Castro and Lulli score first Roma goals as Gasperini's side right the ship against Genoa
Two debutant goalscorers and a flurry of chances carried Roma past Daniele De Rossi's Genoa, answering a week in which they drew twice and surrendered a two-goal Champions League lead.
Roma needed a response, and they found it in two unlikely sources. Santiago Castro and Emanuele Lulli both scored their first goals for the club as Gian Piero Gasperini's side beat Genoa 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico, according to Football Italia.
The win mattered beyond the three points. Roma had drawn their previous two Serie A fixtures and, four days earlier, had led Real Madrid 3-1 in the Champions League only to lose 4-3 in the closing minutes, Football Italia reported. Seven changes from that European collapse told their own story about a squad under strain: Donyell Malen was suspended following his red card against Como, while Paulo Dybala, Manu Koné, Mile Svilar and Bryan Cristante were all unavailable through injury.
Set pieces did the early damage, but not the finishing
Roma's first-half performance was built on set-piece pressure that refused to be converted. Leonardo Balerdi headed a Niccolò Pisilli corner onto the crossbar just before the half-hour, and moments later Rodrigo Mora's header was cleared off the line by Justin Bijlow, with Castro flagged offside as he tried to force home the rebound. Genoa responded with a crossbar strike of their own, El Shaarawy crashing a first-time effort off the woodwork from the edge of the box after Milutin Osmajic had been denied by a crucial block.
That sequence of near misses from both sides made the eventual breakthrough feel almost inevitable once Roma kept returning to the same well. Castro's opener, four minutes into the second half, came from exactly the kind of crowded near-post scramble that had already produced a crossbar hit for Balerdi. The Argentine forward turned in traffic and dinked the ball into the far top corner from seven yards, an improvised finish that Football Italia described as his first goal since arriving from Bologna.
Soulé's transition run showed what Roma are missing elsewhere
If Castro's goal was about persistence at set pieces, the second was about individual quality in open play. Matias Soulé picked up the ball inside his own half, beat two challenges, combined with Lorenzo Pellegrini in a give-and-go, and saw his eventual shot deflect into the path of Lulli at the back post. The 19-year-old academy product finished for his first Serie A goal.
The move is worth isolating because it was the kind of vertical, carrying run that Roma have lacked without Dybala and Koné available to break lines through the middle. Soulé supplied it from a deeper starting position than usual, suggesting Gasperini is comfortable using him as an outlet rather than purely as an inside forward when the side needs to transition quickly.
An emotional afternoon for De Rossi did not translate into points
The occasion carried extra weight for Genoa's visiting staff. Daniele De Rossi and Stephan El Shaarawy returned to the Olimpico fresh from Genoa's first league win of the season, against Fiorentina, Football Italia noted, and Gasperini and De Rossi embraced before kick-off. El Shaarawy had the clearest early chance of the match, forcing a save from Pierluigi Gollini's legs at the near post inside nine minutes, and later rattled the crossbar himself.
Genoa were missing Lorenzo Colombo, Alex Amorim, Djibril Sow, Franz-Ethan Meichtry and Lorenzo Venturino through knocks, which opened the door for Italy Under-19 international Samuel Wiafe to make his first Serie A start. Osmajic tested Gollini again with a powerful strike late on, and the visitors also handed a Serie A debut to Robinho Junior, son of the former Milan and Brazil striker Robinho.
For Roma, the value of the afternoon lies less in the opposition than in who scored. A recognised forward finding his first goal through persistence, and a teenage academy defender finishing a move started by a senior attacker, both point to a squad finding contributions from players who had not yet delivered them. Gasperini's side next turn to replacing the injured contingent as the fixtures continue to pile up.