Serie A | Roma 2-0 Verona: Dovbyk and Soule break droughts

It took just eight minutes to break the deadlock with Dovbyk’s first goal of the season on his first Serie A start. The Ukrainian was ready to steer the Zeki Celik cross back across into the far bottom corner with his head.

Verona thought they had equalised on 15 minutes when Rafik Belghali rolled across from the right for the simple Gift Orban tap-in at the back post, but Mile Svilar incredibly managed to parry with his face from point-blank range, leaving a visible bruise.

Unai Nunez performed a stunning sliding tackle in the box to stop Lorenzo Pellegrini finishing off the Dovbyk assist, but Verona wasted an astonishing opportunity.

On 28 minutes, Domagoj Bradaric rolled across and Svilar was beaten, but Orban somehow managed to prod it onto the underside of the crossbar from three yards when totally undisturbed.

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro was fortunate to stay on the pitch when clumsily crashing into the back of Pellegrini, as he was already on a yellow card.

Hellas continued to waste chances after the restart too, Suat Serdar and then Giovane blasting over from promising positions.

Belghali cut inside and blasted straight at Svilar, then the goalkeeper had to rush off his line and time the intervention perfectly on Orban one-on-one.

Amin Sarr came off the bench and continued the trend of poor finishing, so Verona were ultimately made to pay as Roma doubled their lead.

Pellegrini robbed Serdar to spark the move, then Manu Kone’s flick was deflected off a defender into the path of Matias Soulé to sweep in undisturbed.

Lorenzo Montipò made two big saves in quick succession on Stephan El Shaarawy, then denying the Bryan Cristante angled drive on the resulting corner.

Orban finally got the ball in the net during stoppages, but it was disallowed because the header grazed his arm on the way in from a Kastanos free kick.

Roma 2-0 Verona

Dovbyk 8 (R), Soulé 79 (R)

28-09-2025 14:00 MatchDay 5 Stadio Olimpico

Roma

Verona 2 - 0

Player statistic

1st half

Artem Dovbyk (Assist: Zeki Celik)		7'
		12'		Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro
		45'		Unai Núñez

2nd half

		53'		Roberto Gagliardini
Matìas Soulé

79'         90+1'

Rafik Belghali

Match statistic

58 Possession % 42 10 Total shots 12 5 Shots on target 3 2 Shots off target 6 3 Blocked shots 3 8 Corners 1 0 Offsides 2 11 Fouls 19 Roma Verona

Starting lineups

99

Mile Svilar Goalkeeper 3

Angeliño Defender 59' 5

Evan Ndicka Defender 71' 23

Gianluca Mancini Defender 43 Wesley Defender 59' 19

Zeki Celik Defender 4

Bryan Cristante Midfielder 7

Lorenzo Pellegrini Midfielder 17

Manu Koné Midfielder 9

Artem Dovbyk Attacker 60' 18 Matìas Soulé Attacker 82' 1

Lorenzo Montipò Goalkeeper 12

Domagoj Bradaric Defender 84' 3 Martin Frese Defender 7 Rafik Belghali Defender 5

Unai Núñez Defender 84' 15

Victor Nelsson Defender 24

Antoine Bernede Midfielder 90' 11

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro Midfielder 46' 8

Suat Serdar Midfielder 16 Gift Orban Attacker 17 Giovane Attacker

74'

Substitutes

35 Tommaso Baldanzi Midfielder 95

Pierluigi Gollini Goalkeeper 2 Devyne Rensch Defender 32

Devis Vásquez Goalkeeper 61 Niccolò Pisilli Midfielder 87 Daniele Ghilardi Defender 8 Neil El Aynaoui Midfielder 66 Buba Sangaré Defender 22

Mario Hermoso Defender 59'

Konstantinos Tsimikas Defender 59' 11

Evan Ferguson Attacker 60' Jan Ziolkowski Defender 71' 92

Stephan El Shaarawy Attacker 82' 34 Simone Perilli Goalkeeper 36

Cheikh Niasse Attacker 23

Enzo Ebosse Defender 72 Junior Ajayi Attacker 92 Luca Monticelli Attacker 73 Moatasem Al-Musrati Midfielder 19 Tobias Slotsager Defender 4 Yellu Santiago Midfielder 76 Mirko Castagnini Goalkeeper 63

Roberto Gagliardini Midfielder 46' 9 Amin Sarr Attacker 74' 37

Armel Bella-Kotchap Defender 84' 70

Fallou Cham Defender 84' 20

Grigoris Kastanos Midfielder

90'