AS Roma knew that a victory in this match would allow them to overtake Juventus and Lazio and move to fourth place in the table, but instead, they dropped to sixth place, though they are still only one point behind these two teams.

Their 19-game unbeaten streak in Serie A was broken with a 2-1 defeat in Bergamo. Goals from Ademola Lookman and Ibrahim Sulemana secured Atalanta’s victory, while Bryan Cristante temporarily equalized for Roma.

Ranieri said in a post-match interview: “After tonight, I don’t know if fourth place is still achievable, but we will fight until the last moment, as we always have.”

Ranieri had not tasted defeat in Serie A since December 15, 2024, in an away match against Como. However, the only thing on his mind was the moment when Roma was awarded a penalty for Mario Pašalić’s foul on Manu Koné, but after a VAR review, the penalty was canceled because it was determined that Roma’s midfielder had actually fouled the Atalanta player.

Ranieri angrily said:“We knew that Atalanta is a master of physical play, and that’s why they became Europa League champions. What I want to ask from your technical experts is: Was that a penalty? 60-40? We were told that VAR only intervenes when there is a clear and obvious mistake.”

“We saw that Pašalić made a wrong tackle, put his foot on the ground, and hit my player. So VAR should not have intervened. The VAR level was low. The referee awarded the penalty, and it should have remained. The rules change from game to game, we accept that, but it really angers us to see that there is no consistency in this league.”

“It is absolutely clear that Pašalić made contact with Manu Koné’s knee. If the referee gave a penalty, VAR should have stayed silent. That’s what we were told. After that, both teams had chances, Atalanta took theirs and we didn’t, so congratulations to Atalanta and also to my players.”

“I’m not asking if that was a penalty or not. My question is: When there is contact on the knee or ankle, does VAR have the right to intervene? We accept it, but for the sake of sporting justice, we want to know what the rules are. Have the rules changed? If they have, we accept it even without understanding it, but please let us know if the rules have changed.”

Luca Mariani, a refereeing expert, stated that there was no actual contact because Manu Koné had fouled Pašalić. This comment further angered Ranieri.

He said:“There was definitely contact, we can see it! Pašalić put his foot firmly on the ground, got close to the ball but hit my player. How can you say no? We are watching it clearly! Good night.”

With this statement, Ranieri ended the interview.

The Roma manager also received a yellow card from the referee after the match for excessive protests.