The confirmed lineups for Roma versus Real Madrid, played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 14 October 2026 at 21:00 CEST, are the reason searches spiked after the match. The fixture was Matchday 2 of the 2026/27 Champions League league phase. The starting elevens matter because they explain two storylines at once: José Mourinho managing Real Madrid on his return to the stadium, and Roma fielding Gian Piero Gasperini's 3-4-2-1 with Paulo Dybala and Donyell Malen. The team sheets are confirmed by realmadrid.com and football-italia.net.
Real Madrid lined up in a 4-2-3-1 under coach José Mourinho, according to realmadrid.com and football-italia.net. Thibaut Courtois started in goal behind a back four of Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konaté, Antonio Rüdiger and Marc Cucurella. The double pivot paired Aurélien Tchouaméni with Federico Valverde, and the attacking line read Jude Bellingham, Yan Diomande and Vinícius Jr. behind Kylian Mbappé. That shape put the creative burden on Bellingham and Vinícius while Mbappé led the line alone.
Real Madrid's substitutes were Lunin, Mestre, Huijsen, Camavinga, Endrick, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Arda Güler, Carreras, Carlos Espí, Bernardo Silva, Brahim and Thiago, per as.com. The list is notable because it mixed established first-team names with young attacking options such as Endrick and Carlos Espí. It also shows that a manager can change a match without changing the starting eleven. The bench is a separate, confirmable fact from the lineup itself and is often searched alongside it.
José Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid for this game, as confirmed by as.com and realmadrid.com. According to football-italia.net, the match was his first return to the Olimpico as an opponent since his dismissal from Roma in January 2024. That context explains part of the search interest around the lineups, because the man picking Madrid's eleven had recently coached the home side. A manager facing a former club is a storyline that attaches itself to the team selection, not just the result.
Roma set up in a 3-4-2-1 under Gian Piero Gasperini, according to as.com, 101greatgoals.com and football-italia.net. Pierluigi Gollini started in goal behind a back three of Gianluca Mancini, Evan Ndicka and Mario Hermoso. The midfield four was Nahuel Molina, Manu Koné, Marten de Roon and Wesley, with Paulo Dybala and Matías Soulé in the two pockets behind Donyell Malen. Gasperini's system asks the wing-backs to provide width while the two attacking midfielders play narrow.
Roma's substitutes were Vásquez, De Marzi, Rensch, Koulierakis, Pellegrini, Castro, Balerdi, Pisilli, Lulli, Rodrigo Mora and Ghilardi, listed by as.com. The bench shows Gasperini had fresh legs in midfield and defence, including Lorenzo Pellegrini, who is normally a starter when fit. Substitutions in a match are recorded separately from the confirmed XI, and as.com logs Roma's changes at 16, 45, 62, 62 and 80 minutes. Those timings show how early the coach felt he needed to adjust.
Real Madrid were without Militão, Asencio, Mendy and Rodrygo because of injuries, according to abc.es. Camavinga, Bernardo Silva and Arda Güler were available again after suspensions, which is why they appear among the substitutes rather than the starters. Roma were missing Dominik Szoboszlai and Leonardo Spinazzola, also due to injuries, per abc.es. These absences explain why the names on the team sheet looked different from a full-strength eleven, and they are the practical reason fans search for the lineup.
Roma's 3-4-2-1 placed Paulo Dybala and Matías Soulé in the two attacking midfield roles behind Donyell Malen. That combination puts two left-footed creators in the same line, which shapes how Roma build attacks through the half-spaces rather than down the touchline. In Gasperini's system the two players behind the striker are expected to receive between the lines and combine quickly. The confirmed selection therefore tells you Roma's intended route to goal before a ball was kicked.
Vinícius Jr. started for Real Madrid even though an expulsion against Villarreal reportedly costs him four La Liga games, according to abc.es. The key distinction is that a domestic league suspension does not automatically apply to a Champions League fixture, which is why he was eligible here. That gap between competition rules is a common source of confusion and a common reason people search for the lineup. The team sheet confirmed by realmadrid.com shows him in the starting eleven.
