Lady Gaga’s electropop banger Born This Way is 15 years old, but by the standards of some Serie A stadium DJs that makes it positively modern. Thumping out at the Olimpico on Sunday night it somehow felt timely. Roma were on the right track, baby, after a first half in which they thoroughly dominated Milan.

The expected goals counter had them up by 1.8 to 0.02. Sure, the actual scoreboard still showed 0-0, but the way Donyell Malen kept making space for himself inside the box was enough to convince fans his swaggering debut against Torino seven days before could be no flash in the pan.

This felt like a pivotal moment of the season, fourth-placed Roma taking on second-placed Milan, right after fifth-placed Juventus had faced third-placed Napoli in the early evening game. The front page of Sunday’s Corriere dello Sport billed it all as one big “Spareggione” – a mega-tie-breaker – but what for? Were these teams competing for the status of No 1 challenger to Inter for the scudetto? Or simply for a place in next season’s Champions League?

Inter had moved six points clear on Friday, recovering from two goals down to beat Pisa 6-2 in an extraordinary game at San Siro. They might not win the head-to-heads against their closest rivals but Cristian Chivu’s Nerazzurri sure are consistent at seeing off everybody else.

Juventus responded with an astonishing win of their own, beating the champions 3-0. If anything, the margin might have been bigger. Alessandro Buongiorno dug a Francisco Conceição effort off the line before half-time and late on the Bianconeri were rampant, carving through the Napoli’s exhausted backline at will.

Antonio Conte blamed his team’s injury crisis, the first-choice goalkeeper, Vanja Milinković-Savic, joining a list of absentees that already included Frank Anguissa, David Neres, Kevin De Bruyne, Amir Rrahmani, Billy Gilmour and Matteo Politano. “For the first time in my career I played a footballer who I hadn’t even seen once in training,” said the head coach, referencing the Brazilian forward Giovane, who joined from Verona last week.

But those circumstances ought not to take credit away from Juventus, whose collection of young talent look to be forming into a serious team under Luciano Spalletti. This was their eighth win in 10 across all competitions, the only loss arriving at Cagliari – where they held 78% of possession and outshot their opponents 21-3 but somehow still wound up on the wrong side of a 1-0 defeat.

There is a togetherness in this group that manifested itself in the way players and coaches rallied around Jonathan David after his penalty miss against Lecce. He scored the opener against Napoli, bringing his tally to three goals and two assists in five games since that infamous spot-kick. Kenan Yildiz, Weston McKennie, Pierre Kalulu and Khéphren Thuram ran to celebrate with him by sharing an imaginary coffee.

It takes more than team spirit to deliver performances like this. Thuram, watched by father Lilian and brother Marcus in the stands, was authoritative, winning possession constantly and carrying it forward from midfield. The 24-year-old has played some of the best football of his career in recent weeks, and it is no coincidence that Juve’s lone defeat in this run arrived in a game where he was limited to a 10-minute cameo.

Manuel Locatelli was fantastic alongside him, setting up David’s opener with an outrageous backheeled assist. Yildiz took his chance nervelessly to make it 2-0. Filip Kostic, a second-half substitute, reminded us how well he can strike the ball as he fired in the third from outside the box.

This team feels drastically different to the one Spalletti inherited from Igor Tudor in October. It may be too late for a title push. Juventus are 10 points behind Inter and still fifth – though this win did bring them to within one of Napoli.

Qualifying for the Champions League is the priority, just as it is for every other team near the top. Juventus’s win, together with Como’s 6-0 clobbering of Torino, only raised the stakes further before the game between Roma and Milan. Six teams into four spots – at best five, if Italian clubs can claim one extra by improving their results in Europe this season – simply do not go.

Roma have not played in the Champions League since 2018-19 but belief was raised by Sunday’s first-half performance. Within 15 seconds of kick-off Malen had already registered a shot on target. If his finish lacked the venom to beat Mike Maignan, the timing of his run to meet Manu Koné’s through-ball and movement to evade three defenders were a confirmation of his threat.

That was just the start. Koné tested Maignan with a shot of his own, then Malen did again on the rebound. The Dutchman sent a back-post header wide from a Paulo Dybala free-kick then missed again from a better position when Evan Ndicka flicked the ball to him 10 yards out, chesting down and firing outside the right-hand upright.

Malen aimed on target when Matías Soulé released him into the left side of the box 15 minutes later, but Maignan blocked at the near post. Soulé then shot over after Luka Modric made a dramatic sliding challenge to thwart Zeki Celik. The half ended with Maignan making a point-blank save from the Turkey international.

Roma were the better team by far. So inevitably, they fell behind within 20 minutes of the restart. Modric crossed and Koni De Winter headed in. Perhaps it was not a coincidence that the brilliant Koné had also been forced out by injury a few moments earlier.

Roma could have been forgiven for surrendering to a sense of deja vu. They had created plenty of chances in their previous meeting against Milan, in November, but lost 1-0. Even a 72nd-minute penalty award invoked unhappy precedent. Maignan had denied Dybala from the spot late at San Siro, too.

But the Argentinian had already been subbed off this weekend, replaced by Lorenzo Pellegrini. This has been a difficult year for the man stripped of Roma’s captaincy in pre-season – Gasperini announcing it would henceforth be worn in any given game by whoever had the most appearances for the club. The expectation has been that Pellegrini, a Rome-born fan who grew up in their academy, will leave when his contract expires at the end of this campaign.

Lately, though, there has been more noise about a possible renewal. It might only grow louder now, after he buried a perfect penalty into the bottom-left corner to earn the least Roma deserved.

Pellegrini’s relationship with Roma and its supporters is more complicated than we have room to delve into. Unambiguous, though, is the fact he has shown up for them in some important moments. His first goal this season was a winner in the derby against Lazio.

Gasperini deflected questions about the player’s future at full time, saying this was not the moment to discuss it. He preferred to focus on praising his players – Pellegrini included – saying he had no criticisms at all. “We come out of this evening feeling really strong,” he said. On the right track, maybe, even if an opportunity was missed here to deal a rival a direct blow.