Mueez Ajao
– Tammy Abraham struck twice as Roma ran out 4-1 winners at fancied Atalanta on Saturday, in the biggest win for Jose Mourinho since returning to Serie A.
– Abraham opened the scoring with less than a minute on the clock at the Gewiss Stadium and rounded off the match late on as Roma closed the gap between them and the Champions League places to five points.
– Nicolo Zaniolo and Abraham’s countryman Chris Smalling also netted in an impressive win, their first against one of Italy’s top teams this season, which took them fifth and dented third-place Atalanta’s burgeoning title hopes.
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– Gian Piero Gasperini’s side sit third, six points behind champions and league leaders Inter Milan who crushed Salernitana 5-0 on Friday, and will drop to fourth if Napoli beat AC Milan on Sunday.
– Roma took the lead in an odd fashion when after charging into the box Abraham poked forward a close-range finish which looped high off Marten de Roon and into the net.
– The away side were pinned back in their own area for long periods but like Villarreal who performed their own smash-and-grab in Bergamo a few days ago, Roma struck on the break through the marauding Zaniolo to double their lead against the run of play in the 27th minute.
– Atalanta continued to push and got back into the game in first-half stoppage time when substitute Luis Muriel’s low drive took a wild deflection off Cristante and left Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio with no chance.
– And the home fans thought they were set to witness a grandstand finish in the 68th minute when Jose Luis Palomino touched the ball home from Duvan Zapata’s flick, but the Argentine was ruled offside by VAR.
– Four minutes later, Smalling hit Atalanta with a gut punch, meeting Jordan Veretout’s superb free-kick to jab home the third from close range.
– Abraham made it six league goals for the season with eight minutes remaining, lashing home a powerful first-time finish after Veretout’s blocked shot fell to him perfectly in shooting range.
