Roma could not have asked for a cleaner opening statement. A 3-0 win over Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico, built around a Donyell Malen hat trick and three Paulo Dybala assists, put the Giallorossi into first place after match day one. It was the kind of start that invites bigger questions immediately: not whether Roma can look dangerous, but whether they can keep doing it when the season stops being new.
That is what makes tomorrow’s visit to Lecce at Ettore Giardiniero-Via Del Mare such an early test. Roma have often found trouble against smaller sides rather than the bigger names, and that pattern matters more than any opening-week confidence. One impressive result can show quality. It cannot yet prove consistency, especially with thirty-seven more matches still to play.
Malen and Dybala set the standard
The opening-night evidence was hard to ignore. Malen supplied the goals, Dybala supplied the passes, and Roma looked like a side with more than one route into the final third. That combination matters because it gives i Lupi a clear attacking base: one player finishing moves, another shaping them. For a team with Champions League ambitions, that is exactly the sort of partnership that can make the difference between a fast start and a real season-long push.
Still, the broader point is not that Roma have solved everything. It is that they have shown a level that suggests more is possible. The question now is whether that level travels, and whether it holds up against a Lecce side that will be looking to make the match awkward, slow and far less comfortable than the opener.
Why Lecce matters now
Roma’s history against lower-ranked opposition is the reason this fixture carries more weight than the table would suggest. The strongest teams usually prove themselves by handling the matches they are expected to control. That is the next step for Roma. A strong performance at Via Del Mare would not only preserve momentum; it would also show that the Fiorentina win was not just a bright opening but the start of something more reliable.
Roma are top for now. That is real, but it is also early. The next step is proving that first place after one match day can mean something beyond the moment. Lecce will not decide the season, but it can tell us whether Roma’s start was a flash or a foundation.
