Roma cruises past Genoa 2-0 behind Castro and Lulli, closing in on Inter

It took Roma just three minutes to break open a tightly contested first half. Right after the restart, Santiago Castro popped up in the center of the box and buried a shot into the top corner off a corner kick, making it 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico. Genoa, who had held firm for 45 minutes, never found a way to respond, and Roma closed out a comfortable 2-0 win with a second goal from Emanuele Lulli, who finished from point-blank range on the right side of the box in the 67th minute.

The first half had been even in terms of chances, if not on the scoreboard. Genoa had their moments: Stephan El Shaarawy rattled the crossbar in the 32nd minute after testing the home defense with an earlier shot, and Milutin Osmajic buzzed around Roma's box without luck. But Roma gave clear warning signs of their own: Leonardo Balerdi headed off the crossbar in the 29th minute off a corner, Matias Soule tried his luck from outside the box, and Niccolo Pisilli also had a header attempt. The scoreless deadlock at halftime suggested that whoever broke through first would gain a significant edge, and that's exactly how it played out.

Second half, all Roma

As soon as play resumed, Roma came out with a different intensity. Castro had already forced a save in the 46th minute, and three minutes later came the reward: his right-footed finish from the center of the box, off yet another home corner, opened the scoring. Genoa, who had shown some bite in the first half, gradually faded. Daniele De Rossi shook up his bench by bringing on Vitinha for El Shaarawy in the 64th minute, but the answer came from the other side: three minutes later, Lulli finished from close range to make it 2-0, a scoreline that would hold until the final whistle.

Genoa had one last chance through Milutin Osmajic, whose shot was stopped right under the crossbar in the 79th minute, but there was no way back into the match from there. Roma, with substitutions from Gian Piero Gasperini bringing on Pellegrini, Hermoso, Wesley, Ghilardi and Di Nunzio, managed the lead without any trouble through four minutes of stoppage time, with the score unchanged to the final whistle.

The numbers back up the dominance

The stats confirm what was evident on the field: Roma controlled possession and created far more clear-cut chances.

According to our xG estimate based on the shots taken in the match, Roma generated 1.411 expected goals compared to Genoa's 0.545, a gap that matches how the game actually unfolded: just one shot on target for the visitors against five for the home side.

Heading into the match, our projections gave Roma a 68% chance of winning, 21% for a draw and just 11% for Genoa, with an expected scoreline of 2.16 goals for the home side against 0.78 for the visitors. The final result, 2-0, lined up closely with that forecast: Roma played exactly the kind of match that was anticipated, dominating with authority and facing no real danger from a rival that only managed brief flashes against the home defense.

What it means in the standings

With this result, Roma moves to 17 points through 7 matches, with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and no losses, sitting in second place in Serie A, just two points behind Inter. Genoa, on the other hand, continues to struggle: they have just 4 points from 7 matches (1 win, 1 draw and 5 losses) and sit in 19th place, 13 points behind Roma in the standings. From start to finish, the match reflected just how far apart the two sides currently are.