Roma FC go to Lecce tomorrow with a fast start already in the bank and a harder test waiting. After beating Fiorentina 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in the first match of the season, Roma finished the first match day in first place and now has to show that the opening result was more than a strong beginning.
That is why the search around Roma FC has shifted so quickly to Lecce. The next match comes at the Ettore Giardiniero-Via Del Mare in Lecce, where sides coached by Eusebio Di Francesco have often made Roma work for everything and have dragged it into draws and losses in the past. The setup is simple enough: if Roma can keep carrying the same rhythm, it will strengthen the case that this squad can stay in the Champions League conversation.
The opening win gave that argument real weight. Donyell Malen scored all three goals against Fiorentina, with Paulo Dybala supplying the passes for every one of them. That is the part of the story that matters most for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side, because the article frames the gap between a Europa League team and a Champions League team as something that likely depends on Malen and Dybala doing this kind of work again. Roma also had other early storylines to watch, including Rodrigo Mora as a new signing and Emanuele Lulli, the 19-year-old academy graduate who started his first-team time by playing a key role in one of Roma’s goals against Fiorentina.
That is what gives the Lecce match its edge. Roma can beat Fiorentina 3-0 and still face a night where a 0-0 or 1-1 would feel like a setback, because this is the sort of fixture that has changed seasons before. A team that wants to stay near the top cannot let the harder away trips turn a clean start into a brief one, and Roma’s first real answer to that question comes tomorrow in Lecce.
