Atalanta-Roma: "Champions extraordinary achievement for us. Future? Now we celebrate..."

Bergamo, 12 May 2025 – Roma's unbeaten run ends after nineteen games. I Giallorossi, who had not lost since mid-December, were in fact defeated 2-1 by Atalanta who with these three points have mathematically secured qualification for next season's Champions League. The decisive factor was Sulemana's winning right-footed shot on the 76th minute, just 9 minutes after coming on to the pitch. A feat that unravelled the tangle of a match that the Nerazzurri had started on the right foot, scored already in the 9th minute with an unstoppable Lookman today. Having taken the lead, Goddess wasted a couple of colossal goal opportunities with De Ketelaere and then paid the price in the 32nd minute when Cristante headed the equaliser home. A 1-1 that gave Roma confidence, who gradually increased their scores and were dangerous on several occasions (the Giallorossi were also awarded a penalty for an alleged foul on Koné in the 64th minute) until Sulemana's goal that extinguished the Giallorossi's hopes. The compliments of a Giampiero Gasperini very satisfied on DAZN microphones: “I am really happy for him, who has had little satisfaction this season. He has always been extraordinarily respectful and polite. He has this ability to shoot in his nature. He had already been dangerous before. This season there was little space for him, because there were players up front who never gave up. Perhaps the coach – he jokes – didn't understand him well. Jokes aside, I am happy because this goal gives him the satisfaction he deserves”. On earning a place in the Champions League: “I am happy because it is an extraordinary achievement for Atalanta. There were a few weeks in which we were one step away from Inter and Napoli, but this is the maximum of our possibilities. Having left behind us with two games to spare strong teams with great environments behind them is a great result for us. I am happy for the boys, because it has been a long season, with fantastic peaks and moments of difficulty from which we have recovered”. The Nerazzurri coach did not then resolve the doubts about the future: "It's a beautiful evening. We have two weeks to enjoy this season which for me has been very rich also in the Champions League, where we finished ninth by one point. We will have time and ways to think about the rest". Bitterness is the prevailing feeling, however, on the Giallorossi front, with the Roma coach, Claudio Ranieri, who didn't mince his words about the episode of the penalty given and then revoked to Koné: "I don't know if the Champions League objective is still achievable for Roma after tonight. We will play as we always have, fighting until the end. We know well what the strength and intensity of Atalanta is, lady and master on this front. Many compliments to them. As for the penalty, I would like to know: it can be discussed, It can be said that there was a 60% yes and a 40% no and vice versa, but we have always been told that the VAR intervenes only in the case of an obvious error. It is clear that Pasalic makes a mistake, he plants himself and touches my player's knee. Either they explain to us what to stick to or we cannot do it one way one time and another time another time. The VAR should not have intervened. The referee gave the penalty and this should have been the final decision. These are the rules. If we want to change them from game to game, we accept them but we are sorry that it is missing linearity of judgment. I am sure that Rocchi will point this out to the right people. You can clearly see that Pasalic hits Knoné's knee. That's a penalty. Then we had some nice moves in the game, Atalanta knew how to exploit them, we didn't. Congratulations to them and also to my players".