Roma’s bid for a third consecutive 4-0 win – and a seventh successive league victory – started to gather pace in the opening 15 minutes, when Rodrigo Mora’s cross from the left was met with a firm header from the unmarked Gianluca Mancini, but Marco Carnesecchi got behind it to make the save.
The home side tried the same method soon after, as Wesley Franca produced the cross and Bryan Cristante the header, but Carnesecchi was again equal to the effort heading for the bottom corner. From the resulting corner, Evan Ndicka put the ball in the net, but the goal was quickly chalked off for offside.
The Giallorossi continued to dominate, yet Atalanta limited them to a pair of near-misses from Mora before the half-hour mark, and when Gianluca Scamacca finally produced an effort straight at Mile Svilar, Roma responded with a Paulo Dybala header that didn’t stretch Carnesecchi.
The Atalanta goalkeeper continued to keep his side in the game five minutes from half-time, when Wesley linked up with Donyell Malen on the left, before the Dutchman cut inside and tried a low effort, but Carnesecchi smothered it.
Yet all that dominance counted for nothing less than 90 seconds into the second half, when the visitors took the lead. Charles De Ketelaere did brilliantly to get beyond his man down the left, and though his cutback couldn’t find a teammate, the ball ricocheted into the path of Ederson, who put his foot through it and sent the ball flying past Svilar.
A corner routine from Roma almost produced a quick reply, but Manu Kone was next to be thwarted by Carnesecchi.
Roma’s substitutes gave the hosts a fresh injection of pace, and they continued the onslaught, as Matias Soule’s volley was caught, and Santiago Castro beat the goalkeeper but was denied by the post.
The final 20 minutes began with Soule seeing a headed chance go down as another Carnesecchi save, as Roma seemed to be running out of ideas.
That was until two minutes from time, when Castro struck the woodwork again by heading against the crossbar, then Carnesecchi produced a double save from Dybala and Wesley.
But Atalanta’s resistance finally broke in the 90th minute, when Mario Hermoso met Soule’s corner with a header that looped over the goalkeeper.
Roma then threw bodies forward in search of a winner, and they got it in the third minute of added time, when Dybala threaded the ball forward to Soule, whose effort from the right side of the area caught Carnesecchi out at the near post to earn Gian Piero Gasperini a first win against his old club, who lost their first away game of the season for the first time since 2017.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mario Hermoso (AS Roma)