Atalanta books Champions League ticket - Roma's famous streak ends

Ibrahim Sulemana finally shot Atalanta into the Champions League. IMAGO/Gribaudi/ImagePhoto

Precisely because the other Champions League candidates Juventus and Lazio had stolen points from each other in a 1-1 draw on this 36th Serie A matchday, both Atalanta under coach Gian Piero Gasperini, after their recent 4-0 win at Monza , and Roma under coach Claudio Ranieri, after their important 1-0 win against Fiorentina, had a great chance of reaching the Champions League.

This situation initially seemed to paralyze the visitors from the capital. Aside from a long-range strike by Cristante, which was then parried by Carnesecchi in the 8th minute, the Romans had little offensive potential. Instead, they made simple build-up errors and outperformed Bergamo, who had started dominant, by the minute.

From Lookman and Zappacosta (5th) to de Ketelaere, who missed by centimeters (6th), the opening phase clearly belonged to Lombardy. This was especially true after the ninth minute, when Lookman was played through and not marked closely enough by Rensch. The former Leipzig player was able to confidently fire a shot into the right corner on the turn for a deserved 1-0. Atalanta then failed to add to their lead quickly despite having good chances.

This came back to haunt them before the break, when the score was 1-1, seemingly out of nowhere: Soulé, standing free, was able to deliver a perfect cross into the center to the rising Cristante, whose header into the left corner was too much for de Roon and goalkeeper Carnesecchi (32'). Immediately before the break, former Gladbach player Koné and Rensch could have made it 2-1 – for a Roma team that showed more stability with the 1-1 draw.

This impression persisted at the restart, as Carnesecchi parried a decent shot from Shomurodov (53') and Soulé's aim was too inaccurate after a dribble (55'). At the other end, Bellanova re-entered the match after a solo effort (56').

The game then continued with a penalty for an alleged foul by Pasalic on Koné. However, after VAR intervention, the decision was reversed – Gespann ruled the contact was insufficient (65th minute). Just as Lookman's concealed shot was inaccurate (75th minute).

Just a minute later, however, the Lombards found the Roman net. The agile Lookman opened the scoring, former Hertha player Samardzic also provided a lucky assist, and substitute Sulemana (who joined from Cagliari in 2024) fired a powerful shot into the bottom right corner to make it 2-1 to much acclaim. His first goal for La Dea—and also the final goal, as the Romans couldn't recover from this setback.