Lecce hosted AS Roma at the Stadio Comunale Via del Mare on the final day of August, and the visitors left Puglia with a 0-4 victory that was effectively settled before the half-hour mark — the product of a twenty-one-minute burst that exposed the home side's defensive structure in ways Eusebio Luca Di Francesco's team could not repair.
The opening passages of the match told the story with unusual clarity. Roma forward Donyell Malen scored in the fourth minute to give Gian Piero Gasperini's side the lead, and though Malen collected a yellow card five minutes later — an early complication for the visitors — it did nothing to interrupt their rhythm. By the 23rd minute Malen had his second, assisted by Roma midfielder Wesley, and two minutes after that MatÃas Soulé added a third. Three goals in twenty-one minutes of the first half, none from the penalty spot, none from own goals: this was Roma's attacking unit operating with a directness that Lecce simply could not contain. The match was, for all practical purposes, decided before Di Francesco could make a single substitution.
Malen is the natural focus here. The Roma forward scored twice inside the opening half-hour — the opener in the fourth minute and the second in the 23rd — and did so despite the interruption of a booking between those two goals. A brace in a 4-0 away win, with the first goal arriving inside four minutes, sets a tempo that opponents rarely recover from. Malen was withdrawn in the 67th minute, his work long complete, replaced by Santiago Castro as Gasperini managed his squad with the comfort of a three-goal cushion.
Lecce's difficulties were structural as much as circumstantial. Their starting eleven included several players deployed in midfield roles — Ndaba, Veiga, Gorter, Coulibaly, Ngom — and the shape offered Roma's front line, which included Malen, Soulé, and Paulo Dybala, considerable space to operate in the channels. Di Francesco turned to his bench at half-time, making two changes simultaneously: N'Dri Konan and Youssef Maleh came on for Tiago Gabriel and Olaf Gorter respectively. A third substitution followed in the 54th minute. The adjustments did not alter the match's fundamental dynamic, and when Roma substitute Rodrigo Mora — on for Soulé since the 60th minute — added the fourth goal in the 65th minute, assisted by defender Gianluca Mancini, the scoreline reflected a gap in quality that the home side's personnel changes could not bridge.
The form context sharpens the picture for both clubs. Roma arrive at this result having scored eight goals and conceded none across their opening two Serie A fixtures — the 4-0 defeat of Fiorentina at home preceding this equally emphatic away performance. Lecce, by contrast, carry three points from their last three matches across all competitions, with two losses in that window and a goals-against tally that now reads six. Their opening Serie A win at Venezia looks increasingly like an outlier rather than a baseline. The results suggest Di Francesco's side remain vulnerable when pressed at pace, and Roma pressed at pace from the first whistle.
Roma's discipline was notable alongside their efficiency: one yellow card across the ninety minutes, no red cards, and a clean sheet maintained even as Gasperini rotated freely in the second half, bringing on Nahuel Molina, Mora, Niccolò Pisilli, Castro, and eventually Marten de Roon for Dybala in the 84th minute. The squad depth on display was itself a statement.
A month from now, this match will be remembered as the afternoon Donyell Malen announced Roma's attacking ambitions with a brace inside twenty-three minutes and left Via del Mare before the hour, job done.