With five wins in six competitive games at the Stadio Olimpico heading into this one, it was no surprise to see Roma produce the first chance of note as Paulo Dybala tested Arijanet Muric with an early curling effort.
2025/2026 Serie A
2-0
Match Report
At the other end, Ismaël Koné did well to stay onside, but his low strike was smothered by the onrushing Mile Svilar, who watched on as Armand Laurienté snatched at the follow-up.
A frustrating half for Roma was then compounded when their only available centre-forward, Evan Ferguson, was forced off through injury attempting to turn in Dybala’s cross.
Nonetheless, the visitors rarely threatened before the break, failing to score before half time for the 14th time in 20 league games this season.
Realistically needing three points to maintain the possibility of a genuine title challenge, Gian Piero Gasperini’s side made a purposeful start to the second period, and they came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock when Konstantinos Tsimikas fired over from close range on the rebound.
The Giallorossi thought they had their lucky break when they were given a penalty after an hour of play, thanks to a clumsy challenge from Muric on Matías Soulé, but despite the yellow card standing, the award of a spot-kick was overturned for an offside.
However, with 76 minutes played, Roma finally opened the scoring as Soulé lifted a delightful cross into the box, where home players were seemingly queuing up, allowing Koné to attack the ball and power home a header.
Just three minutes later, the points were all but wrapped up as Gasperini’s men doubled their lead through Soulé, who benefitted from a neat Stephan El Shaarawy flick to side-foot home from inside the box.
Koné could have bagged a brace when he bent an effort wide in stoppage time, but it ultimately made little difference, as Roma claimed a fourth consecutive H2H win.
A clean sheet here means Roma maintain their status as the league’s tightest defence, having conceded just 12 goals in 20 games. More importantly, a hard-earned victory lifts them to within three points of league leaders Inter Milan, albeit with two extra games played.
As for Sassuolo, this marks just a second loss in eight away games (W3, D3), adding to concerning form that leaves them 12th, well clear of the relegation trouble, but looking equally unlikely to make a European push.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
17' Match Event for Roma vs Sassuolo
21' Highlight from Roma vs Sassuolo
62' Highlight from Roma vs Sassuolo
76' GOAL! Roma 1-0 Sassuolo (Manu Koné)
79' GOAL! Roma 2-0 Sassuolo (Matías Soulé)
Line-ups
Roma XI: Dybala, Hermoso, Zeki Çelik, Mile Svilar, Tsimikas, G. Mancini, Manu Koné, Evan Ferguson, Daniele Ghilardi, Matías Soulé, Niccolò Pisilli
Subs: El Shaarawy, Angelino, Devis Vásquez, Devyne Rensch, Wesley Vinícius França Lima, Jan Ziolkowski, Radoslaw Zelezny, Alessandro Romano, Jacopo Mirra, Muhammed Bah, Emanuele Lulli, Antonio Arena
Sassuolo XI: Matic, Pinamonti, Armand Laurienté, Sebastian Walukiewicz, Arijanet Murić, Jay Idzes, Josh Doig, Alieu Fadera, Tarik Muharemović, Ismaël Koné, Luca Lipani
Subs: N.Pierini, Giacomo Satalino, Stefano Turati, Yeferson Paz, Aster Vranckx, Walid Cheddira, Cas Odenthal, Gioele Zacchi, Edoardo Iannoni, Luca Moro, Laurs Skjellerup, Luca Barani, Tommaso Macchioni