BERGAMO, Italy —
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.
اضافة اعلان
English striker 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.
"What a win, what else can I say? A lot of people
doubted us today but this is by far one of the best wins we've had this
season," said Abraham to DAZN.
"We needed to win and what a win."
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.
Gian Piero Gasperini's side sit third, six points behind
champions and league leaders Inter Milan who crushed Salernitana 5-0 on Friday.
They will drop to fourth if
Napoli win at fellow
title-chasers
AC Milan on Sunday following a defeat in which they dominated
proceedings for large spells but were punished by Roma who were clinical in a
classic Mourinho style.
Roma's goals came from five shots on target after having
less than 30 percent possession and no corners.
"There was a great spirit. It's clear that playing
against Atalanta you can never be in control of the match for 90 minutes... the
team was great in every department today," said Mourinho, who won the treble
with Inter in 2010.
"I think Inter are on another level to everyone else
but to beat the top teams like Milan, Napoli and Atalanta you can't just have
good organization or tactics, you need a certain type of character which we had
today."
Smash and grab
Roma took the lead in an odd fashion when, after charging
into the box, Abraham poked 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.
It was the Italy forward's first Serie A goal since July
last year.
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 Bryan 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
Duvan Zapata's flick was touched home
but Jose Luis Palomino was ruled offside by VAR after challenging for the ball
with Cristante.
The decision infuriated Gasperini who raged to DAZN that the
referee told him a Palomino goal had been ruled out even though the Argentine
had not, in fact, touched the ball.
"If Palomino didn't touch the ball, then why is it
offside? If Cristante got the ball, then what difference does it make?" he
asked.
"We would then have been level with 20 minutes to go,
it's a very different game."
Four minutes later Smalling hit Atalanta with a sucker
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.
Juventus aim to get their season back up and running again
later on Saturday as they travel to Bologna, while Cagliari try to get out of
the relegation zone when they host Udinese in the day's late match.
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