ROME: Ten-man Atalanta wasted a chance to move into second place in Serie A with a 1-1 draw at Europa League semi-finalists AS Roma on Thursday.

But Napoli thrashed Champions League rivals Lazio 5-2 to boost their hopes of a return to elite European football next season.

Former Atalanta midfielder Bryan Cristante equalised with a long-range shot midway through the second half shortly after Atalanta full-back Robin Gosens picked up his second yellow card.

Ruslan Malinovskyi had given Atalanta an early lead at the Stadio Olimpico.

Third-placed Atalanta remained one point behind second-place AC Milan and moved level on points with fourth-placed Juventus. Napoli move just three points behind second-placed Milan. Lazio dropped to five points behind Napoli in sixth.

Roma also finished with 10 men when Roger Ibaez picked up his second yellow in the final seconds of stoppage time.

Atalanta have qualified for the Champions League the past two seasons, reaching the quarter-finals and the Round of 16. The success of the small Bergamo-based club has been cited as one of the reasons why the failed Super League proposal wouldn’t have been fair.

“Atalanta represent the antithesis to the Super League,” Atalanta general manager Umberto Marino said. “Football is about dreams, about earning your results.”

Roma, who face Manchester United in the Europa League semi-finals, remained seventh, three points behind Lazio with their Champions League hopes dwindling.

“It’s difficult to explain some of the goals we missed,” said Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini. “We had so many opportunities to win but in the end we have to be thankful for not having lost. We’re still in third place and maintain our advantage over the chasing pack.”

Atalanta had dominated but were unable to take advantage of their many scoring chances.

Malinovskyi, who also scored the winner against Juve last weekend, latched onto a Gosens cross to fire into the roof of the net.

Pau Lopez proved decisive in the Roma goal denying Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic with Luis Muriel missing a chance to score a second before Gosens’ sending off.

Roma piled forward with Lorenzo Pellegrini sending through for Edin Dzeko but Pierluigi Gollini was solid in the Atalanta goal.

At the Diego Maradona Stadium in Naples, Lazio’s five-match winning streak ended but they are still not out of the Champions League running with a game in hand.

Napoli took the lead through a Lorenzo Insigne penalty on seven minutes awarded following a VAR review, the first of a brace on the night for the team skipper.

Matteo Politano added a second after 12 minutes with Insigne lobbing in a third eight minutes after the break.

Joaquin Correa was unlucky not to pull Lazio back after 19 minutes, hitting the post.

Piotr Zielinski set up Dries Mertens for Napoli’s fourth after 65 minutes.

Lazio launched a fightback with Ciro Immobile pulling a goal back after 70 minutes with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic grabbing a second with a free-kick four minutes later.

But substitute Victor Osimhen snuffed out a revival with Napoli’s fifth with 10 minutes to go.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2021