It starts with Matias Soule sprinting into midfield and stroking a loose ball gently wide to Alexis Saelemakers. The Belgian winger takes a touch with the outside of his right foot and set offs on a leisurely jog down the left wing. He watches Angelino bust a gut to underlap, ignores him and spies Soule asking for it again in the middle. A pause and he rolls it perfectly to him. Kauadio Kone has an eye for it and looks to accelerate on to the ball, but seeing Soule cock his left leg up, he stops in his tracks...
The Soule left foot is a special one. Capable of whipping great whip and bend, whether from open play or a dead ball. Roma, who signed him ahead of this season, had only seen bits and pieces of it but the 2023/24 season had made it plain that there was something about Soule. On loan at Frosinone (from Juventus), he'd finished in the top three across Europe for successful dribbles completed and had ended as Frosinone's top scorer with 11. Which is why Roma had come calling, with a cheque leaf that read $30 million. Three goals and an assist across 20 games hasn't been much of a return, yet, but it's been evident that new boss Claudio Ranieri is a big fan.
In the Rome derby on Saturday, Soule hadn't been able to do much. Alessio Romagnoli, boyhood Lazio fan and Roma academy graduate, gave Lazio the lead with a thumping header. Lazio pegged Roma back and ensure they didn't pose much of a threat. Ranieri felt (post-match) that it was because they had not gotten Soule involved from the off: "If he starts from wide, he can take the reins of Roma, but we weren't giving him the right service in the first half. We needed him to take men on after a cross-field pass, but we were too slow in finding him and kept giving Lazio the chance to double up the marking."
There is no one marking him now. Running onto the ball in a measured manner, Soule connects with the instep of his left boot. On the run, he strokes it with incredible power onto the crossbar and into the goal. It's hit so hard that it bounces off the crossbar, onto the ground and back onto the crossbar -- that double twang one of the sweetest sounds you can hear on a football field.
Simply sensational, Matías Soulé ✨#LazioRoma pic.twitter.com/YOvoyGfVLU
- Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) April 14, 2025
On its own, the goal was stunning, a work of art any diminutive Argentinian with a wand for a left foot would have been proud of, but given the context -- a raucous as ever Rome derby, Roma trailing 0-1, an unbeaten run of 15 games potentially coming to an end in the one match the Roma fans don't want to lose -- stunning gets elevated to awesome.
The goal made it 1-1 and that's how it stayed, Roma staying firmly in the hunt for Champions League spots.
It was also special match for the veteran Ranieri, in this season he insists is his last. His last Derby della Capitale, defeat looming, and Soule protects his unbeaten record. "I can say it is wonderful for me as a Romanista to be unbeaten, I would've preferred to end with a victory, but you can't have everything in sport or in life, you have to accept it."
For protecting that record closest to Ranieri's heart, for lighting up one of the great derbies in world football with a stunning touch, Matias Soule takes our moment of the weekend.