Atalanta collapses, Rome and Juventus return to the Champions League. The result in Bergamo, combined with that of Bologna, means that the Giallorossi and Bianconeri are only 5 points behind fourth-placed Napoli, albeit with one game more. Not bad considering the premises and the speech is especially true for Mourinho, very good at wrapping Gasperini in yesterday's face-to-face: Allegri instead simply took advantage of it, finding the cynical and concrete team in the fog of Dall'Ara.
Ugly game, at times even soporific, undoubtedly conditioned by the climatic conditions, but also by what happened in the 6th minute when Morata, after a good combination with Bernardeschi, slipped Skorupski for the Juventus 0-1. Lady ahead as in Venice, but this time without Penzo's defensive amnesia, also because Bologna, despite Mihajlovic's warlike intentions, created almost nothing concrete, except for a shot by Dominguez well saved by Szczesny.
In the 69th minute the definitive turning point came, namely Cuadrado's big right foot who, thanks to a deflection by Hickey, overtook Skorupski again, for the definitive doubling of the Allegri's. There the game is basically over, also because the fog it has become very thick, effectively preventing the audience and, perhaps, even the players from seeing it, causing everyone to wait only for the final whistle from the referee. It wasn't a transcendent Juve, as never before this season, but it brings home 3 golden points and some good news, such as Morata's second consecutive goal and the fifth clean sheet in the last 7 games.
“The boys did well in both the defensive and offensive phases, everyone collaborated – the satisfied comment from the Juventus coach -. I think it's a deserved victory, but we mustn't let our guard down, on the contrary we must prepare ourselves as best we can because we have many important challenges to face in the next two months. The market? This squad is excellent, we need to work on these players who can only improve in self-esteem and conviction." The other heavy victory of this Saturday, as previously mentioned, is that of Roma by Mourinho, capable of conquering Bergamo with a poker that completely shuffles the cards, both in the Scudetto area and Champions. A completely surprising 4-1 for the Giallorossi, because few believed they could beat Atalanta at home, but none of this size. Instead, Roma managed to play the match they wanted, probably offering their best performance of the season, both collectively and individually.
In short, all on the shields, with a particular mention for Abraham, Veretout and Zaniolo, the first author of a brace, the second of two and a half assists, the third of the first goal of his championship. “I saw the most beautiful Roma of the season, strong from all points of view – exulted Mourinho -. We played aware of the danger and with great sacrifice on everyone's part. This is a group that thought it didn't know how to suffer, but this time it did, showing that it has also grown from this point of view. We hadn't won against a big team for 19 months, now we can look forward".
Atalanta, on the other hand, comes out of the confrontation downsized, so much so that now, in addition to risking overtaking Napoli, they have to watch their backs from the numerous teams behind them, even if Gasperini he especially takes it out on the referee and the Var, guilty of having canceled the goal of the possible 2-2. “I expect an explanation, Palomino didn't touch it, that was an own goal from Cristante and therefore there was no offside – thundered the Nerazzurri coach -. Let us see that he takes the ball, otherwise this situation cannot be interpreted differently, the credibility of football depends on it: the referees come and talk after the games, they put their face in it”. Crackling match from the beginning, with Roma leading even in the 1' with Abraham, good at breaking through the Bergamo defense, lucky to find the decisive deviation from Hateboer.
There the match went exactly as Mourinho wanted, with Atalanta forced to further raise their center of gravity and the Giallorossi to exploit the numerous spaces for counterattacks. On one of these here is the 2-0 signed Zaniolo, very good at finalizing an assist from Veretout and scoring the first goal of his championship (27'). At the end of the first half, however, here is the episode that seemed to be able to reopen the game: Muriel's right foot, Cristante's deflection and an own goal by the Roma midfielder (45'). In the second half, the Goddess tried to close the opponent in her own area, but only partially succeeded, however without particularly stinging and so Roma, after the scare in the 69th minute (goal disallowed above), struck again with Smalling, this time on a free kick from Veretout (72'). The Frenchman, one of the best on the pitch, then served the poker ball to Abraham (82'), for the final 1-4 with which Mourinho reopened the Champions League in one fell swoop.
