Torino 0-2 Roma: Another Three Points, Another Victim 🟡🔴🐺

Perfect in Serie A. Again.

Roma marched into Torino, dealt with the injuries, the fixture congestion and a stubborn home side, and left with exactly what they came for: three points, a clean sheet and another win added to the perfect Serie A record.

Donyell Malen opened the door, Niccolò Pisilli slammed it shut, and Mile Svilar made sure Torino never found the key.

After the madness of coming from behind to beat Atalanta 2-1 late on and then travelling to Istanbul for the Champions League draw against Fenerbahçe, this had all the ingredients of a potential banana skin.

Instead?

Roma did Roma things.

Malen causing problems from the start

Malen clearly decided that Torino’s stadium belongs to him.

The Dutchman scored here back in January and nearly repeated the trick after just 10 minutes, throwing himself at Mario Hermoso’s cross with a diving header from six yards.

Just over.

A warning shot.

And Torino probably should have listened.

Malen was soon involved again, with another effort deflected wide after Matías Soulé’s heavy touch presented an opening. Then Coco had to produce a desperate clearance inside the six-yard box to prevent Malen getting on the end of Emanuele Lulli’s pull-back.

The poor man was spending more time defending his own penalty area than attacking.

Malen even put the ball in the net in the 22nd minute — unfortunately for him, the flag correctly went up after he’d wandered offside.

No matter.

The goal was coming.

Dybala sees the mistake. Malen says thank you.

Torino eventually made the fatal mistake of giving Paulo Dybala something to work with.

Lucas Perri attempted to play out from the back.

Dybala intercepted.

Thank you very much.

The Argentine immediately set Malen up, and although the first attempt was blocked by Pietro Comuzzo and Perri, Malen simply refused to let the opportunity disappear.

A little poke of the boot.

Six yards.

GOAL.

TORINO 0-1 ROMA.

Malen finally had his goal, and the travelling Giallorossi could celebrate.

Honestly, Lucas, if you’re going to hand the ball to Dybala like that, you might as well start walking towards the dressing room. 😂

Svilar says NO

To Torino’s credit, they didn’t simply roll over.

Rolando Mandragora tested Mile Svilar from distance, while Paulo Dybala narrowly missed a free header at the other end.

Then came the moment that reminded everyone why having a goalkeeper you can trust is rather useful.

Giovanni Simeone sprung the offside trap from Daniel Bragança’s pass and tried to dink Svilar.

Mile wasn’t interested.

He came flying off his line and blocked the attempt with his chest.

BOOM.

Another Torino chance gone.

Another reminder that the Giallorossi have a goalkeeper who isn’t interested in making life easy for the opposition.

Torino push. Roma stay calm.

Alessio Cacciamani came on at half-time — a player Roma had tried to sign during the summer — but despite Torino’s attempts to change the game, Roma continued to look dangerous.

Emanuele Lulli nearly produced a moment of magic with a spectacular volley after combining with Malen, but his effort flew just over.

Nice try.

Wrong shirt.

Marten de Roon then won possession with a crunching tackle before releasing Nahuel Molina, whose low drive was brilliantly pushed around the post by Perri.

And Leonardo Balerdi?

Outstanding.

The Argentine produced a perfectly timed challenge to stop Bragança in his tracks and continued to look completely at home on his first start.

Considering the knocks picked up by Ndicka, Wesley and Koné in Istanbul, Roma needed players to step up.

They did.

Pisilli puts the cherry on top 🍒

Torino kept searching for an equaliser, but Roma weren’t about to let another late drama creep into the evening.

And then came Niccolò Pisilli.

Late on, the young Giallorosso put the result beyond doubt.

2-0. Game over.

Cue the travelling Roma supporters celebrating while Torino started contemplating how exactly their afternoon had gone so wrong.

Malen had opened the door.

Pisilli closed it.

Svilar locked it.

And Roma took the points home.

Another win. Another statement.

Let’s put this into perspective.

Roma have had to deal with:

• A dramatic late comeback against Atalanta.

• A Champions League trip to Istanbul.

• A 1-1 draw against Fenerbahçe.

• Multiple knocks and injuries.

• Another difficult away fixture.

And yet the response was simple:

Win.

No panic.

No excuses.

No collapse.

Just another three points.

The Serie A record remains 100%.

Malen is scoring.

Pisilli is stepping up.

Svilar is saving everything.

And the Giallorossi are beginning to look like a team that doesn’t particularly care who is standing in front of them.

Torino tried.

Roma simply had other plans.

Sorry, Toro. Better luck next time.

The train keeps rolling.

DAJE ROMA! 🟡🔴🐺

Forza Roma — Sempre.