Malen nets spectacular treble to put Roma top of Serie A

Dutch international Donyell Malen scored a spectacular hat-trick as Roma secured the top spot in Serie A with a dominant 4-0 victory over Fiorentina on Monday. Argentine forward Paulo Dybala set up all three of Malen's goals, bringing Malen's impressive strike rate at Roma since his initial loan move from Fiorentina in January to 17 goals in 19 league appearances.

Niccolo Pisilli added a fourth goal four minutes from time, providing a challenging debut for Roma's new coach, Fabio Grosso. This victory propelled Roma ahead of Serie A champions Inter Milan, who had a comfortable 4-1 win over Monza in their match on Saturday. On the other side of the league, former Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso began his tenure with Lazio well, as midfielder Davide Frattesi scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win against Bologna.

This result was a stark contrast to Gattuso's previous competitive debut with Lazio, which ended in a heavy Italian Cup defeat to second division Mantova. The loss sparked anger among Lazio's passionate fans, many of whom had been protesting against club owner Claudio Lotito, including through match boycotts. Bologna, despite dominating the match, failed to score again after Frattesi's early goal.