On an emotional Serie A night in Rome, Claudio Ranieri returned to the Stadio Olimpico as the home coach and Edoardo Bove received an outpouring of support following his collapse.
When some soccer broke out, Ranieri's Roma lost to Atalanta 2-0.
Atalanta cut the gap on league leader Napoli back to one point after its eighth straight Serie A victory.
Marten de Roon netted the opener in the 69th minute — albeit with a huge deflection off Roma defender Zeki Çelik — and Nicolò Zaniolo sealed the result in the final minute with his first goal back in Serie A.
Zaniolo, who spent five years at Roma before leaving in 2023, celebrated wildly and was booed equally ferociously.
Roma remained two points above the relegation zone.
Ranieri is the team’s fourth coach this year and it is his third spell in charge of the capital club. Roma lost to Napoli and fought back to draw at Tottenham 2-2 in the Europa League in the first two matches of his return.
For Ranieri’s first home match there were numerous banners in the stands thanking him and hailing his return.
Roma wore special shirts in the warmup with the words “Forza Edo” in support of Bove, who is a product of the Roma youth academy and joined Fiorentina on loan in the offseason.
The 22-year-old collapsed during Fiorentina’s match against Inter Milan on Sunday and was put into a medically induced coma. On Monday, he was awake and alert and reportedly requested to watch Roma’s match.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
