A frigid night made for a frosty reunion as Gian Piero Gasperini led Roma back to his old stomping grounds, albeit with a new corporate sponsor. A week after ruining Daniele De Rossi’s return to Stadio
Olimpico with a rousing 3-0 win over Genoa, Gasperini and Roma failed to match wits with Raffaele Palladino’s Atalanta side, who moved up to 8th place thanks to their stifling 1-0 win over Roma at the newly minted New Balance Arena in Bergamo.
After observing a minute of silence before kickoff and then being allowed an additional minute to warm back up, the match got off to a rather stilted start. Whistles blew twice more in the opening five minutes after referee Michael Fabbri fell down, and Zeki Celik succumbed to a minor knock. It was an inauspicious start to the match, one that, in hindsight, did not bode well for the Giallorossi.
Despite those early hiccups, Roma seized the early initiative, with Paulo Dybala immediately testing the Atalanta backline, only to see an early effort blocked. Undaunted, Roma pressed on and created the first genuine chance of the match in the 7th minute. After dislodging the ball on the wing, Mario Hermoso played a brilliant switch to Dybala on the opposite side of the pitch, and with Dybala drifting back to settle the ball, Evan Ferguson slid behind the defense, receiving a pocket pass in stride. With a clear path to goal, Ferguson had a chance to draw first blood but was done in by a heavy secondary touch as he made his move toward Marco Carnesecchi in the Atalanta goal.
Atalanta gradually asserted control, using their wing-backs to stretch the pitch and generate set-piece opportunities. That pressure paid off in the 12th minute when Giorgio Scalvini scored off a corner kick, essentially hurling himself into Mile Svilar as he attempted to corral the wickedly bent in-swinger. With calls for a foul on Scalvini, if not an outright handball, Roma pinned their hopes on VAR—to no avail.
The goal shifted momentum firmly in Atalanta’s favor. Charles De Ketelaere was lively on the break, while Gianluca Scamacca’s movement caused problems, drawing fouls and forcing Roma’s defenders into repeated interventions. Roma relied heavily on blocks from Zeki Çelik, Jan Żółkowski, and Mario Hermoso to stay within touching distance, but were spared further humiliation by a questionable VAR call that ruled Scamacca offside.
While Roma managed to avert any further disaster in goal, Hermoso and Gianluca Mancini each received yellow cards late in the first half, putting the defense at a disadvantage for the remainder of the match.
Although the first half featured an early burst of energy, the second half was a story of Atalanta’s defensive organization. Despite Gasperini’s tactical tweaks—aimed at injecting more pace into the final third and forcing Palladino’s side into a defensive shell—Atalanta’s backline remained impenetrable, with Berat Djimsiti and second-half sub Isak Hien preventing the Giallorossi from troubling Carnesecchi, who faced only two on-target attempts in the second half.
And that was pretty much all she wrote: Roma was outclassed in every phase of the match, losing the strategic battle in midfield, where Palladino essentially neutralized Dybala and Soulé by limiting them to horizontal passes, while Atalanta’s wing-backs (Davide Zappacosta in particular) kept their opponents pinned down, stifling any chance Roma had of creating overloads or mismatches.
Final Thoughts
Well, at least we had a nice reprieve from the malaise in last weekend’s entertaining 3-0 romp at the Olimpico. But here we are once again, lamenting a lifeless Roma attack and their simple inability to beat any club worth their salt. As a result of today’s defeat, Roma’s record against top eight sides this season falls to 2-0-5 (W-D-L), while their overall record stands at 11-0-7. Somehow, despite conceding only 12 goals in 18 matches, the club has lost seven times.
Actually, strike that; it’s not somehow; there’s no mystery here—Roma’s attack has been so dreadful that a one-goal deficit has become nearly insurmountable. And if they don’t solve this riddle soon, their Champions League dreams will have to wait another year.
Up Next
Roma travels to Lecce on Tuesday.
