Having completed his loan move from Aston Villa, Donyell Malen enjoyed a dream debut for AS Roma against Torino on Sunday, scoring the opening goal of the game in the 26th minute.
AS Roma are one of the biggest clubs in Italy and ended up having a successful season in the 2024-25 campaign. What looked like a campaign to forget was salvaged by then-manager Claudio Ranieri, guiding the team to a fifth-placed finish in the Serie A table. Gian Piero Gasperini is now the manager of Roma, who are playing in the UEFA Europa League this season.
The former AC Milan left-back Andrea Bozzolan has attracted the interest of Torino, who could make a move already in January, according to a report. Bozzolan is a name that many Milan fans will recognise, seeing as he featured for the first team during some friendlies and also played for the Futuro last season. However, despite being highly rated when he first broke through, he never really found his stride with the Rossoneri.
Starting with the hosts, heading into November's fortnight interval with three consecutive Serie A stalemate, Torino have the feel of a squad who are once again searching for some crucial stability. Still scrapping it out in the bottom-half of the table and almost sat in top-flight limbo, the Bulls have won just a pair of their previous eight Serie A appearances - a run that stems back to a stellar 1-0 victory away at Roma on September 14th.
Starting with the hosts, eventually falling short last season as they missed out on the chance to book a top-half finish among Italy's elite, Torino are desperate to go one-step further this time around. Last seen putting in what was a sensational performance as they clinched a 1-0 victory at home against reigning Serie A champions Napoli, Marco Baroni's men will be dreaming of a repeat performance here.
We moved the ball well and created situations in the first half, but were too busy trying to be pretty, and basically we created their goal for them. There was more energy after the break, but not enough. So congratulations to Torino, but the fact is we did it all ourselves today. I had said at the start of the season that I know football well, so I assumed these were perfectly normal things to say. We are building something new here. We've got to work well, and our season will depend on how the new arrivals grow and improve. We have a game every three days, we do not have time to work in training, so we've got to improve every time and have patience before seeing those improvements.
