Overview
Roma closed last season with a 5-game winning streak, surpassing AC Milan and Juventus to finish in the Champions League group. Giallorossi scored at least 2 goals in all 5 matches and conceded only 2 times.
That was the perfect ending to Gian Piero Gasperini's first season at the Olimpico. The victory over Hellas Verona in the final round helped Roma return to the Champions League after 8 years of waiting.
After bringing Atalanta to the Europa League championship, Gasperini is now facing a bigger challenge: building a Roma capable of competing for the Scudetto.
However, his plan has not been met as expected in the transfer market. Roma is adding forces quite slowly, while the pre-season warm-up also does not bring many positive signs.
The capital team let Cannes equalize 3-3 after once leading largely, then losing to Cardiff City 1-4. Roma then defeated Newport County, suffered a 0-3 defeat to Brighton and drew 2-2 with Borussia Dortmund.
This form is even more noteworthy because the defense is an important foundation in Roma's success last season. Only Inter Milan and Como have more clean sheets than Giallorossi in Serie A. In the top 5 European leagues, only Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain - the two teams that reached the Champions League final - have better home clean sheets than Roma.
Olimpico is also a major support for the capital team. Roma won 13 and only lost 3 in 19 home matches in Serie A last season, including the 4-0 destruction of Fiorentina in May.
Fiorentina enters the new season with a completely different story. Viola has not been able to defeat Roma at the Olimpico since April 2018, when they won 2-0.
Fiorentina's 2025-2026 season also went through many upheavals. From the ambition to win a ticket to European cups, they quickly had to shift their goal to the relegation battle after a bad start. Viola is only sure to stay in Serie A when the season has two rounds left.
Paolo Vanoli was the one who helped Fiorentina escape danger. The Tuscanese team achieved the seventh best performance in Serie A in the second half of the season, but Vanoli then left the position and was replaced by Fabio Grosso.
Grosso takes over a team that has somewhat regained stability. Fiorentina has only lost 1 in 11 Serie A matches at the end of last season and kept a clean sheet 5 times in the last 8 matches.
The pre-season period also brought more positive results. Fiorentina drew with Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna respectively, before defeating Benevento 4-1 in the Coppa Italia.
Now, Grosso will have to maintain positive signals in reality when Fiorentina travels to Olimpico. Against a Roma heading towards the Champions League and further the Scudetto race, this will be an easy test for the away team's ambitions.
Expected lineup:
Svilar, Mancini, Ndicka, Hermoso, Molina, Kone, Cristante, Wesley, Soule, Dybala, Malen.
De Gea, Mario, Dragusin, Ranieri, Valdepenas, Ndour, Fagioli, Oulai, Mastantuono, Atta, Kean.
The match between Roma and Fiorentina takes place at 1:45 am on August 25 (Vietnam time).
