A third-minute penalty strike by Francesco Totti failed to make the difference as depleted Roma’s Champions League hopes suffered a blow in a 1-1 draw with Atalanta on Sunday.
Roma were after a win to hoist them back up to second place after Lazio’s 2-0 defeat at leaders Juventus on Saturday.
But despite dominating throughout Roma failed to break down a stubborn defence, Atalanta hanging on for a valuable point that left them seven points clear of the relegation zone.
Along with city rivals Lazio, Roma are 15 points behind Juventus, so Rudi Garcia’s men will lament dropping another two points to secure the league’s second automatic Champions League qualifying spot.
Roma’s players before the game drove past dozens of fans demonstrating against club president James Pallotta’s decision to ban several “racist and violent supporters” from the stadium.
To make matters worse, Garcia was also without Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas (both suspended) with Miralem Pjanic, Gervinho, Douglas Maicon, Kevin Strootman and Leandro Castan all missing through injury.
Totti was handed the chance to give the hosts an early lead when Adem Ljajic was fouled by Guglielmo Stendardo, who handled the ball in the area, and the Roma captain stepped up to send Marco Sportiello the wrong way.
But barely 20 minutes later, Atalanta were back on level terms, German Denis firing past Morgan De Sanctis from the spot after Davide Astori had tripped Dutch midfielder Urby Emanuelson.
Roma created several chances before the half-time interval. When left-back Jose Holebas whipped in a cross from the left Totti narrowly failed to make contact, while Sportiello reacted quickly to block from Alessandro Florenzi after he pounced on a poor pass back.
Roma right-back Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa narrowly failed to make contact at the back post while at the other end Alejandro Gomez saw his drive charged down by Astori.
Roma were jeered off the pitch at half-time, and Garcia made a double switch just before the hour with Victor Ibarbo and Seydou Keita replacing Juan Iturbe and Leandro Paredes respectively.
The changes did little to improve fortunes. Stendardo stopped Totti from reaching Florenzi’s low cross in front of goal and then Radja Nainggolan’s long range effort was charged down as Atalanta held on for a share of the spoils.
Elsewhere, Fabio Quagliarella struck from the spot as Europa League-chasing Torino grabbed a precious point from a 1-1 draw away to Sassuolo, who opened the scoring through a Domenico Berardi penalty on the stroke of half-time.
A Cesar Bostjan own goal secured a point for Udinese in a 1-1 away draw at Chievo, who had Sergio Pellissier’s sliding back post effort to thank for their 39th minute opener.
Algerian international Ishak Belfodil came off the bench to net a 73rd minute leveller as crisis-hit basement side Parma grabbed a point from a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Empoli, although Roberto Donadoni’s men, docked a further four points in midweek for financial irregularities, look doomed to relegation.
The only win of the day so far came at Palermo, where Argentinian sensation Paulo Dybala turned creator twice to set up Ivaylo Chochev for a brace of goals in a 2-1 win over Genoa.
Napoli, in fourth at eight points behind Lazio and Roma, visit Cagliari later in a bid to keep their Champions League hopes alive, while Inter host Milan in the city derby in Sunday’s late game.
Fiorentina are in action on Monday when they host Verona in Florence.