Rome (AFP) - Lazio continued its perfect and unprecedented start in the Italian Football League and took the lead with a difficult victory over its guest Cagliari 2-1, on Sunday at the Olympic Stadium in Rome in the tenth stage.

Published on: 01/11/2026 - 17:55 Last updated: 01/11/2026 - 22:51

Cagliari were the first to score through Angolan striker Mbala Nazola in the 21st minute, but Lazio succeeded in quickly returning to the atmosphere of the match by equalizing through Danish Gustav Isaksen in the 36th minute, before Andrea Pinamonti sealed the victory in the second half, which was completely controlled by the hosts, by scoring the second goal in the 83rd minute.

Coach Gennaro Gattuso's team did not waste the opportunity it had following Inter Milan's loss to its neighbor Milan 1-3 in the "Rage" derby on Saturday, so it took the lead.

The 2006 world champion said, "We still need 12 points to achieve the goal that I set at the beginning of the season (ensuring staying with 40 points). We must think match by match. It is better for my players and me not to look at the table, otherwise we will get dizzy."

Gattuso's training experiences with clubs, whether with Milan (2017-2019), Napoli (2019-2021), or French Marseille (2023-2024), have so far been considered largely disappointing.

Before the international break, his team will play another big test next Sunday against Napoli, last season’s runner-up.

With this ninth victory against one draw, the “Biancocelesti” raised its score to 28 points, which is the best score in the club’s history at this stage of the season, knowing that its second and last league title dates back to the year 2000.

Lazio is now three points ahead of Inter Milan, which fell to second place (25 points), while it finds itself under pressure from third-place Roma (24 points) and fourth-placed Como (23 points), who beat Udinese 5-2 on Saturday and Venezia 1-0 on Sunday, respectively.

As happened in its previous home matches this season, today's match was held in front of almost empty stands at the Olympic Stadium, after the club's fans and "ultras" groups continued to boycott the matches as part of an open conflict with the club's owner and president, Claudio Lotito, whom they accuse of not investing adequately in the team.

On the other hand, Cagliari, whose French defender Adam Hubert was sent off in the first minute of stoppage time, froze at 13 points with their fourth loss in a row and their fifth this season, in their fifth match without any victory.

Cuomo continues his winning momentum

Coco continued the momentum of victories before his continental match against French club Lens in the Champions League, beating his guest Venezia 1-0.

The Lombard team dominated the course of the match against last-placed Venezia with 3 points from Yateem's win, but it did not succeed in scoring except through a penalty kick in the 43rd minute executed by French captain Lucas da Cunha, opening his scoring tally this season.

“This type of match was difficult for us to win last season,” Da Cunha told the Dazon streaming platform, adding, “It was a difficult confrontation, but we achieved the victory, and this reflects the progress we have made.”

It is the fourth successive victory for the men of Spanish coach Cesc Fabregas in Serie A, and the fifth in a row in various competitions, and they prepared in the best possible way to face their host Lens in the fourth round of the unified group of the most prestigious continental competition.

"This victory is very important in the context of our maturity as a team," Fabregas said.

"Our mentality is impeccable," the 39-year-old Spaniard added.

Como, who achieved his seventh victory this season, raised his score to 23 points, regaining fourth place from Milan, and tightening the noose on third-place Roma with 24 points. He is now only two points behind Inter, the defending champion.

Como is considered to have the best record among the four Italian clubs participating in the Champions League competition, with 6 points, including a remarkable victory over Manchester United of England 4-1, where he occupies ninth place in the provisional standings of the unified group.

Como, who was playing in the third division in 2021, will compete in the main continental competition and European competitions for the first time in his history this season.

Frosinini, the surprise start of the season, continued his remarkable results by defeating his guest Torino with two clean goals scored by Algerian Fares Guigimes (48) and Giacomo Kalou (90+3).

It is Frosinone's sixth victory this season and the third in his last four matches in which he has not tasted the loss he has suffered only twice so far.

Frosinone strengthened its position in sixth place with 20 points, compared to 13 points for Torerno, who fell to thirteenth place with its second loss in a row and fifth this season.

Juventus breathes a sigh of relief

Juventus, led by former Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti (2021-2023), breathed a sigh of relief and regained the winning tone after suffering two defeats in the previous three stages, by defeating its guest Napoli 2-0.

The southern team was very close to opening the scoring since the eighth minute, had it not been for Guglielmo Vicario's wonderful save against Lorenzo Luca.

The "Old Lady" team took the lead through a long-range shot from its Bosnian striker Karim Alajbegovic, who at the age of nineteen scored his first goal in the Italian League (70).

Napoli's mission was complicated after Luca Marianucci was sent off after receiving a second warning (75), and they conceded a second goal scored by Ivorian player Jeremy Boga (87).

This victory allowed the club with the most titles in Italy to occupy seventh place with 17 points.

His coach, Spalletti, who was criticized after losing at home to Lazio (0-3) on October 18 and then losing away to Genoa (2-0) in the middle of the week, was now able to catch his breath, unlike his counterpart in Naples, the former coach of the Old Lady team, Massimiliano Allegri.

Allegri watched the second match in a row from the stands after being sent off during the draw against Roma (3-3), and he continued his failure since he took over as coach of Napoli last July in achieving two consecutive wins in the league.

His team, which lost the services of Danish Rasmus Hojlund on Sunday due to his infection with influenza, is in eighth place with 14 points.

Genoa returned with a valuable victory from its host, Lecce, with two goals by Montenegrin Milutin Osmajic (11) and Brazilian Junior Messias (28) versus a goal by Moroccan Youssef Maleh (40).

© 2026 AFP

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