Roma 4-2 Cagliari: Late Goals Mask a Midfield Running on Empty

Roma beat Cagliari 4-2 at the Stadio Olimpico on 27 October 2026, a result that keeps them third in Serie A and preserves their unbeaten start. Cagliari led through M'Bala Nzola's 10th-minute penalty, Roma turned it around inside twenty-one minutes through Emanuele Lulli and Niccolò Pisilli, Daniel Maldini equalised in the 81st, and substitutes Rodrigo Mora and Donyell Malen scored late to settle it.

Roma had 61 per cent possession, 20 shots to Cagliari's 19, eight on target to Cagliari's eight, and eight big chances to Cagliari's four. Roma created enough to win comfortably and still needed goals in the 85th and 87th minutes to do it.

Gasperini was direct afterwards. "We always played with the same players in midfield and we saw some signs of fatigue," he said, "so it's even more creditable that we won." He noted that Leonardo Balerdi and Mario Hermoso were not fit to play, that Bryan Cristante returned after a month and played two 90-minute games in three days, and that it is not easy to play so many games without Paulo Dybala, Manu Koné and others. Dybala, Mile Svilar, Koné and Lorenzo Pellegrini were all still out. Roma had won only one of their previous four Serie A matches.

Neil El Aynaoui joined RB Leipzig on loan for the 2026/27 season with an option to buy. Edoardo Bove and Jan Ziólkowski also left.

Roma's expected goals in this match, 3.02, sit well above the 1.77 they had averaged across their earlier 2026/27 matches in all competitions. Their open-play expected goals here, 2.65, are more than double the 1.27 average from those earlier games.

Mora said afterwards that playing for Gasperini is fun and that he wants to be a key player.