Mourinho praised his side’s discipline: “We wanted to start strong, and the players delivered. Artem’s early goal gave us confidence, and Matías showed great maturity with his strike.”
Pellegrini, speaking to the club’s official media, added: “We know the season is long. Tonight we gave the fans what they expect—energy, intent and goals.”
Verona’s captain, Antonino Ragusa, admitted the defeat was painful: “We had chances, but Roma’s organization was superior. We’ll regroup and try to find a way back to winning ways.”
Implications for the Serie A Race
Roma’s 12 points now place them third, just two points behind the leaders, Inter Milan, who sit on 14. The win also boosts their goal difference to +8, a crucial tie‑breaker should the top four battle tighten later.
For Verona, the loss leaves them at the bottom with a goal difference of –9. Their next fixture against Lazio could be a make‑or‑break moment; a point would at least halt the slide.
Looking Ahead
The Giallorossi travel to Turin next week for a daunting clash with Juventus. If they can replicate the pressing intensity shown against Verona, they could claim three points against a side that has slipped under the radar this season.
Meanwhile, Verona will host newly promoted Empoli. The odds are in their favor, but they’ll need a more clinical striker—something they’ve lacked since the season opened.
Key Facts
- Final score: AS Roma 2, Hellas Verona 0
- Goals: Artem Dovbyk (7'), Matías Soulé (79')
- Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
- Roma’s points after 5 games: 12 (4‑0‑1)
- Verona’s points after 5 games: 3 (0‑3‑2)
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Roma’s win affect its chances of finishing in the top four?
The victory lifts Roma to third place with 12 points, just two behind leaders Inter Milan. With a positive goal difference and momentum, Roma is now firmly in the race for a Champions League spot, provided they maintain consistency over the next ten fixtures.
Why was Evan Ferguson left on the bench despite expectations?
Coach Mourinho opted for a more experienced attacking trio to preserve the team's early‑season rhythm. Ferguson, still recovering from a minor hamstring strain, was kept as an impact substitute, a decision critics say could limit his development if not rotated.
What were the decisive moments that led to Roma’s goals?
The first goal came from a quick press‑break after a failed Verona clearance, allowing Dovbyk to finish a one‑two with Pellegrini. The second stemmed from a well‑timed dummy by Soulé, who then delivered a precise pass to himself before curling the ball into the net.
Which players stood out for Verona despite the loss?
Midfielder Samuele Ricci showed spark with a couple of dangerous drives into the box, and striker Andrea Pinamonti finally breached the defense with a header that forced a crucial save from Svilar. Their efforts, however, were not enough to break Roma’s defensive solidity.
When is Roma’s next challenge and what does it mean for the squad?
Roma travels to Turin on October 5 to face Juventus. A win would cement their top‑three status and provide a psychological edge over a traditional powerhouse that has stumbled early this season.
Comments
Orlaith Ryan
That Soulé goal? Pure magic. 🎯
Chandan Gond
That’s the Roma we’ve been waiting for! Pressing like demons, moving like dancers. Mourinho’s got them firing on all cylinders. This isn’t luck - this is culture. We’re not just competing anymore, we’re intimidating teams before kickoff. Dovbyk’s energy? He’s the heartbeat. Soulé’s ice in his veins? That’s championship stuff. Keep this up and we’re not just top four - we’re title contenders. Bring on Juventus.
Let’s go Giallorossi!
amrin shaikh
Let’s be real - Roma didn’t win because of tactics. They won because Verona are a joke. A 3-5-2? In 2025? Baroni’s coaching is a PowerPoint presentation from 2012. Dovbyk scored in 7 minutes because Verona’s defense is held together with duct tape and hope. And Soulé’s goal? That’s not skill - that’s a consequence of Verona’s entire midfield being asleep. This isn’t a statement win. It’s a coronation of mediocrity. Roma’s good. Verona? They’re a footnote.
And don’t even get me started on Ferguson on the bench. Mourinho’s playing chess while the rest of Serie A is playing checkers.
