Juventus Win Overshadowed! Roma DOMINATE & Good Italy News | Serie A Round 1
Lorenzo Bettoni and Richard Hall are back with a new episode of Football Italia LIVE to review all the weekend action from Serie A Round 1. All the top clubs started the 2026-27 campaign with victories, but there were plenty of talking points. Football Italia was at San Siro for Inter-Monza, while Napoli beat Genoa 2-0 away despite controversy over Kevin De Bruyne's opening goal. Juventus edged past Frosinone 1-0, but Luciano Spalletti's comments about Randal Kolo Muani stole some of the headlines. There was also plenty of good news for Italy, with Alphadjo Cissè, Antonio Vergara, Giacomo Raspadori, Francesco Pio Esposito and Davide Frattesi all finding the net. And Roma made the biggest statement of the weekend, crushing Fiorentina 4-0 with a Donyell Malen hat-trick and three assists from Paulo Dybala. Let's take a closer look at all the major talking points from Round 1.
Transcript
[snorts] >> Welcome to a new episode, the latest episode of the Football Italia live show. Serie A round one is over yesterday with a fantastic Roma win over Fiorentina. I'm joined today, as usual, by the great Richard Hall to review all the weekend action, and the biggest talking points, everything you may think of after the first round of the season in Serie A. Ciao, Richard. How are we doing? >> Ciao. There's so much to talk about, isn't there? I mean, you wait for it for so long, and then bang, it's off, and there seems to be like a million different stories, and yeah, what a weekend. What a weekend it was. >> There are a million different stories, and I want to start with the latest game, Roma-Fiorentina. We had a season preview just a few days ago. We spoke about Roma as well. Obviously, we received a few comments about Malen, Dybala. There were doubts over Malen would keep the same consistency that he showed in the second part of the season at Roma. The first answer is pretty pretty positive, as we expected from from Malen from Malen and Roma. An incredible game yesterday. >> Yeah, I mean, it's a gives you one and takes with the other, doesn't it, this, because we did say, I think I had Roma in second with the predictions, but also had you know, Fiorentina doing quite well as well. So, the problem is there is that, you know, last night Roma were just fantastic in that way. You know, that that's settled idea of what they're doing. Malen, like you said, it's massively important that he picked up the way he did so quickly. He had an exemplary display. And Dybala as well. Now, it all depends on whether Dybala's going to stay fit all season, but if he can, and can be that creative hub, I still think Dybala's going to be quite influential amongst the goals this season as well. So, yeah, straight off the bat, we've talked about the goalkeeper, we've talked about them looking solid. It was a It was a message, wasn't it, really? It was almost, you know, you look at this this season already and obviously Inter put down a marker and then it was almost like Roma replying saying, "Listen, we're here as well." And I'm not going to jump the gun, but I think he in 1 2 3 games, they they face him week four Inter Roma. If it carries on the way it looks like, it's that's going to be a cracking game to watch. So, yeah, really entertained to see Roma and I think they're going to be strong this year. >> Yeah, as you said, the impressive thing about Roma is that they were facing one of the most exciting teams when it comes to the transfer market, who is Fiorentina. We said in in the in our season preview that they had been one of the best team and still obviously the transfer window is still not over. They are one of the best team of the summer when it comes to new signings, when it comes to the potential they've brought compared to last season. And it would always it was always going to be tough for Fiorentina and it's always going to be tough for Fiorentina for me to compete for the top four regardless of yesterday's win. In my preview, I didn't put them in the top four. But at the same time, they're on paper much stronger than last season and just last night it was just no game at all. I mean, the the performance, especially from Dybala and Malen, I think the Roma's title ambition, as you said, will mostly depend on whether Dybala can keep his fitness, can remain fit. Obviously, Malen is is something different because last season Dybala was injured for a few weeks even when even in the second part of the campaign. Malen still scored goals for Roma regardless. It was more difficult, obviously, because when you play, like let's face it, Dybala is probably the best players we've had in Serie A in the last decade, surely during his time at Juventus then at Roma. And even at Juventus he had a few fitness issues, and uh but in terms of quality, he's he's one of the best. I also think he has extra motivation because we know his contract runs until the end of the season. He extended it before the start of the campaign. So, I see this Dybala season like a sort of last dance uh before leaving Italy and perhaps Europe. And I think it will be uh very interesting to see if he stays fit because if he does then Roma