Juventus continues to bleed points in Serie A

Roma owed their victory to their Argentine star Paulo Dybala, who scored his first league goal of the season and the only goal of the match following a skillful move after Sassuolo’s goalkeeper blocked a shot from Bryan Cristante.

It was Dybala’s 130th goal in Serie A and his first from open play since December last year.

The 31-year-old Dybala said: “These are three important points.”

He added: “We knew we could move to first place before this match, but we will not get carried away. The season is still very long.”

Under coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who took over in July, Roma have become solid defensively but struggle to score. In eight matches, the capital club has conceded just three goals—two fewer than any other team—while scoring only eight themselves.

Gasperini said: “I am very satisfied because the team performed well after two defeats this week.”

He added: “The priority now is to win again at home. We must reward our fans. At home, we need to be more effective.”

Roma’s win took them to 18 points in second place, level on goal difference with leaders Napoli, who beat Inter 3-1 on Saturday. Former leaders Milan dropped to third, one point behind the top two, after drawing 2-2 with Pisa on Friday in the opening match of this round.

This is Roma’s best points tally after eight rounds since the 2013-2014 season, and they have returned to the top of the league for the first time in 12 years.

Roma had suffered their second league defeat of the season against Inter, losing 0-1 in round seven, before a second consecutive loss to Czech side Viktoria Plzeň, 1-2, in the third round of the Europa League.

Third consecutive defeat for Juventus

Juventus continued their poor run, losing their third straight match as visitors to Lazio, who won 1-0 thanks to Croatian Tomo Bašić’s ninth-minute goal.

Juventus, who have not won in their last eight matches across all competitions, remain on 12 points in eighth place, one point above Lazio, who moved up to tenth.

Bologna’s winning streak ended as they surrendered a two-goal lead from Argentine Santiago Castro (25) and Niccolò Cambiaghi (52) against Fiorentina, who got back into the game through Iceland’s Albert Guðmundsson (74, penalty) and Moise Kean, who scored a stoppage-time penalty in the fourth minute of added time to snatch a dramatic draw.

“La Viola” benefited from the sending off of Swedish defender Emil Holm of the visiting side in the 83rd minute, after receiving two yellow cards, to claim a valuable point that ended Bologna’s run of three consecutive wins across competitions.

Bologna also failed to take fourth place from Inter, remaining fifth on 14 points. Fiorentina, meanwhile, recorded their fourth draw of the season alongside four defeats and are still seeking their first win, languishing in 18th place with just four points.