Roma have seen their Scudetto hopes take a blow after falling to a 2-0 defeat against Atalanta BC at the Stadio Olimpico this afternoon.

The Giallorossi started the match on the front foot and Edin Dzeko had their first attempt with an effort that was kept out by Marco Sportiello.

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Miralem Pjanic was next to threaten for the hosts when he was slipped into the box and saw his low drive towards the near post turned behind by the keeper.

Roma continued to search for the breakthrough and Dzeko came close again when he was picked outside the box by Daniele De Rossi and fired a volley narrowly over the bar.

However, it was Atalanta who took the lead with five minutes remaining in the first half as Alejandro Gomez surged towards the edge of the box, before curling a strike beyond the reach of Morgan De Sanctis and into the far corner.

Roma went into the break trailing, but they almost got back on level terms within minutes of the second half as Pjanic saw his header cleared off the line by Luca Cigarini.

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Moments later Atalanta had a chance to double their lead when Maximiliano Moralez raced clean through on goal only to see his attempt kept out by De Sanctis.

The visitors were causing a number of problems on the counter attack and with 10 minutes of the game left a quick break ended with Maicon bringing Gomez down inside the box.

The Brazilian was sent off for the challenge and a penalty was given by the referee, with German Denis stepping up to dispatch the resulting spot kick to give his side a two-goal lead.

Guglielmo Stendardo and Alberto Grassi were then both sent off in the closing stages for Atalanta, but they managed to hold on and record a shock win in Rome.