Donyell Malen hat-trick fires Roma to 4-0 victory over Fiorentina in Serie A

Roma began their Serie A campaign in emphatic fashion as Donyell Malen scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Fiorentina at the end of the opening round.

Malen scored all three of his goals from assists by Paulo Dybala, who became the latest player to provide three assists for the same team-mate in a single Serie A match since 2 May 2021. On that occasion, Bologna’s Emmanuel Vignato created three goals for Rodrigo Palacio, also against Fiorentina.

The result gave Roma a commanding start to the new league season, while Fiorentina were left to reflect on a heavy defeat in their opening fixture.

Malen opened the scoring in the 27th minute after Dybala produced an individual piece of skill to evade several Fiorentina players before finding his team-mate. Malen finished the move by placing the ball into the net to give Roma the lead.

Roma doubled their advantage seven minutes into the second half. Dybala again supplied the opening, and Malen converted his pass with a shot into the Fiorentina goal to register his second goal of the match and his side’s second.

The forward completed his hat-trick eight minutes later. Dybala delivered another pass into the area in front of goal, allowing Malen to finish and put Roma 3-0 ahead.

Niccolo Pisilli completed the scoring in the 86th minute, taking advantage of an error in the Fiorentina defence to add Roma’s fourth goal.

Dybala’s creative performance was central to Roma’s victory. His three assists for Malen also placed him in a notable statistical position in Serie A, matching the feat last achieved by Vignato when he set up all three of Palacio’s goals for Bologna against Fiorentina in 2021.

The victory marked an impressive opening to Roma’s league campaign, with the club now preparing for their second-round fixture against Lecce next Monday.

Fiorentina will look to respond when they face Frosinone in their next Serie A match on Saturday.