MILAN, Dec 19: Tammy Abraham scored twice as Roma claimed its first win against one of the top Serie A teams by 4-1 at Atalanta on Saturday.
Roma moved to fifth, five points below fourth-placed Napoli and six below Atalanta in third. League leader Inter Milan has six more points than Atalanta.
Juventus was below Roma on goal difference alone after winning at Bologna 2-0. Head-to-head is the first tiebreaker in Serie A at the end of the season.
José Mourinho’s side got off to the perfect start as Abraham shrugged off Berat Djimsiti and his effort was deflected in 55 seconds on.
Roma doubled its lead with another counterattack in the 27th minute. Zaniolo back-heeled a ball to Jordan Veretout and then raced forward before receiving it back from the Frenchman and firing into the bottom left corner.
Roma all but sealed the result when Smalling volleyed in a Veretout free kick at the far post.
Veretout was again involved in Roma’s fourth, pulling the ball back for Abraham to fire into the far side of the net eight minutes from time.
Álvaro Morata and Juan Cuadrado scored as Juventus ground out an unconvincing 2-0 result against Bologna.
After a surprise draw at Venezia, Juventus needed a good result and things appeared to be going to plan when it took the lead in the sixth minute. Morata raced from near the halfway line before laying it off to Federico Bernardeschi, who threaded it through for the Spaniard to blast into the top right corner.
But after that positive start, Juventus did little but defend and Bologna threatened several times to equalize – notably with an overhead kick from Mattias Svanberg that flew just past the left post.
Juve’s second came out of nowhere in the 69th, when a powerful effort from Cuadrado was deflected into the far top corner. (AP)
