The most revealing part of a pre-match release is not always the formation itself, but the choices hidden inside it. For Roma Vs Fiorentina, the official lineups confirmed that Lulli and Mora would start for Roma, while Moise Kean was left out for Fiorentina. In a fixture scheduled for 20.45, that was the key news before a ball had even been kicked.
Roma arrived with some useful context of their own. Their preseason had included a draw against Borussia Dortmund, a heavy loss to Brighton and a win against Newport County, which meant there were already signs of both promise and instability heading into the league opener. Fiorentina, meanwhile, came in after beating Benevento 4-1 in Coppa Italia the week before, a result that offered a more upbeat recent reference point.
What the lineups told us
Roma were set up in a 3-4-2-1, while Fiorentina named a 4-3-2-1. Those shapes suggested two different ways of trying to control the same match: Roma with added structure between the lines, Fiorentina with a more compact central setup behind the front players. On a night like this, the opening selections mattered as much as any tactical tweak later on.
Gasperini had named Lulli and Mora in the Roma starting XI, a clear indication that he was willing to trust the pair from the outset in a match with real early-season significance. The Fiorentina side, by contrast, had one notable omission: Moise Kean was not in the lineup. For a team that had already shown some attacking edge in the Coppa Italia win over Benevento, that absence changed the conversation around how the forward line would function.
The broader picture was straightforward enough. Roma and Fiorentina had both published their official lineups before kickoff, and those lineups gave the first real clue about how the game might be played. Roma’s recent results suggested a side still searching for rhythm, while Fiorentina’s latest competitive outing suggested a team with more immediate momentum. But in matches like this, momentum only matters if the starting XI can carry it into the first hour.
So the answer to the main pre-match questions was simple. Lulli and Mora started for Roma. Moise Kean was left out for Fiorentina. And with Gasperini and Fiorentina’s coach both having made their calls before 20.45, the fixture was already defined by selection as much as by strategy.
