Atalanta took the Olympic and was in the lead before Milan-Naples

Atalanta is the new leader of this very close Serie A, in the absence of Milan-Naples tonight, after defeating Roma in Olympic (0-1) who also seek to be first, but accepted their first defeat against your audience . In addition, José Mourinho was sent off in the second half for protesting.

The afternoon did not start well for Roma, who suffered a major blow before kick-off when their star player, Paulo Dybala, was injured in the warm-up and was out. With the ball already in play, Atalanta also lost their goalkeeper Juan Musso, who had to retire in shock and with a heavy blow to the face after colliding with his teammate Merih Demiral when they faced the ball at the same time.

They barely played for seven minutes and in Musso’s place came Marco Sportiello, who had a great performance after the first half hour saw both teams star in a tactical battle in the middle of the field and leave no room for the rival create opportunities.

Two youngsters created the goal for Atalanta

But on their first arrival, Atalanta opened the scoring in the 35th minute in a game that was joined by two young players trusted by Gian Piero Gasperini. Rasmus Höjlund, 18, of Norway, signed this summer from Sturm Graz, held the ball from the by-line for 19-year-old centre-back Giorgio Scalvini, 19, who controlled from behind and put a shot just wide of the post.

Roma reacted with pride and overwhelmed Atalanta late in the first half. Tammy Abraham had a good chance after a perfect pass by Lorenzo Pellegrini left him, the English striker took a touch before Sportiello came out but the ball went over the post (40′).

Sportiello, decided before Mourinho’s red card

The Atalanta goalkeeper avoided a 1-1 second by closing the gap on Roger Ibañez (42′) and again succeeded in a shot from Nemanja Matic that Abraham deflected into his path (45′).

In the second half, Roma were in touch again when their coach, José Mourinho, was sent off with a straight red card for angrily protesting referee Daniele Ciffi’s decision not to award a penalty in a struggle between by Nicolò Zaniolo and Caleb Okoli (56′). On the other hand, he pointed to the lack of Italian strikers.

Then, in a trace of action, Zaniolo again crashed into the area after Okoli was tackled again (59′). Ciffi didn’t whistle for the penalty and Olympic fury flared.

Atalanta managed to score 0-2 had Abraham not prevented Çelik’s own goal from the same line as he attempted to deflect a dangerous cross from Luis Muriel (61′).

Roma insists but no luck

Roma, despite their poor combined ability due to the loss of Dybala, opted for direct play in the Atalanta corner in bursts. A shot from outside the box by Pellegrini did not surprise a confident Sportiello (68′).

The clearest chance came in the 86th minute after some great play by Zaniolo, who gave Çelik a class, whose cross at the far post headed wide, all alone, to newcomer Eldor Shomurodov.

Roma’s physical prowess deserved the tie but Atalanta, whose image this season is far from the electric and offensive play of recent seasons, made the most of their only shot between the three posts throughout the game and it is the leader of Serie A waiting for the Milan-Naples that tonight will close the day.