Mateo Retegui has gone from strength to strength at the beginning of his Atalanta career, soaking up the limelight as the team’s headline performer. The former Genoa center-forward bagged his first-ever Serie A hat-trick in La Dea’s 5-1 thrashing of Alberto Gilardino’s side on Saturday evening.
With seven goals from as many league appearances for Atalanta, Retegui is the joint-leading goalscorer in Serie A this season alongside Inter ace Marcus Thuram. The 25-year-old has hit the ground running at the Gewiss Stadium to join a special group of four players to score 7+ goals in their first seven matches for a new club in Italy’s top flight.
According to Opta, Mario Balotelli at Milan, Emiliano Bonazzoli at Sampdoria, Dario Hubner at Piacenza, and Roberto Baggio at Bologna were the only players since 1994/95 to achieve this milestone before Retegui’s sublime performance yesterday. The new Atalanta talisman picked his former employers apart to become part of this group.
Gian Piero Gasperini needed a quality goal-getter to fill the vacancy after Gianluca Scamacca picked up a long-term injury. Atalanta went for Retegui, who fared well at Stadio Luigi Ferraris last term. And it could prove the best piece of business in the past few years.
Retegui has been phenomenal thus far, rightfully earning a place in Luciano Spalletti’s Italy squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures against Belgium and Israel. His Atalanta teammate, Raoul Bellanova, has earned another international call-up after cementing his starting berth this season.
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