Lazio moved level on points with Inter Milan at the top of Serie A with a 3-1 win over Monza on Sunday as 10-man Roma played out the first goalless draw of the Italian season at Como.
Under Gennaro Gattuso, who has bounced back after his failure at the helm of the Italian national side who missed out on the 2026 World Cup, Lazio continued their strong start to the season.
Still unbeaten, the Roman outfit secured a fifth victory in six matches to pull level on 16 points with Inter Milan, who beat Parma 3–0 at the San Siro on Saturday.
Nuno Tavares gave Lazio a third-minute lead and Gustav Isaksen doubled it midway through the first half.
Monza had Lorenzo Lucchesi sent off on 35 minutes for hauling down Tijjani Noslin as he broke through on goal, but the 16th-placed visitors rattled Lazio after the break, pulling a goal back and coming close to equalising before conceding a third goal in the closing stages.
Roma left Como frustrated, having managed only a single point.
The dismissal of league top scorer Donyell Malen for a dangerous tackle early in the second half forced Roma to scale back their ambitions.
Neither team could find the breakthrough in a clash between two sides 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.
"We played two thirds of the match a man down, that is the disappointing thing," Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini told DAZN.
"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."
Roma had the better of the first half as Lorenzo Pellegrini, making his first league start in six months, curled a shot off the post after Paulo Dybala's weak finish failed to trouble Jean Butez.
But Malen's reckless lunge eight minutes into the second half proved costly as the Roma striker, who has scored six league goals this season, was shown a straight red card.
An injury to referee Michael Fabbri meant he had to be replaced by fourth official Simone Sozza for the final 20 minutes as Como pushed forward.
However, the home side struggled to pressure Roma's Pierluigi Gollini, who was making his first league appearance for more than two years after an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Mile Svilar.
Gollini palmed over a fizzing Nico Paz shot and did well to charge down another chance for the Argentina international as he claimed a clean sheet to maintain Roma's unbeaten start to the season.
Both sides are in Champions League action on Wednesday, when Roma host Real Madrid at the Stadio Olimpico and Como travel to Feyenoord.
Bologna picked up their first win of the season by beating Lecce 2-1.
Later, AC Milan go to Sassuolo before surprise package Cagliari welcome Juventus to the Unipol Domus in the late kick-off.