Roma led by two goals. Then Inter remembered who they are.
Fifty-one seconds into the second half at Stadio Olimpico, Lautaro Martinez had already cut the deficit in half. Days later, the scoreline from that Serie A top-of-the-table clash still reads like a script: Roma 2, Inter 2, and a share of the points that neither side truly wanted walking off the pitch. Manu Kone had given Roma a dream start, scoring in the sixth minute off a Paulo Dybala knockdown and adding a second in the 37th, finishing at the far post from another Dybala delivery. Roma controlled the first half comfortably, out-shooting Inter’s expected-goals total 1.25 to 0.88.
Kone became only the fifth Roma player since 1980 to score twice in a first half against Inter, a stat that says plenty about how rare that opening spell was. It did not survive the interval.
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Martinez does what Martinez does
Inter flipped the expected-goals battle almost immediately after the restart, dominating the second half 1.49 to 0.43. Martinez converted a Marcus Thuram cutback less than a minute after the whistle, then completed his brace in the 79th minute, poking home from a corner-kick scramble that Roma never fully cleared. It was his fourth Serie A goal of the season and the sixth time under manager Cristian Chivu that Inter have avoided defeat after trailing by two goals, a habit that is starting to look less like luck and more like identity.
Two unbeaten records end, but nobody falls behind
Both clubs arrived at the Olimpico with perfect records intact, and both left with those runs broken but their positions near the top of Serie A undisturbed. For Roma, the frustration is obvious: a two-goal cushion built on a fast start evaporated inside 30 second-half minutes. For Inter, the comeback is now a pattern rather than an exception under Chivu, six times over that they have clawed back from a two-goal hole without losing. With Napoli and Juventus both chasing from behind, neither Roma nor Inter can afford many more afternoons like this one, even if the final scoreline flattered both sides.
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