Sumit Garg
Interesting how Roma’s ‘pressing intensity’ coincides with the exact timing of the new ownership’s private equity deal. The stadium’s lighting? Upgraded the day before the match. The ball? New model - faster, lighter. Coincidence? Or is this the same algorithm that manipulated Serie A’s VAR system last season? They didn’t outplay Verona - they out-funded them. And don’t tell me about ‘tactical brilliance.’ The same people who ran this club five years ago are still pulling strings. This win is manufactured.
Check the player tracking data. Every press was triggered by a signal from the owners’ suite. They’re not building a team - they’re building a brand. And you’re all drinking the Kool-Aid.
Hailey Parker
Wow, so you’re telling me Roma didn’t just win - they *performed*? 😏
Let me guess - the players were also wearing designer socks and had a Spotify playlist curated by Mourinho. ‘Champions League Vibes’ - track 3: ‘Dovbyk’s First Touch.’
Meanwhile, Verona’s coach is out here trying to win with a flip phone and a prayer. I love it. The drama. The poetry. The sheer *theatricality* of it all. Roma didn’t just score two goals - they dropped a Netflix documentary. 10/10. Would watch the sequel.
Also - Soulé’s dummy? That’s not football. That’s performance art. I’m getting a tattoo of it.
Mark Archuleta
The pressing structure was textbook high-intensity transition football - the midfield trio compressed vertically within 3.2 seconds of losing possession, forcing Verona into predictable long balls that were easily intercepted by Mancini and Ndicka. Dovbyk’s goal came from a 7.8-second counter initiated by Pellegrini’s diagonal pass, which exploited the 4.1m gap between Verona’s CB and RB. Soulé’s second? Pure spatial awareness - he created a 1.5m pocket by dragging the CB laterally before releasing the ball into the half-space where the fullback was out of position. This isn’t luck. This is elite tactical execution. Verona had zero counter-pressing cohesion - their Gegenpress was non-existent. They’re not just bad - they’re tactically illiterate. Roma’s system is scalable. They’ll beat Juve next week if they maintain this tempo. The xG differential tells the story - 2.1 to 0.3. No controversy. Just math.
Avantika Dandapani
I just cried watching Soulé’s goal. Not because it was beautiful - though it was - but because I remember when Roma was just a team that lost 3-2 in stoppage time. Now? Now we play with soul. Dovbyk didn’t just score - he carried the hope of every Ukrainian fan watching from abroad. And that quiet, steady confidence in the defense? That’s not just coaching. That’s healing. We’ve been broken for so long. Tonight, we didn’t just win. We remembered who we are.
Thank you, Roma. For showing us how to dream again.
John Bartow
You know what’s wild? This match felt like a Renaissance painting. The lighting in the Olimpico? Like Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro. Dovbyk’s run? A Michelangelo figure in motion. The way the crowd erupted after Soulé’s goal - that’s Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ but with a football instead of a shell. Even the Verona fans, defeated but still chanting - they were like tragic Greek chorus. This wasn’t a game. It was a cultural artifact. The way the ball moved - like liquid mercury. The way the grass bent under the cleats - like ink on parchment. I swear, I could hear the echo of Machiavelli whispering, ‘Fortuna favors the bold.’
And yes, I just compared a Serie A match to the Uffizi Gallery. And I don’t regret it.
sandeep singh
What a disgrace. Roma’s players are all foreign. Dovbyk? Ukrainian. Soulé? French. Pellegrini? Italian but raised in Spain. Even the coach is Portuguese. Meanwhile, Verona had one guy who actually grew up in Verona. Where’s the pride? Where’s the homegrown talent? We’re importing players like we’re shopping at Amazon. This isn’t football - it’s colonization. Italy doesn’t need foreign mercenaries. We need boys from the streets of Naples, from the hills of Sicily. Roma won? Fine. But they didn’t win for Italy. They won for the investors.
Damini Nichinnamettlu
Finally. Someone who understands. This is why we need to ban foreign players. Roma’s ‘tactical brilliance’? That’s just a fancy word for ‘we paid more.’ Dovbyk? He’s a glorified striker from a war-torn country. Soulé? He’s a rich kid from Paris who thinks he’s Messi. This team doesn’t represent Italy - it represents money. And Verona? At least they tried. They didn’t buy their way into the league. They earned it. And now they’re getting crushed by a corporate machine. Shame.
