Ivan Juric made a very positive debut as Roma coach after Daniele De Rossi’s shock dismissal, with Artem Dovbyk, Paulo Dybala and Tommaso Baldanzi sweeping Udinese aside.
The Giallorossi were in chaos, as on Wednesday De Rossi was surprisingly sacked, then today CEO Lina Souloukou stepped down and the ultras left the Curva Sud empty in protest for the first 30 minutes and there were numerous empty seats around the arena.
New boss Juric immediately changed to a three-man defence, but with Enzo Le Fée and Alexis Saelemaekers injured, Mario Hermoso and Mats Hummels not yet at 100 per cent. The Friulani went into this weekend as surprise Serie A leaders with a draw and three straight victories, despite missing Alexis Saelemaekers.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
Artem Dovbyk tested Maduka Okoye at the near post on an Angelino pass, while Kingsley Ehizibue failed to make the most of Mile Svilar flapping at a Florian Thauvin cross.
Roma took the lead when Stephan El Shaarawy’s through ball sent Dovbyk racing, he drew out the goalkeeper and fired in the angled drive to the far bottom corner.
Dovbyk could’ve had another, but seemed surprised that the terrible Christian Kabasele clearance came straight at him, so volleyed over.
Both Zeki Celik and Lorenzo Pellegrini fired off target from promising positions, with Paulo Dybala skimming the crossbar from a tricky angle and an El Shaarawy scorcher into the arms of Okoye.
Straight after the restart, Dybala fell over Jaka Bijol’s outstretched leg and converted the penalty himself, firing into the top corner to double Roma’s advantage.
Dovbyk was probably offside anyway, but also hesitated on the rebound from a parried Bryan Cristante glancing header.
Keinan Davis attempted an acrobatic volley on the Thauvin cross and Brenner fired just over the bar, while Mile Svilar had to be alert on the Thauvin curler towards the near top corner on the counter-attack.
Instead, Roma added a third when Tommaso Baldanzi surged forward, completed a give and go with Dovbyk and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one. It was the Italy Under-21 international’s first goal in the Giallorossi jersey.
Dovbyk had the ball in the net for a fourth time, but had wandered offside on the Leandro Paredes pass ahead of his splendid dinked finish.
Roma 3-0 Udinese
Dovbyk 19 (R), Dybala pen 49 (R), Baldanzi 70 (R)
Player statistic
| 3' |  |
Lorenzo Lucca | ||
| Artem Dovbyk (Assist: Stephan El Shaarawy) |
 |
19' | ||
| Niccolò Pisilli | |
31' | ||
| 39' | |
Thomas Kristensen |
| Paulo Dybala |  |
49' | ||
| Tommaso Baldanzi | |
70' | ||
| Bryan Cristante | |
80' |
Match statistic
