MILAN: AS Roma were thrashed 4-0 by a Udinese side who showed no mercy helped by a brilliant early goal from Destiny Udogie on Sunday in their fifth Serie A game of the season.

Jose Mourinho’s side had only conceded one goal in their opening four games of the campaign, but were dismantled at the Stadio Friuli.

Roma could have gone top with a win but Udinese scored after five minutes through Udogie, who intercepted a pass between defender Rick Karsdorp and goalkeeper Rui Patricio to slot home.

“I prefer losing one match 4-0 than four matches 1-0,” Roma manager Jose Mourinho told reporters after his worst defeat at the helm of a Serie A team in his career.

“It’s tough for us and the fans to swallow, but this is life. We have another game on Thursday and we go forward.”

Lazar Samardzic doubled the score in the 56th from outside the box while fellow midfielder Roberto Pereyra netted a left-foot shot in the 75th after an assist by Jean-Victor Makengo.

Sandi Lovric slotted home seven minutes later when Pereyra cut the ball back to find him in the middle of the box.

“We conceded goals due to individual mistakes, but for me they are collective mistakes,” Mourinho added.

Roma are fifth on 10 points, one point behind leaders Napoli and AC Milan and level with Atalanta and fourth-placed Udinese.

Mourinho’s side visit Empoli on Sept 12 while Udinese travel to Sassuolo next Sunday.

Elsewhere, Verona came from behind to record their first win of the season after beating Sampdoria 2-1 at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi.

Francesco Caputo gave Sampdoria the lead with a brilliant left-footed strike in the 40th minute but Verona levelled the score four minutes later as Thomas Henry header hits the top of the crossbar but the ball crossed the line after hitting with the back of goalkeeper Emil Audero.

Frustrated Sampdoria conceded again a minute later when Josh Doig scored the second goal in the added time before the first half.

Verona held onto their lead till the final whistle of the game.

Meanwhile, the other two games of Sunday ended in stalemates as Spezia drew with Bologna 2-2 while Cremonese and Sassuolo drew 0-0.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2022