might be closer to Inter than what we think, even though probably the depth for Roma is not quite there compared to Inter. >> No, it's not. It It isn't there, but at the same point, again, it's one of those situations, like you say, there are the the more variables need to fall into place uh than it would do with Inter, you know, Inter could probably lose, you know, even if they lose um Touré, you know, they've got Esposito, etc., etc. We can go through the team almost like that, even to the goalkeeping position. Whereas Roma, you know, if they did lose Smalling for a huge amount of time, it would it would cause them problems. Uh like you said, there's still time to go in that transfer window for them to address that. Um you know, but when you look at the the way that they they set up it's a dangerous team. Um it's a dangerous team that knows how to play together. You know, you look at the likes of uh you know, Wesley's been been good again. Um we keep mentioning >> was also I mean, we got three three goals Smalling, three assists Dybala, but so they obviously grab the headlines, but the performance Wesley had He joined last season as a right wing-back. He just plays on the left like last season, like with no problems. He's probably the best in the league. >> And Rui you know, the goalkeeper for me is probably trying to think, if I was looking at the top goalkeepers in Serie A at the moment, I think he's just right up there. Absolutely brilliant. Um just his distribution, his his confidence, um his shot-stopping ability, it's it's a huge thing. It's a huge thing and I think he's a the perception of the modern goalkeeper really at the moment. And when you look, I always think, you know, I look at Inter at the moment and we've talked about I'm not having a go at Yassine Bounou, but I always think of that weakness. Uh, is that going to be a problem? Uh, with and you look across and you think, well, Roma definitely have the the better goalkeeper out of the two. So, again, you look at that first 11, it's good. You start scratching away the surface uh and that's the problem. But, you know, teams don't you know, can go through um, a season um, you know, in a sense of not getting a huge amount of injury. So, and again, Gasperini he has them playing. He has they know what they're doing already. This isn't like uh I mean, look, we could talk about Milan against Torino in a bit, but this is not a new system coming in. It's not you know, the guys most of these people know what they're doing. Uh, it's very settled and I don't know about Fiorentina just to flip to them for a second. Um, I was going to go through their fixtures in a minute because I don't know if it Fiorentina were just blown away by them because Roma are that good at the moment. Again, you've got new coach, new new players coming in. They've got time to gel. Uh, Fiorentina's fixtures do lend it a little bit to the fact that they may be able to recover. Um, just off the just looking at it here, you know, they've got Frosinone for Fiorentina, Venezia, Pisa before they have to go and face Napoli. So, they've got time, but this is an open >> Pisa ain't got Pisa ain't got Patania. >> Uh, Pisa got Patania, it's cuz uh but yeah, it's um, it's it's still a um, you know, I think this was an opening statement. I mean, we can't go further than that. It's day one. Um, but from the predictions of what we saw, they've answered all the questions. >> Yeah, I mean, uh I I can't remember a round one in Serie A where all the top teams won. So, in terms of results, probably there weren't a lot of surprises. There were uh, I think quite a few surprises in the bottom half and what we expect is going to be the bottom half of the Serie A table. I'm just showing just to touch on on Malin a little bit more some of the stats coming from SofaScore. Passes in his own half three out of three 100% accurate passes 84% but the shot percentage of the shot numbers are what impressed the most. Three shots on target, three goals and five total shots. Expected goal 1.48 and he actually scored three. The first one was fantastic with that flick in front of Dodo. There wasn't much space to receive the ball from Dybala. And uh and it was you don't see a striker score um such good goals too often especially in Serie A. Definitely one to watch for the Capocannoniere award as we previewed just a few days ago. A few more stats, a few more numbers for Roma. You see the rating for Malin was 10 with a with a hat-trick and then a hat-trick of assists for Paulo Dybala. 