Paulo Dybala scored two goals on a pair of Tammy Abraham assists to give Roma victory, but Fiorentina were down to 10 men for over an hour after Dodo’s dismissal.
The Giallorossi had Marash Kumbulla in for suspended Roger Ibanez, while Nicolò Zaniolo was ruled out by a stomach bug. Arthur Cabral, Riccardo Saponara, Rolando Mandragora, Lucas Martinez-Quarta and Riccardo Sottil didn’t make the trip, with Nico Gonzalez only fit for the bench.
Pietro Terracciano beat away a Nicola Zalewski curler, while Zeki Celik tried to knock the ball back for Tammy Abraham rather than go for goal himself.
Sofyan Amrabat stung Rui Patricio’s gloves from distance, but the game changed on 24 minutes when Fiorentina full-back Dodo went in late for a sliding tackle on Zalewski for his second yellow card.
Lorenzo Pellegrini’s spectacular volley flashed wide of the near post and Roma broke through with a moment of magic.
Abraham with his back to goal used his chest to knock down a Celik ball over the top and Dybala thumped the left-foot volley from the edge of the box, a deflection giving Terracciano no chance.
Fiorentina introduced Nico Gonzalez and Antonin Barak for the second half, and Nikola Milenkovic threatened with a header off target after a series of corners.
Celik only hit the side-netting when Dybala pounced on Cristiano Biraghi’s error, then Celik made the mistake allowing Giacomo Bonaventura to get a shot charged down.
Christian Kouame’s header on a corner was over the bar and Abraham failed to make the most of a poor Bonaventura back-pass when he slipped at the crucial moment.
Roma did double their lead with another combination from the two star strikers, as Abraham started his run down the right just past the centre-circle and rolled across for Dybala to tap in at the back post.
January free transfer Ola Solbakken received his Giallorossi debut in the final minutes. Fiorentina still threatened, as Nikola Milenkovic’s header was deflected inches wide by Celik and on the resulting corner Rui Patricio made a tough save on Kouame.
Roma 2-0 Fiorentina
Dybala 40, 82 (R)
Sent off: Dodo 24 (F)