Saturday night in Serie A delivered an absolute cracker of a game, seeing Atalanta come from behind to defeat Roma 2-1, while increasing their gap between the two opponents by 6 points. Following a Palomino defensive error, Edin Dzeko’s strike in the 45th minute gave Roma the advantage going into the half. Similar to the Fiorentina match last week, the comeback kids could not be denied in the second half, netting two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half to seal their well deserved victory.
The obvious story line of the game was the incredible game-winning strike from substitute Mario Pasalic. Subbed on for Duvan Zapata, it was initially a bit of a headscratcher, as it put Atalanta strikerless, but boy did it pay off! On his first touch of the game, Pasalic received a pass from Robin Gosens, and like he had been doing it his whole life, neatly curled a shot into the far corner beyond the outstretched arms of Roma keeper Pau Lopez. Everything about the goal was surreal! From a midfielder coming on for a stirker, to a player who had been in sort of a funk put into a position that required great courage to try such a technical shot, to scoring on his first touch less than 20 seconds into his campaign; it was indeed stranger than fiction, but perhaps more than anything shows the confidence Gasperini has in his squad and his tactics. Goals continue to come from everywhere for La Dea, and its a continual testament to the belief the squad has in the system, and the confidence they have built due to the success they have achieved.
Beyond Pasalic’s heroics there was a lot to like in the game. It was relatively evenly matched in the middle with each team forcing errors, providing essentially a stalemate in the middle half of the pitch. Dzeko was an absolute handful for Palomino all game, as was Zapata (who is still missing a bit of form) for Chris Smalling. Yet the 15 minutes that Atalanta went full throttle to begin the second half were enough to stun Roma and net the necessary goals to secure the victory. Beyond Palomino’s error, the back three were very good, playing a bend don’t break defense against Kluivert’s impressive but often empty runs down the right. Freuler and de Roon were all over the place, winning balls, and coming up with key blocks to neutralize Roma’s attacks. Ultimately, Roma had ONLY 1 shot on target, and it they had very few chances to challenge Gollini thanks to the effort on the defensive front.
Going into Wednesday Champion’s League battle against Valencia, Atalanta can be confident with the momentum they have built up from the last two victories. Obviously they would probably not wanna go down 1-0 at halftime for the third straight game, but there are a lot of positives coming out of this game and taking three points from a relatively equal opponent. Now 6 (or 7 with owning the tiebreaker) points clear of Roma, Atalanta has firmly cemented themselves as the team to dethrone for the final Champion’s League spot. It’s quite an exciting time to be a fan of La Dea. With Champion’s League matches and the good probability of returning to Europe’s top competition next year, Gasperini and his men continually demonstrate the importance of patience (which is remarkably absent from football in general) and trust in a system that defies the odds of spending for points, and why they are consistently a force to be reckoned with in Serie A and Europe. Until Wednesday, Forza Atalanta!