The referee for the fixture was Letexier from France, according to football-italia.net. Officials are usually published alongside the lineups, which is one reason a single search for team news surfaces the referee too. Knowing the official matters for expectations about how physical duels and dissent will be handled, although no referee guarantees a particular style of officiating in any given match. This detail is confirmable and worth stating separately from the football narrative.
The starting elevens are confirmed by club and media sources: realmadrid.com published Real Madrid's initial eleven, while as.com, 101greatgoals.com and football-italia.net published both team sheets. Because these are official or matchday-verified lists, they are more reliable than speculative predicted lineups published before kickoff. Predicted XIs are guesses and should be treated as such; confirmed lists are reported facts. When sources disagree, the disagreement is usually about minute-level details of events, not about who started.
Real Madrid won 3–4, with Roma's goals coming from Marten de Roon and a Donyell Malen double. Madrid's goals came from Kylian Mbappé, Carlos Espí in the 82nd minute, Endrick in the 84th and Antonio Rüdiger in the 89th, according to as.com and abc.es. Madrid therefore scored three times in the closing stretch after trailing. The identity of those scorers matters because Espí and Endrick began the match on the bench, so the lineup alone does not tell the whole story of how the goals arrived.
Sources differ slightly on the exact minutes of the opening goals. as.com lists De Roon at 19 minutes and Mbappé at 24, while abc.es and ESPN place them at 20 or 21 and 25 or 27 respectively. This kind of small discrepancy is common in live match data, where the recorded minute depends on when a feed logs the event. The disagreement is about timing, not about who scored or the final result. Readers comparing reports should expect these minor differences and not treat them as contradictions.
The substitutions explain how a 3–1 deficit became a 3–4 win: Carlos Espí, Endrick and Rüdiger all scored after coming on or pushing forward late. Real Madrid's bench included Camavinga, Bernardo Silva, Arda Güler and Endrick, so the manager had options to change the tempo and the attacking shape. Bringing on fresh attackers against a tiring back three is a recognised way to shift a game's momentum. The confirmed lineup and bench together are what let you reconstruct this sequence.
Roma led for much of the match, with Donyell Malen scoring twice and Marten de Roon adding another. Malen's brace had the home side positioned for a major result against Real Madrid. The late collapse is what turned a potential statement win into a narrow defeat. Roma's starting eleven, with Dybala and Soulé behind Malen, shows the attacking intent that produced those goals before the closing minutes changed the outcome.
José Mourinho returned to the Stadio Olimpico as an opponent for the first time since his January 2024 dismissal from Roma, according to football-italia.net. He did so as Real Madrid's coach, a club he had managed earlier in his career. That double connection, former Roma manager and former Real Madrid manager, is unusual and gives the fixture a narrative beyond the table. It also explains why the lineup announcement drew attention to who he selected rather than only to the result.
The fixture was Roma's first home Champions League match in seven years, according to football-italia.net. A long absence from hosting Europe's top club competition raises the stakes for the home side and increases interest in how they set up. It also means many of the players involved had never started a Champions League night at the Olimpico. That context is part of why the team sheet, and not only the scoreline, became a search topic.
A formation such as 4-2-3-1 describes how many players occupy each band of the pitch: four defenders, two holding midfielders, three attacking midfielders and one striker. A 3-4-2-1 means three centre-backs, four midfielders including wing-backs, two attacking midfielders and one forward. The numbers do not fix behaviour, since the same shape can be defensive or aggressive depending on instructions. When you read a confirmed lineup, the shape plus the names tells you the intended plan better than the shape alone.
Search interest in lineups usually peaks after a dramatic match because the eleven is the document that explains who was on the pitch for each turning point. In this case the hook is the combination of Mourinho's return, Vinícius Jr.'s eligibility, and a bench that produced three late goals. A lineup is verifiable, published by clubs and media, and answers the immediate question of who played. That mix of drama and confirmable detail is what turns a team sheet into a trending search term.
Treat the officially published lists from realmadrid.com and the matchday reports from as.com, football-italia.net and 101greatgoals.com as the reliable record of who started. Treat minute-level goal timings from different outlets as approximations, and check the specific source before repeating a number. Keep the confirmed facts, such as the formations, the coaches, the scorers and the referee, separate from interpretation about why the game turned. The lineup explains the starting conditions; the substitutions and goals explain how those conditions changed.