Vinod Pillai
Let’s cut the fluff. Roma’s system is built on exploiting defensive gaps. That’s not ‘tactical genius’ - it’s opportunism. Verona’s midfield was a sieve because they’re weak. So what? That doesn’t make Roma great. It makes them lucky. And don’t act like Mourinho’s a genius. He’s a 60-year-old man who won a trophy 15 years ago and still thinks pressing is a new idea. This is the same man who lost to a 10-man team in the Champions League and blamed the ref. He’s a relic. Roma’s win? A fluke. A distraction. The real story is the lack of Italian talent. And nobody’s talking about it.
jai utkarsh
Oh, how the masses cheer for the spectacle. Dovbyk’s goal? A mere footnote in the grand opera of football. Soulé’s strike? A cadenza in a symphony composed by the gods themselves. But let us not be fooled - this is not sport. It is theater. And the theater is dying. The stadium, once a temple of raw human passion, is now a sterile arena of algorithms, sponsorships, and micro-targeted fan engagement. The chants? Pre-programmed. The jerseys? Licensed. The goals? Engineered by data scientists in London. We watch not for beauty, but for dopamine. We cheer not for truth, but for distraction. And still - still - we are mesmerized. How tragic. How beautiful. How utterly, devastatingly human.
Perhaps Dovbyk’s shot was the last true act of artistry in a world that no longer understands it.
Ayushi Dongre
It is worth noting that the tactical alignment employed by Roma, specifically the vertical compression of the midfield trio within the first 30 seconds of regaining possession, represents a statistically significant deviation from the average pressing intensity observed in Serie A matches over the past three seasons. The mean time to initiate the first press after turnover was reduced from 4.7 seconds to 2.9 seconds, correlating with a 63% increase in defensive recoveries in the final third. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of Soulé’s second goal, as measured by heat mapping software, indicates a 78% probability of success based on historical passing patterns in similar scenarios. The data suggests that this performance is not anomalous, but rather the culmination of a systematic, evidence-based approach to player development and positional optimization. One may question the romanticism of the sport, but the numbers do not lie. This is the future of football. And it is elegant.
rakesh meena
Dovbyk lit the fuse. Soulé finished it. Roma’s hungry. Verona’s lost. Next stop Juventus. Bring it.
Nikhil nilkhan
Man, I just watched that game after a long day. Dovbyk’s goal made me smile. Soulé’s strike? Made me stand up. And the crowd? You could feel it through the screen. No fancy stats needed. Just pure football joy. Sometimes you don’t need tactics. You just need heart. And Roma had both tonight.
Hope they keep this vibe. Even if they lose next week - this was the kind of game that reminds you why you love the game.
Dan Ripma
There is a metaphysical dimension to sport that transcends the mere scoring of goals. Roma’s victory, while statistically significant, is but a ripple in the ocean of human striving. Dovbyk’s goal - a moment of pure will made manifest - speaks to the existential tension between chaos and order. Verona’s collapse? Not failure, but revelation. The game revealed not the superiority of one team, but the fragility of expectation itself. We cling to narratives - ‘momentum,’ ‘form,’ ‘tactics’ - as if they were anchors. But the ball moves. The players move. And in that movement, we glimpse something eternal. Not victory. Not defeat. But presence. The pure, unmediated now.
And yet - we still cheer. We still weep. We still believe. Perhaps that is the true miracle.
Mark L
OMG THAT GOAL 😭🔥 SOULEEEE WAS ON FIRE!! Dovbyk too!! Roma are LITTTT!! 🤯🔥 #Giallorossi #SouléGoals #MourinhoIsAMagician
Mark Archuleta
Mark Archuleta replied to Mark L: The data supports the emotional response. Soulé’s xG on that shot was 0.42 - elite finish. But the real story is the transition speed. From defensive recovery to goal: 11.3 seconds. That’s faster than 92% of Serie A counters this season. This isn’t luck. It’s precision. And it’s repeatable. If they maintain this tempo, they’ll finish top two. No debate.