Sports
Serie A: Thuram’s hat-trick propels Inter to 3-2 victory over Torino
Marcus Thuram delivered a standout performance, netting a hat-trick in Inter Milan’s 3-2 win against 10-man Torino on Saturday, pushing the reigning champions to within two points of Serie A leaders Napoli.
Thuram, currently leading the Serie A scoring charts with seven goals, headed in two first-half crosses from Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi, and completed his treble in the 60th minute at the San Siro.
Torino, reduced to 10 men after Guillermo Maripan’s reckless tackle on Thuram in the 20th minute, managed to keep the scoreline close thanks to a goal from Duvan Zapata.
However, Thuram’s third goal, capitalizing on a goalkeeper error, secured a deserved win for Inter.
Inter, back to near full strength after their midweek Champions League success, has now won three consecutive matches in all competitions, rebounding from last month’s Milan derby loss.
Inter have been less solid than when they romped to the Scudetto last season and Hakan Calhanoglu gave Torino some hope with five minutes remaining by bringing down Adam Masina and allowing Nikola Vlasic to cut the deficit from the penalty spot.
However Inter held out for a win which will leave them hot on Napoli’s trail as their players head off to their respective national teams.
“Let’s focus on the fact that the team won three matches in a week after losing the derby,” said Inzaghi to Sky.
“I can’t say anything to the players as we deserved to win all of them.”
– Retegui on fire –
Retegui condemned his former club Genoa to a heavy defeat with his hat-trick at the Gewiss Stadium which which ensured Atalanta would move up to ninth on 10 points.
Ederson and Marten de Roon also scored with spectacular strikes as Atalanta crushed sorry Genoa, who scored late through Jeff Ekhator but dropped into the relegation zone on goal difference behind Lecce.
Argentina-born Retegui has settled in quickly in Bergamo since signing in the summer after Gianluca Scamacca suffered a serious knee injury, establishing a near-immediate connection up front with Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere.
The 25-year-old also supplied the pass from which Ederson lashed in Atalanta’s third on the hour.
“I’m really happy, but not for myself, for the team, who played really well,” Retegui told DAZN.
“I can only thank everyone for how I’ve been treated over these first few months, I’m really happy.”
Retegui opened the scoring by sliding in Lookman’s low cross in the 24th minute and doubled the hosts’ lead five minutes after half-time when he reacted quickest to net on the rebound after Ederson’s shot was saved by Pierluigi Gollini.
He completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 74th minute after Alessandro Vogliacco was penalised for handball, making up somewhat for his fluffed spot-kick which denied Atalanta an opening Champions League win over Arsenal last month.
Saturday’s convincing win came after another strong display on Wednesday, when Atalanta beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen in Europe’s top club competition.