Eager to continue their impressive start to the season, the Giallorossi started brightly and were rewarded with the lead after 10 minutes thanks to Bryan Cristante’s superb header from 12 yards following Wesley Franca’s delivery into the box.
Roma then created ample opportunities to double their advantage before the half-hour mark. Matias Soule somehow hit the post from close range, before Donyell Malen struck the bar with the goal at his mercy after his initial strike was palmed away by Maduka Okoye.
However, Gian Piero Gasperini’s side were not perturbed by those squandered chances. Cristante turned from scorer into provider, as his smart pass across the face of goal found Rodrigo Mora in a great position and he made no mistake to slot the ball home. The situation quickly became much worse, though, for the Friulani. Just two minutes after Mora extended Roma’s lead, Malen made amends for his miss earlier on, as he smashed the ball into the bottom corner to net his eighth league goal of the season.
Remarkably, just moments later, Evan Ndicka grabbed the Giallorossi’s fourth goal of the night after he headed in a superb corner from Soule to wrap up a nightmare first half for Kosta Runjaic’s team. Udinese set their stall out early on in the second half to at least win back some pride, and they managed to grab a goal back five minutes after the interval through Nicolo Zaniolo, after Pierluigi Gollini parried Lennon Miller’s initial strike.
With the contest seemingly petering out, the hosts reduced the deficit to two goals after 77 minutes, when Matteo Palma latched onto Hassane Kamara’s long ball into the box and placed the ball past Gollini. Despite seeing their defence breached again, the visitors closed out the game in stoppage time, and even added further to the scoreline via Daniele Ghilardi’s excellent finish during the dying moments.
This latest result means that Roma have now scored 16 goals in their last four matches across all competitions, while keeping the pressure on Inter Milan and arch-rivals SS Lazio above them. Their focus now switches to a UEFA Champions League matchday four trip to Old Trafford. Meanwhile, Udinese’s horrible run of form shows no sign of stopping, with only one point collected from their last eight league games, which keeps the Friulani languishing in the relegation zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bryan Cristante (AS Roma)