With a 2-1 victory against Cremonese to start the year, Roma may have advanced to the Coppa Italia quarterfinals, but it was far from a pleasant matchup as Jose Mourinho's team had to fight back from behind twice to defeat the Serie B team. They also lost 1-0 at Juventus at the end of 2023, so the Portuguese manager would have been hoping for a declaration from his team when Atalanta visits.
But the visitors had the better start than the home team, taking the lead in the opening ten minutes when Teun Koopmeiners headed Aleksei Miranchuk's cross past Rui Patricio after outjumping Rick Karsdorp at the back post. Both teams had numerous opportunities in the first half. Paulo Dybala misplayed his lines with the goal at his disposal after Lorenzo Pellegrini's low cross just after the half-hour mark, and Patricio made a vital save to deny Charles de Ketelaere as he bore down on goal at the other end.