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| Atalanta’s Dutch midfielder Teun Koopmeiners (L) fights for the ball with Torino’s Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez during the Italian Serie A football match between Atalanta and Torino at The Atleti Azzurri d’Italia Stadium in Bergamo on September 1, 2022. |
On the night that
Atalanta bid goodbye to emblematic striker Josip Ilicic, the overachieving
Bergamo club may have found a new star.
Teun Koopmeiners scored
all three goals in a 3-1 win over Torino as Atalanta moved level on points with
Serie A leaders Roma on Thursday.
Koopmeiners now has
four goals in two matches after also scoring in a 1-0 win at Hellas Verona over
the weekend.
The 24-year-old
Netherlands midfielder, in his second season at Atalanta, has already matched
his output of four goals in all of the 2021-22 campaign.
The last Dutchman to
score a hat-trick in Serie A had been the great Marco van Basten, who had a
four-goal performance for AC Milan three decades ago.
Atalanta, who are not
playing in Europe this season, remain unbeaten and trail Roma only on goal
difference.
Before kickoff, the
34-year-old Ilicic was feted by teammates and fans after the striker terminated
his contract with Atalanta by mutual consent.
Ilicic scored all four
goals when Atalanta won 4-3 at Valencia in a second-leg match to reach the
Champions League quarter-finals in 2020 just as the team’s home, Bergamo, was
becoming the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.
Afterwards, Ilicic
donated the game ball to Bergamo’s hospital.
Having converted a
penalty in first-half added time, Koopmeiners added another two minutes after
the break when he controlled the ball outside the area and placed a low shot
through traffic that took a slight deflection on its way in.
After Nikola Vlasic
pulled one back for Torino, Koopmeiners sealed it with another penalty just
inside the right post.
Also on Thursday,
Bologna and Salernitana drew 1-1.
Boulaye Dia scored a
late equaliser for Salernitana following a penalty from Marko Arnautovic.
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