Ademola Lookman was on target as Atalanta defeated AS Roma 2-1 in Monday night’s Serie A contest and have guaranteed Champions League football next season.
The goal was Lookman’s 15th in the Serie A and also his 20th across all competitions this season.
The win saw Atalanta maintain third spot and have taken their tally to 71 points which means the likes of Juventus (64 points), Lazio (64 points) and Roma (63 points) cannot catch up with them again with two games left.
Lookman and Ibrahim Sulemana’s goals ended 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.
Atalanta had Isak Hien suspended, Juan Cuadrado, Sead Kolasinac, Marco Palestra, Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca injured, while Lookman and Odilon Kossounou started despite not being at 100 per cent.
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 then opened the scoring on nine minutes 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 to make it 1-1.
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.
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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 However, the penalty was revoked following a VAR On-Field Review, as Kone ran into Pasalic.
Sulemana’s control and half-volley from the edge ofhalf-volley from the edge of the area was deflected by a desperate Rensch sliding block and on the resulting corner Berat Djimsiti nodded over.
Atalanta finally made the pressure count and got their second goal 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.
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.
Football Italia
