Two games, two wins, and a stadium already humming with early-season belief. Atalanta have wasted no time announcing themselves, sweeping aside Sassuolo and then edging Bologna at the Gewiss Stadium to plant a marker at the top of the table.
The second victory said more about their character than their fluency. Bologna held out, frustrated, spoiled. Then, almost at the death, came the release: a clean, decisive strike from Samardzic, the kind of late winner that does more than add three points. It sent Atalanta level with Roma and gave their start the feel of something more serious than a brief September flourish.
Now comes the real examination.
Sarri sounds the alarm
From the Zingonia training center, Maurizio Sarri cut a realistic, almost wary figure as he looked ahead to the showdown with the Giallorossi. No grand declarations, no theatrics. Just a coach who knows the schedule and the strain are already biting.
“Malen is in great form and will be a problem for the entire match,” he warned, singling out one of the key threats he expects to face. That line said plenty: Sarri sees this Roma side as relentless, with weapons that can hurt you for 90 minutes, not just in flashes.
He stressed that his side have tried to prepare “normally,” but nothing about their calendar is normal. “We’re the only team in Italy that plays five games in sixteen days tomorrow,” he pointed out, a blunt reminder of the physical toll that kind of run can take. The admission that “our growth has undoubtedly slowed” felt telling. The ideas are there; the legs are being tested.
Roma, built for the long race
If Sarri sounded cautious about his own team, he was unequivocal about Roma.
“They were strong and have become even stronger,” he said, laying out his view of their trajectory without a hint of doubt. For him, this is not a side chasing a top-four surprise. It is a Scudetto contender in full.
“They will fight for the Scudetto until the end, and I’d be surprised if the opposite happened.” That is not the language of polite respect. It is the language of someone who sees Roma as a benchmark.
So Atalanta arrive at this clash with momentum, a perfect home record, and a late winner still echoing in their heads. Roma arrive with the weight of expectation and a coach on the opposite bench convinced they are built to carry it deep into the season.
Early days, yes. But when a team sitting at the top meets a side their rival’s coach openly calls a title fighter, the table stops looking like a quirk of the fixture list and starts to resemble a glimpse of the months ahead.
