In the early morning of May 13, Beijing time, the 36th round of Serie A ushered in a key battle, and Roma went to challenge Atalanta away. It's not just a three-point game, it's a Champions League qualification next season.
Before the game, Atalanta and Roma had 60 points with one game less, but the true blue and black still occupied fifth place in the table by virtue of goal difference. If the season ends in such a standing, it means that Roma will once again miss out on Champions League qualification and will have to play in the Europa League next season.
As a result, Roma boss De Rossi will have to win away at Atalanta to have any chance of returning to the top five and then have an advantage in the race for Champions League qualification next season.
In this game, De Rossi still changed back to a back 4 formation, Dybala continued to be absent due to injury in the front, Lukaku started with Shaarawy and Baldanch, the midfield was dominated by Pellegrini, Paredes and Cristante, and Angelino, Ndicka, Mancini Jr. and Christensen were lined up in the back, and the goalkeeper was still Svillar.
Atalanta quickly took the initiative with home advantage as soon as the game began, and after just four minutes of play, Koopmeiners' corner kick hit Romelu Lukaku and flew towards the goal, but goalkeeper Svillar was on his toes and saved the ball in time.
Rome escaped, but Atlanta did not give up the attack. In the 18th minute, Scamacca sent a through ball to De Ketelaere, who won the ball and cut inside to give Atalanta a 1-0 lead.
When the Roma players had not yet recovered from the nightmare of conceding a goal, Atalanta made a comeback just two minutes later, Koopmeiners dribbled into the box and knocked back, De Ketelaere followed up with a shot to give Atalanta a 2-0 victory.
Atalanta also created a number of chances in the latter part of the first half, but all of them came close to scoring.
In the second half, Atalanta continued to attack Roma, and the Red Wolves were in constant danger in front of goal, but goalkeeper Svillar was also in good form, repeatedly denying the home team's must-score goals.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of the whole Roma team, the opportunity finally came in the 66th minute, when substitute Tammy Abraham converted a penalty and Manuel Pellegrini converted a penalty to give Roma a point.
Although both sides had good scoring opportunities at the end of the game, neither side took advantage of them, and the score was finally fixed at 2-1, and Atalanta won the crucial battle for five.
After this game, Roma are still in sixth place with only 60 points, while Atalanta are firmly in fifth place through this game, and are infinitely close to qualifying for next season's Champions League.
It is worth mentioning that Roma's meritorious coach Jose Mourinho said in an interview with the media last season that Roma's current squad does not have the strength to compete for Champions League qualification, which means that the club's president, Friedkin, is willing to spend money to strengthen reinforcements. Unfortunately, Friedkin spent almost zero on the transfer market last summer, which led to Roma falling behind in the table at the start of the season, which ultimately led to today's bad results.
Of course, Roma's current boss De Rossi is clearly still too young, and he did lead his team to good results for a while after Mourinho's departure, and then the Roma legend drifted away, trying to go further in both Serie A and Europa League, and the result is predictable, the defeat on both fronts is almost empty-handed.
The only thing that remains on the minds of Roma fans is that Atalanta can beat new Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen in this season's Europa League final and secure fifth place in the league, so that Roma can still qualify for next season's Champions League even if they finish sixth.