Roma 4-0 Fiorentina: Malen hits hat-trick in rampant start

Donyell Malen scored an opening-day hat-trick as Roma began their Serie A campaign in style with a 4-0 victory over Fiorentina at Stadio Olimpico. 

Paulo Dybala, who was tipped to leave Roma this summer until signing a contract extension this summer, set up all of Malen's goals in Monday's thumping win. 

Roma started brightly and forced David de Gea into an early stop, with Dybala cutting inside from the right and testing the Fiorentina goalkeeper from the edge of the box.

De Gea was called into action again soon after, this time tipping Rodrigo Mora's curling effort over the crossbar, but the Spaniard could do nothing to stop Roma taking the lead. 

After driving into the Fiorentina box from the right, Dybala laid the ball off to Malen, who did brilliantly to turn beyond Dodo before squeezing the ball into the bottom-left corner.

Roma needed just seven minutes of the second half to double their advantage through Malen. The Netherlands international collected Dybala's pass before breezing past Radu Dragusin and firing his shot into the roof of the net, despite De Gea's best efforts. 

And the same duo combined once again to put the result beyond doubt on the hour. After Emanuele Lulli won back possession high up the pitch, Dybala raced to the byline before crossing for Malen to tap into the net and complete his hat-trick. 

Niccolo Pisilli added further gloss for Gian Piero Gasperini's team, prodding past De Gea after the ball broke kindly to him in the area off Rolando Mandragora's outstretched boot. 

In the other Serie A match taking place on Monday, Roma's rivals Lazio got themselves up and running with a 1-0 win at Bologna, with Davide Frattesi's 59th-minute strike the difference. 

Malen and Dybala work their magic

After scoring 15 goals in 20 appearances across all competitions during his productive loan spell from Aston Villa in the second half of 2025-26, Malen picked up where he left off for Roma with three instinctive finishes.

Malen owed his hat-trick to Dybala, though.

The last time a player recorded a hat-trick of assists all for the same team-mate in Serie A was in May 2021, when Emanuel Vignato did so for Rodrigo Palacio while playing for Bologna, also in a match against Fiorentina. 

Roma finished last season strongly on their way to securing Champions League football, and they have now won their last six Serie A matches, scoring at least two goals per game and keeping five clean sheets in that period. 

They have not had a longer winning run in the top flight since between February and March 2025 (seven under Claudio Ranieri), and their blistering start to the campaign saw them leapfrog champions Inter to the top of the table after matchday one. 

Roma finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.83 from their 17 shots, eight of which were on target, compared to Fiorentina's meagre tally of 0.28 from their nine attempts.