Romelu Lukaku scored his first Roma goal in the 7-0 defeat of Empoli on Sunday, his new team’s first win of the Serie A season. Belgian striker Lukaku rolled into Roma’s sixth in the 82nd minute of a dominant performance that also saw talisman Paulo Dybala kick off the season with a brace. Goals from Renato Sanches, Bryan Cristante and Gianluca Mancini, as well as a comical own goal from Albert Grassi, secured a defeat against senseless, goalless and bottoming Empoli, moving Roma out of the relegation zone and into 12th place with four points.
“It is obviously important that attackers score goals,” coach Jose Mourinho told DAZN.
“It was perfect for him because he scores in front of his fans and he leaves the field happy.
“He needs to feel loved and wanted. He came here and he immediately felt that the team needed him.”
Lukaku made his first start alongside Dybala in an attack designed to help Roma qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2018.
On loan from Chelsea, Lukaku made a substitute appearance in Roma’s defeat to AC Milan before the international break and had a largely uneventful evening against Empoli apart from his simple finish from Andrea Belotti’s pass.
Only 35 seconds had passed when Sebastian Walukiewicz handled Rasmus Kristensen’s cross. Dybala scored his first goal of the campaign from the penalty spot.
Kristensen was again key as Sanches doubled the hosts’ lead in the eighth minute, whipping in another cross from which the unmarked Portugal international guided in a perfect header.
Lukaku was involved in Roma’s bizarre third match. He laid the ball off to Cristante before Bartosz Bereszynski punched the ball from his Empoli teammate Grassi and saw the ball drift into his own goal.
Dybala scored his sublime second ten minutes after half-time when he collected Cristante’s pass, feinted Sebastiano Luperto and rolled in a cool finish.
Lukaku on target
The Argentine forward would have ended the evening with a hat-trick had his free-kick not hit the crossbar just before he was substituted in the 64th minute.
The match appeared to be heading towards an otherwise uneventful finish but Cristante started a late flurry in the 79th minute when he powered home Roma’s fifth from long range.
The stage was set for Lukaku to receive the applause of fans who flooded an airport to greet his arrival in Rome last month. A Mancini header rounded off the scoring with four minutes remaining.
Christian Kouame fired Fiorentina to a 3-2 victory over Atalanta with the decisive goal in Sunday’s entertaining Serie A match in Florence.
Ivorian Kouame pounced on defensive indecision in the 76th minute to score his first goal of the season and move Fiorentina up to seventh.
Giacomo Bonaventura and Lucas Martinez-Quarta scored Fiorentina’s other goals at the Stadio Artemio Franchi as the home side moved level on seven points with champions Napoli and Frosinone, who won 4-2 against Sassuolo earlier in the day.
Eusebio Di Francesco’s Frosinone won a Serie A match from a losing position for the first time in their history.
They came back from a two-goal deficit in the opening 25 minutes to claim an impressive home win thanks to Walid Cheddira’s penalty on the stroke of half-time, Luca Mazzitelli’s brace and an injury-time save from Pol Lirola.
Atalanta are two points behind ninth after their second defeat in their opening four games, meaning Lecce remain in the Champions League despite only drawing 1-1 at Monza.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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