Atalanta Beat Roma 2-1, Guaranteeing UCL Football And Ending A Ranieri Record

Atalanta have mathematically guaranteed Champions League football with Ademola Lookman and Ibrahim Sulemana goals, ending Roma’s 19-match unbeaten Serie A run.

This was a huge fight between third and joint-fourth, as the Giallorossi had the opportunity to leapfrog both Lazio and Juventus after their 1-1 draw. La Dea had Isak Hien suspended, Juan Cuadrado, Sead Kolasinac, Marco Palestra, Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca injured, while Ademola Lookman and Odilon Kossounou started despite not being at 100 per cent. Roma were unbeaten in 19 Serie A rounds, but the season was over for Lorenzo Pellegrini and Paulo Dybala, so they moved to a 3-4-2-1 formation with Matias Soulé in a more advanced role.

Charles De Ketelaere just failed to get on the end of a flicked on cross at the back post, while Bryan Cristante stung Marco Carnesecchi’s gloves from distance.

Lookman was in doubt to feature with an Achilles tendon inflammation, but he opened the scoring when gathering with his back to goal from De Ketelaere, turning Devyn Rensch and firing in from 13 yards.

Ederson almost made it 2-0 after nutmegging a defender, but fired over the bar, with Manu Kone’s strike deflected over after Kossounou was caught napping and De Ketelaere prodding wide from six yards on an Ederson lay-off.

Atalanta wasted a big double opportunity, as first Mile Svilar got down to parry the De Ketelaere finish from 10 yards, then Mateo Retegui fired the rebound over.

Those chances were costly, because a corner was cleared with difficulty and Soulé put the cross onto the head of Bryan Cristante, who with his back to goal flicked it into the far top corner from eight yards.

Roma should’ve turned it around on the stroke of half-time when Eldor Shomurodov skinned a defender, but Manu Kone’s first touch on the assist was awful and the chance went begging.

Shomurodov tested Carnesecchi after the restart and the referee pointed to the spot on 63 minutes when Manu Kone win it back in midfield, combined with Angelino and went down under a Mario Pasalic challenge. However, the penalty was revoked following a VAR On-Field Review, as Kone ran into Pasalic.

Ibrahim Sulemana’s control and half-volley from the edge of the area was deflected by a desperate Rensch sliding block and on the resulting corner Berat Djimsiti nodded over.

Lookman also bent his finish just wide of the far post and Atalanta finally made the pressure count when Lookman ran down the left, rolled across for Lazar Samardzic to lay it off, allowing Sulemana to drill through a sea of legs from the edge of the area.

There was a bizarre moment during the celebration, as an Atalanta supporter ran onto the pitch and ‘scored’ by kicking the ball past Svilar.

Roma pushed hard with a Soulé free kick sailing just wide of the far top corner and Alexis Saelemaekers pulling back from the by-line to force a desperate clearance.

In stoppages Svilar went up for a corner and Carnesecchi fingertipped it off his head, the Pisilli overhead kick charged down by Berat Djimsiti’s face. They suffered their first Serie A defeat since 2-0 away to Como on December 15 and slipped down to sixth place.

Atalanta 2-1 Roma
Lookman 9 (A), Cristante 32 (R), Sulemana 76 (A)

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