Torino 3-0 Atalanta: Duvan Zapata strikes twice against former club in Serie A as Toro dent visitors' top-four hopes
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Published 04/12/2023 at 22:19 GMT
Duvan Zapata struck twice against his former club Atalanta as Torino earned a dominant 3-0 win in Serie A. Antonio Sanabria's penalty came between strikes from the Colombian in either half, as he consigned La Dea to a fourth straight game without a win and a second consecutive league loss. Toro's victory moved them into the top half of the table and just one point behind the Bergamo side.
Duvan Zapata of Torino FC celebrates a goal during the Serie A TIM match between Torino FC and Atalanta BC at Stadio Olimpico di Torino on December 4, 2023 in Turin, Italy.
Image credit: Getty Images
Duvan Zapata reminded Atalanta of his eye for goal by scoring twice in a 3-0 win for Torino on Monday to further dent his struggling former club's hopes of a top-four finish.
Zapata, who became Atalanta's second-top scorer of all time during five years in Bergamo, needed just 22 minutes to find the net in his first meeting with his former employers since making a summer move.
Antonio Sanabria doubled the hosts' lead with a penalty after the break, before the Colombian struck a second time deep in stoppage time.
It was a surprisingly sluggish performance from Atalanta, as they fell to a second consecutive league loss.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s side have picked up one point from their last three Serie A matches and are winless in four in all competitions, falling to eighth in the standings, four points behind AS Roma in fourth.
Torino’s first win in a month moved them into the top half of the table in 10th, one point behind Atalanta.
Stripped of star man Gianluca Scamacca, who was ruled out until next year through injury on Sunday, Gasperini surprisingly opted to start without a natural striker.
But the strategy soon looked like an error as Torino started on the front foot and took the lead when Zapata met a Nikola Vlasic cut-back to slide home a finish midway through the first half.
Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was called into one good save, charging out to block Charles de Ketelaere’s shot, but that poor first-half showing from the visitors forced Gasperini into a double change at the break as striker Luis Muriel came on alongside wing-back Emil Holm.
Things only got worse for La Dea when Giorgio Scalvini, on the night he was named Best Italian Under-21 player at the Golden Boy awards, pulled Italy team-mate Alessandro Buongiorno’s shirt with two hands to concede a penalty at a corner.
Up stepped Sanabria, and he buried the spot kick into the bottom corner, sending Juan Musso the wrong way.
Gasperini again turned to his bench in search of a spark, bringing on Mario Pasalic for the ineffective De Ketelaere, but lively Toro wing-back Raoul Bellanova was next to threaten as he blasted over to squander a promising counter-attack.
Pasalic did make his presence felt when he produced Atalanta’s best chance of the game with 10 minutes to go, having a powerful shot beaten wide by a diving Milinkovic-Savic.
But it was to be Zapata's night as the Colombian completed his brace when a deflected shot beat Musso deep in stoppage time, with the assist again coming from Vlasic.
Next up for Atalanta is the visit of AC Milan on Saturday, December 9, while Torino face a trip to Frosinone on Sunday, December 10.
Both games will be shown live on TNT Sports.
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