Rome, May 27: Atalanta followed up its Europa League title with a 3-0 win over Torino in Serie A and ended Roma’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Gianluca Scamacca and Ademola Lookman scored first-half goals for Atalanta and Mario Pasalic added a penalty after the break as the Bergamo side moved up to fourth place, one point ahead of Bologna.
Lookman was coming off a hat trick in Atalanta’s 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final on Wednesday, and the Europa League trophy was on the sideline before kickoff.
Sixth-place Roma, which later lost 2-1 at Empoli, needed Atalanta to finish fifth to qualify for the Champions League.
It’s the final round of the Italian league but Atalanta still has a game to make up against Fiorentina next Sunday.Scamacca scored first after being set up by Charles De Ketelaere then Lookman tapped in a rebound of a shot from Pasalic following another set-up from De Ketelaere.
Midway through the second half, Lookman was fouled to provide the penalty for Pasalic.Afterward, Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini announced that he plans to stay with the club – ending speculation that he might head to Napoli.
“I am tied to Atalanta and will continue to be,” Gasperini said.
“I am faithful.” Also, defending champion Napoli was held to a 0-0 draw at home by Lecce and finished 10th to miss out on all European competitions. Torino is ninth and can still qualify for the Europa Conference League if Fiorentina wins the third-tier European trophy on Wednesday.
Three teams entered the final day of the season attempting to avoid relegation and Udinese and Empoli stayed up while Frosinone went down.Empoli needed to win and went ahead with an early goal from Matteo Cancellieri but Houssem Aouar equalized for Roma.
Then M’Baye Niang won it for the Tuscan club by finishing off a counterattack in stoppage time. It was Niang’s sixth goal for Empoli since joining the club in January. (AP)
