Romelu Lukaku bagged a brace along with Houssem Aouar and Andrea Belotti goals as Roma ran riot in Cagliari for their first Serie A away win in six months, but Paulo Dybala limped off in tears.
Jose Mourinho’s men got back on track with wins over Frosinone and Servette, but Lorenzo Pellegrini joined the injury list with Renato Sanches, Chris Smalling, Marash Kumbulla, Diego Llorente and Tammy Abraham. The Sardinians were still without a win this season and lost Boris Radunovic, so Simone Scuffet took the gloves, with Zito Luvumbo not at 100 per cent, Gianluca Lapadula, Marco Mancosu and Marko Rog long-term absentees.
Andrea Petagna got in front of Bryan Cristante for a glancing header, forcing a desperate reaction save at the base of the near post.
Scuffet also had to be on his toes by sticking out a leg to parry when Dybala completed a rapid give and go with Lukaku.
Roma broke through when Leonardo Spinazzola fed the pass through Cagliari defenders to release Houssem Aouar, scoring from 12 yards.
Barely a minute later it was 2-0, as Rick Karsdorp broke down the right and his cross found Lukaku at the back post to cushion it over the line with his chest.
Lukaku sprinted on the counter from a Cagliari set play, but his roll across for Dybala was intercepted. There was trouble for Roma when Dybala limped off in tears clutching his left knee after a heavy Matteo Prati challenge, while the hosts replaced Ibrahim Sulemana to avoid him getting a second yellow card.
Azzi threatened to get Cagliari back into the game, but only hit the side-netting from the Petagna back-heel flick.
Lukaku shrugged off Adam Obert to fire wide and Roma added the third after VAR over-ruled the offside flag. Leandro Paredes floated a ball over the top for Belotti, who took it under control, turned Zappa inside out to score from the edge of the box.
There was a fourth and Paredes was again involved, a one-touch assist sent through for Lukaku, who controlled and then swept into the far bottom corner with the inside of the left boot from nine yards.
Prati thought he had scored his debut Serie A goal with a truly spectacular chest and volley into the top corner from the edge of the D, however it was disallowed over Azzi’s offside in the build-up.
Evan Ndicka also cleared almost off the line from a Leonardo Pavoletti pull-back from the tightest of angles.
Cagliari did get only their third goal of the season, Nahitan Nandez converting the penalty after Bryan Cristante handball.
Cagliari 1-4 Roma
Aouar 19 (R), Lukaku 20, 59 (R), Belotti 51 (R), Nandez pen 87 (C)
Player statistic
| 11' |  |
Leandro Paredes | ||
| Ibrahim Sulemana | |
14' | ||
| 19' |  |
Houssem Aouar (Assist: Leonardo Spinazzola) | ||
| 20' | |
Romelu Lukaku (Assist: Rick Karsdorp) | ||
| 32' | |
Houssem Aouar | ||
| 45+2' | |
Edoardo Bove |
| 52' | |
Andrea Belotti (Assist: Leandro Paredes) | ||
| 59' | |
Romelu Lukaku (Assist: Leandro Paredes) | ||
| Adam Obert | |
61' | ||
| Nahitan Nández |  |
87' |
Match statistic
