Torino 0-2 Roma: Donyell Malen and Niccolò Pisilli keep Gasperini's side perfect

Roma did not need to be at their sharpest to leave Turin with all three points. Donyell Malen's finish just before half-time and a stoppage-time goal from Niccolò Pisilli were enough to beat a Torino side that offered little in front of goal, and Gian Piero Gasperini's team head into the international break still unbeaten after four rounds.

Malen breaks the deadlock, Pisilli seals it late

The only goal of a cagey first half arrived in the 40th minute, Paulo Dybala threading a pass through for Donyell Malen to finish and put Roma ahead at the Olimpico Grande Torino. Torino pushed for an equaliser without ever really threatening one, and the game was settled in the third minute of stoppage time, when Niccolò Pisilli added a second from a Gianluca Mancini assist to make sure of the win.

A one-sided game that the scoreline undersells

The stats tell a more lopsided story than 2-0 suggests. Roma had 14 shots to Torino's seven, five of them on target to Torino's three, and eight corners to Torino's one. Torino also picked up 20 fouls over the 90 minutes to Roma's seven, a sign of a home side chasing the game without finding the quality to change it. Ignazio Abate's team went into the match already missing Che Adams, Cesare Casadei, Pietro Pellegri and Franco Israel to injury, and both centre-back Saul Coco and top scorer Giovanni Simeone started while still managing knocks of their own.

Debuts and rotation in a changed Roma XI

Gasperini made changes of his own after Roma's midweek 1-1 Champions League draw at Fenerbahçe, in which Evan Ndicka and Manu Koné picked up knocks. Leonardo Balerdi made his full Roma debut alongside full-back Nahuel Molina, both included from the start in a back line reshuffled around Mile Svilar. Even with the changes, Roma's front line of Dybala, Matías Soulé and Malen kept enough of its usual sharpness to produce the shot count above, whatever the final scoreline said about how close the game actually was.

Match facts

• 40' — Donyell Malen (Roma), assisted by Paulo Dybala
• 90+3' — Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), assisted by Gianluca Mancini

Line-ups

Where it leaves both clubs

Before this round, Guriball's table had Roma 1st with nine points from three wins out of three and Torino 14th with three points from one win, no draws and two losses. The result takes Roma to 12 points — level with Inter, who also won on matchday 4, beating Udinese 5-3 at San Siro — and leaves Torino still searching for their second win of the season, held scoreless by a Roma defence that has now conceded only once in four league matches.

What's next

Roma go into the international break unbeaten and level at the top with Inter, who they host at the Olimpico the weekend after next in a meeting between Serie A's two form teams. Torino will use the break to get Che Adams, Cesare Casadei and the rest of their injury list back on the training pitch before trying to turn narrow defeats into points.