Serie A | Roma 1-1 Atalanta: Share of the points has nobody satisfied
Roma and Atalanta were both left frustrated with a point apiece in this showdown for European places, as Mario Hermoso cancelled out the Nikola Krstovic opener.
This was a pure head-to-head for European ambitions, but also an emotional reunion for Gian Piero Gasperini with his former club, and protégé Raffaele Palladino. Paulo Dybala, Manu Koné, Wesley, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson were still out of action, with Nicolò Pisilli and Gianluca Mancini not at 100 per cent either.
La Dea had to prepare for Wednesday’s Coppa Italia semi-final against Lazio, though Isak Hien and Kamaldeen Sulemana were injured, so Giacomo Raspadori started against the club he turned down in January.
Atalanta had a remarkable recent record against the Giallorossi, unbeaten since March 2022 with six wins and a draw going into this game.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
The visitors scored with the first chance of the game, as Marten de Roon robbed Mario Hermoso in midfield and sent Nikola Krstovic through the middle, the striker’s ferocious right-foot finish beating Mile Svilar.
Matias Soulé cut inside for a curler from the edge of the area that was deflected over by Berat Djimsiti, then in a similar position forced the low one-handed Marco Carnesecchi save.
Carnesecchi did even better when rushing off his line for a desperate block on Donyell Malen’s tap-in from seven yards, when Stephan El Shaarawy had rolled across.
Malen also tested the Atalanta goalkeeper at the near post on the counter-attack, while Mile Svilar denied Ederson one-on-one moments later after the midfielder had left El Aynaoui in his wake.
Roma equalised on the stroke of half-time, as Devyne Rensch nodded down the Zeki Celik cross for an acrobatic Hermoso left-foot volley from eight yards into the roof of the net.
Atalanta made a triple change at half-time, including ex-Roma youth product Nicola Zalewski, who immediately blasted wide from distance.
El Shaarawy stung Carnesecchi’s gloves at the near post with a volley from a tricky angle, as did Malen from a very similar position, while the goalkeeper was ready for a Hermoso header.
Lorenzo Venturino’s strike was deflected over, but on the resulting corner a Hermoso looping header bounced off the top of the crossbar.
Devyne Rensch hobbled off with a muscular problem, while Robinio Vaz couldn’t take advantage of Carnesecchi fumbling a Venturino cross.
Roma 1-1 Atalanta
Krstovic 12 (A), Hermoso 45 (R)
Player statistic
| 12' | Nikola Krstovic (Assist: Marten de Roon) | |||
| Mario Hermoso (Assist: Devyne Rensch) |
45' |
| 65' | Éderson | |||
| Niccolò Pisilli | 75' | |||
| 90+1' | Berat Djimsiti |