Gian Piero Gasperini believes Donyell Malen's January transfer from Aston Villa was "a huge leap forward" for Roma after clinching Champions League football.

Roma beat Hellas Verona 2-0 on the final day of Serie A action to extend their winning streak to five league games and secure a third-place finish.

It means they will be playing in the Champions League for the first time in seven years, though this will be their 13th consecutive season with some form of European football.

After Nicolas Valentin was sent off for Verona early in the second half, Malen scored the rebound of his saved penalty before Stephan El Shaawary ensured the win in second-half stoppage time.

Malen has scored 14 goals for Roma in Serie A this season; the last player to net as many or more goals in a single Serie A campaign for the Giallorossi was Tammy Abraham in 2021-22 (17).

However, the Englishman achieved this in 37 appearances, more than double the 18 games it has taken the Dutchman.

"It was a wonderful evening, a difficult one, as Verona have fought hard lately against everyone, and paradoxically we struggled more when they went down to 10 men," Gasperini told DAZN Italia.

"Perhaps there was tension, the pressure to finish off the game, so we didn't create many chances, then didn't take them, leaving the risk that something might happen.

"I see the way these lads work, and despite some bad results in the head-to-head matches, we got the feeling we were growing and getting closer.

"Malen obviously gave us a huge leap forward with his arrival, but at the same time, we lost [Paulo] Dybala, [Matias] Soule and [Artem] Dovbyk to injury, so there were few options in attack.

"We talked amongst ourselves and said that to get into the Champions League, we needed a run of six or seven victories in a row. We had never managed it during the campaign, but we saved it for the right moment."

Among the players who have finished a Serie A season with fewer than 20 appearances in the era of three points per win, Malen (14 goals in 18 appearances) is, along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (15 in 19 appearances in 2020-21) and Ronaldo (14 in 19 appearances in 1998-99), one of the three who have scored the most goals.

Only Lautaro Martinez (17) has scored more goals than Malen (14, level with Tasos Douvikas) in the 2025-26 Serie A campaign.

After a thumping 5-2 defeat to Inter at the start of April, Roma looked like they might miss out on a top-four finish, but they won six of their last seven matches (D1) to get over the line, beating the likes of AC Milan and Juventus to the Champions League places.

"From the start, this group worked really hard; you could see they wanted to have a season at the highest level, which was gratifying," Gasperini added.

"We started well, won over some critics, but above all gained credibility with our fans, seeing the stadium always packed.

"It was a difficult season in many ways, but not for the rapport with the crowd, and that was a locomotive powering us on to this result."