Lazio moved level on points with Inter at the top of Serie A after a 3-1 win over Monza on Sunday. It was Lazio’s fifth victory in six matches and kept them unbeaten on 16 points, the same total as Inter, who beat Parma 3-0 at San Siro on Saturday. Gennaro Gattuso’s side have made a strong start to the season, with the coach having bounced back after his failure at the helm of the Italy national team that missed out on the 2026 World Cup.
Nuno Tavares gave Lazio a third-minute lead and Gustav Isaksen doubled the advantage midway through the first half. Monza, who are 16th in the table, were reduced to 10 men on 35 minutes when Lorenzo Lucchesi was sent off for hauling down Tijjani Noslin as he broke through on goal. The visitors responded after the break, pulling a goal back and coming close to equalising before conceding a third goal in the closing stages.
Roma were left frustrated at Como, managing only a single point in the first goalless draw of the Italian season. Their task was made harder by the early second-half dismissal of league top scorer Donyell Malen for a dangerous tackle, which forced them to scale back their ambitions. Neither side could find a breakthrough in a meeting between two teams widely regarded as dark horses for the title, leaving Inter and Lazio two points clear of Roma after their respective wins over Parma and Monza.
Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini told DAZN: “We played two-thirds of the match a man down, that is the disappointing thing. We were confident we had an excellent chance, but we were forced to defend with 10 men, and we did so with order and clarity. When you play 30 minutes with 10 men and come away with a draw, that is fine.”
Elsewhere in Serie A, Bologna picked up their first win of the season by beating Lecce 2-1. Later, Milan go to Sassuolo before surprise package Cagliari welcome Juventus to the Unipol Domus in the late kick-off.
In the Bundesliga, Borussia Mönchengladbach remained rock bottom after a 2-1 defeat to local rivals Cologne on Sunday. The match was overshadowed by ugly scenes on the terraces: the game was suspended for several minutes and riot police surrounded the away block after Gladbach fans appeared to fire fireworks into the home sections following Said El Mala’s superb second-half winner. The loss maintained pointless Gladbach’s miserable start to the season and left new coach Alexander Blessin unable to prevent a fifth defeat in as many games.