9.5 is his rating from from SofaScore. It's probably too early is 100% too early to say uh Roma will be title contenders until the very end but again if Dybala stays fit then I can see Roma being up there until until the very end and then it will also depend on Inter. This is something we discussed as well live after Inter-Monza from San Siro on Saturday. The biggest opponent for Inter I still think remain Inter. >> Yeah. >> If if they are focused and they are able to switch focus from Champions League to Serie A and remain consistent they are the team to beat. Everyone knows that. >> Yeah, I think that's the thing isn't it? It's just that's where the level's going to sense. I mean I just don't Roma by the way they could have had a penalty as well in that game. Um you know, so it could have been even more, but yeah, when you look at that, I think that that's a difference there because Roma have got to keep this team fit, playing together all the way through in a sense to Yes, okay, they can alternate a player here, play there. I think when you look into what they were really good at doing under Inzaghi, for instance, even it was um if you remember a couple of seasons ago, he started changing things very early on. Uh and they weren't great in that first half of the season just grinding out results, but it got all the players match fit and ready to go. I think we're going to have to see that a bit from Kivu to make to in the same way cuz there's a lot of games to play for them. So, it's a different problem for Inter. They're going to have to fight on all fronts and have everyone ready and be able to have that real quick turn of players all the time. Whereas Roma, like we say, you know, they're going to have to have it that solid team that's going to have to be very well, very solid, very consistent, and stay injury-free. >> I'm showing you a comment with we we have received uh one of the first ones. Uh it's about something that we're going to discuss later on. So, we share this comment uh we can quickly see but this live show. Why Italy not produce any top your budget without number 10 Italy will never be a good team again. Um search for your next number 10. Uh we all agree. I think we had a few shows on this topic during the summer. Um and probably there are good news related to this topic uh uh which we will discuss towards towards the end of this show. So, um keep watching because we'll be getting to to this topic later on. Um after talking about Roma, just just one final thing about Roma, Emanuele Lulli, the right back who played yesterday, great personality. Um I really liked him. He was started surprisingly in place of Molina who is not fully fit. Um good performance and it's good to see more uh Serie A players uh more Italian players involved in top teams in Serie A because absolutely this is this is what we need. I want to move to the next topic and you see here. Foul or not from Kevin De Bruyne. We will discuss a little bit the general the new general guidelines for referees in Serie A, but let's start with this incident here. Saturday night Neil Neil between Genoa and Napoli. At that point through ball from Vergara De Bruyne wins the ball inside the box. Seemingly according to Genoa think with a push. And but the referee said play it on. He scored after winning the ball inside the box. One nil and then Napoli scored the second just a few minutes minutes later with Vergara through a counter attack. I'm showing the image even though like a picture doesn't say it all about about a potential a referee decision, but while I'm showing the picture what's your thought what's your feeling on this particular challenge here? >> Well, I was watching the game and automatically you know first thing and listen I'm not just because of my ties with Inter doesn't mean I'm absolutely biased on this it's all because I'm genuinely not you know you want to see a good game of football and that's it really and I've no issues with Napoli whatsoever and I've seen that, but it did for me you know it looked like a foul. It looked like he's the way he's pushed in it's the way of the the level of where his arm is the force of what he's done it. My question is if if it I quickly always switch it in my mind and I always think that if it was the other way around De Bruyne is running one on one with the goalkeeper and that happens to De Bruyne if he's one on one with the goalkeeper ask yourself the question what happens there? And for me >> exactly. >> It's it's the way around it was forceful it wasn't like for me if you look at the way at the start of the starting position of the defender, he's it's not his eyes are on the ball completely in the image, but they are when you see it in motion as well. So, it's not a 50/50. This is not a coming together. This is not where they both gone in with shoulders. This is a push with the forearm into the back and the guy's gone down. And for me, that and for me that that should go at least to to VAR and be looked at and listen, you know, that that's not a goal. Not saying Napoli wouldn't have still gone to win that game. You know, that that's irrelevant to talk about one this incident on its own. For me, it was a foul, but yeah, I was I was surprised at it because it it looked you know, sometimes that you can see things in slow motion and it becomes more real. In real time, this looked like a foul. So, I don't know what about you, Lorenzo? Am I wrong? >> No, no, I agree entirely with you. It's there are, as I mentioned, new guidelines, you know, related to the way that Serie A referees should officiate the games this season. And I think we've seen a few good examples of how the way that Serie A games are refereed this season will actually help the improvement of Italian football in Serie A as long as they remain consistent, but I also think when there is a foul, you need to you need to see that and this is