Serie A | Udinese 2-5 Roma: Job done in first 37 minutes

Roma swept sorry Udinese away with four goals in the first half including Rodrigo Mora and Donyell Malen, as coach Kosta Runjaic is now hanging by a thread.

There was relatively little squad rotation ahead of a Champions League clash with Manchester United and after the 4-2 win over Cagliari, as Paulo Dybala, Mile Svilar, Manu Koné and Lorenzo Pellegrini were still out, resting Gianluca Mancini and bringing Rodrigo Mora into the starting XI.

The Friulani ended their run of six straight defeats with a 0-0 draw at Parma midweek, but missed Oumar Solet, David Alaba, Alessandro Zanoli, Idrissa Gueye and Vakoun Bayo.

It took under 10 minutes to break the deadlock, as Wesley’s cross from the left found Bryan Cristante to surprise Matteo Palma with a header from 10 yards into the near bottom corner.

Christian Kabasele did just enough to stop Donyell Malen making the most of a smart Matias Soulé ball over the top, then Soulé sprung the offside trap on a similar move only to thump the upright.

Moments later, Roma rattled the frame of the goal again, this time with Malen hitting the crossbar after he had forced a tricky save from Maduka Okoye.

It was a siege and Udinese capitulated when Cristante got down the right of the penalty area and rolled across for Rodrigo Mora to tap in at the back stick.

Roma ran riot, Soulé with a splendid take on the long Mario Hermoso ball, setting up Malen to cut inside Kabasele and surprise Okoye at the base of the near post.

Cristante forced a tricky save out of Okoye moments later, but he was beaten again by the Evan Ndicka free header on a Soulé corner. It gave the defender some happier memories of this stadium, where he suffered a collapsed lung in April 2024.

Udinese tried to at least fight back, but Pierluigi Gollini was quick off his line to parry the Palma header on a Nicolò Zaniolo free kick.

They scored after the restart, with Gollini only spilling the deflected Lennon Miller snapshot into the path of Zaniolo to get them on the scoresheet. He did not celebrate against his former fans, who had been jeering his every touch all game.

Nahuel Molina went for the assist just beyond Malen sliding in from six yards rather than going for goal himself against his old club, then Malen tested Okoye from distance.

It wasn’t over, because an Udinese corner was not cleared properly, it was put back over the top by Houssine Kamara and Wesley kept Palma onside for the well-taken volley from 12 yards.

Unai Gomez very nearly made it 4-3, his daisy-cutter skimming the upright, but instead Daniele Ghilardi chested down the dinked Santiago Castro assist, let it bounce and smashed a right-footed half-volley into the roof of the net for 5-2.

Udinese 2-5 Roma

Cristante 10 (R), Rodrigo Mora 31 (R), Malen 33 (R), Ndicka 37 (R), Zaniolo 50 (U), Palma 78 (U), Ghilardi 92 (R)

31-10-2026 17:00

MatchDay 10

Udinese

Roma

Starting lineups

40 Maduka Okoye Goalkeeper

27 Christian Kabasele Defender

11 Hassane Kamara Defender 82'

14 James Abankwah Defender

16 Matteo Palma Defender

23 Mërgim Vojvoda Defender

8 Jesper Karlström Midfielder 82'

32 Jurgen Ekkelenkamp Midfielder 56'

38 Lennon Miller Midfielder

10 Nicolò Zaniolo Midfielder 67'

9 Keinan Davis Attacker 56'

95 Pierluigi Gollini Goalkeeper

87 Daniele Ghilardi Defender

5 Evan Ndicka Defender

22 Mario Hermoso Defender 84'

20 Nahuel Molina Defender

43 Wesley Defender 79'

4 Bryan Cristante Midfielder

15 Marten de Roon Midfielder

86 Rodrigo Mora Midfielder 59'

14 Donyell Malen Attacker 59'

18 Matìas Soulé Attacker 79'

Substitutes

93 Daniele Padelli Goalkeeper

13 Nicolò Bertola Defender

4 Sandi Lovric Midfielder

77 Enzo Ebosse Defender

6 Oier Zarraga Midfielder

41 Bartosz Mrozek Goalkeeper

45 Giulio Vinciati Attacker

30 Giorgi Chakvetadze Midfielder 56'

46 Unai Gómez Midfielder 56'

24 Jakub Piotrowski Midfielder 67'

91 Lazar Jovanovic Attacker 82'

20 Juan Arizala Defender 82'

26 Leonardo Balerdi Defender

32 Devis Vásquez Goalkeeper

70 Giorgio De Marzi Goalkeeper

77 Emanuele Lulli Defender

78 Mandjou Camara Midfielder

63 Alessandro Di Nunzio Midfielder

61 Niccolò Pisilli Midfielder 59'

9 Santiago Castro Attacker 59'

23 Gianluca Mancini Defender 79'

2 Devyne Rensch Defender 79'

3 Konstantinos Koulierakis Defender 84'

Player statistic

1st half

2nd half

Match statistic

46 Possession % 54

15 Total shots 14

7 Shots on target 9

6 Shots off target 3

2 Blocked shots 2

7 Corners 4

1 Offsides 0

11 Fouls 9