clearly a foul. It's a foul because it it doesn't push with his hands, it just push with his with his elbow, with his shoulder, but it's still a push because the Genoa defender is entirely in front of the ball. Now, we can discuss on whether for Vasquez it makes sense to defend the ball on in that part of the pitch. And probably he was waiting for the goalkeeper to come out of his line. For me, as a starting point, the move that the Genoa defender made made no sense. But at the same time, this doesn't mean that the brewing didn't make a fool. There's nothing wrong, sometimes it happens. Referees can make mistakes and even though there will be a tendency on paper not to, you know, see the referee the the referee blowing the whistle on every small little touch as we've been accustomed to sadly in recent years, I think this is not a soft one. This is this is a fool. And the same I think about the Vlasic handball with in Torino-Milan. There is a clear handball. We haven't seen many other examples of potential handballs inside the box in round one. There is one that to me is is a clear penalty kick. Then again, we've seen some nice improvements, I think especially when it comes to the game's flow. For example, yesterday with when Malin was subbed off, the referee went to him and said, "Look, you need to go you need to leave the pitch within a certain amount of time, otherwise you go out and the substitute can't come in." So, there are a few things that have been put in place to get more playing time, to get more effective playing time, and to actually make the players take lower fewer breaks because this is what contributed to killing the game in Serie A. Just too slow. Not just the way we play when we have the ball, but also all those dead moments where nothing happens, where players can take a break, and you often happen way too often compared to what happens for example in the Premier League. So, now I'm going to list you a few examples of these, but also on the Torino Torino-Milan penalty, what do you think with the Vlasic handball? >> Yeah, I've got to say I think it's clear. I think it I think it is very very clear that it's a a handball and again it's I understand what you're saying as well about I I understand they want to make sure that the game is is A speeded up, B be more clear, be more, you know, not take the game the flow out of it as well, but there are certain things where there are you can't get away from the fact that things are going to be clear and obvious. And whilst maybe the handball you can maybe argue a little bit for me it's still still an obvious handball. The foul with De Bruyne is the same thing. You Yeah, like you say you can argue that Vasquez is waiting for the keeper, but in my eyes if he's doing that he's backing in almost like hands should be out backing into him, but even then it's still a foul, you know, but the handball for me yeah, it it it Look at if you look there it's a good image actually there because you could You've seen penalties given for so much less than that, you know, a player that's turned and the hands at the back and they're giving it. So you have to there has to be consistency or at least a good review of this and the reviews are going to be dead and they have to be precise. So those are two two for me that one De Bruyne that should have been pulled back and a free kick to Genoa and for me this should have been a penalty. Look, it's difficult for the referees I understand that. I know that there are new laws in there to speed up the game to stop the play, you know, stop the stoppages etc., but clear and obvious still clear and obvious and I think that that's that's irrelevant of the speed of the game or the new laws that have come in. I think they're just two mistakes, but maybe I'm being too harsh. I don't know. >> No, no, I think I mean we've seen positive things from referees as I as I said mostly when it comes to to having that sort of consistency and consistency and to allow the game the games flow and and play more and even Gian Piero Gasperini had a press conference yesterday. He praised the way that the referee officiated the game and the general way that the games have been handled in uh Serie A round one. But, at the same time, this doesn't mean referees have made no mistakes. Those two were pretty big to me. Milan won anyway. That potential De Bruyne foul contributed to Napoli win. As you said, they might have won the game anyway because they were they were uh pushing Genoa a little bit in their own half, but that was I think an important um like quite relevant call that was made the wrong way to me. Um David uh says, "Maybe it's too early to tell. Around 25 British players now playing in Serie A, they're actually raising the overall quality of the league or not?" Your call, my friend. >> Yeah, no. I think it's a That's a great question, first and foremost. So, thank you, David, for that one. Um I think this it's a double-edged sword. I think that when you have uh whatever it is, 20 or 25 at the moment um that have come in, it is a big number over the sign. But, you I don't think you can say that it's guaranteed to improve the league at all. I think you see on a case-by-case basis. So