Teun Koopmeiners single-handedly rescued a point for Atalanta in a goal-glutted 2-2 draw against Juventus on Sunday. The Dutch midfielder scored on either side of halftime as La Dea picked up a valuable point at the Allianz Stadium.
Atalanta sold Juventus a free-kick routine from the training ground. Gianluca Scamacca served as a distraction on the edge of the box, leading to the Bianconeri defense leaving Koompeiners unmarked in a shooting zone, and he was relentless. The in-demand star opened the scoring with a delightful first-time finish.
However, Atalanta spurned the lead after the break. Juventus scored twice in a blitz as Andrea Cambiasso and Arkadiusz Milik turned the game on its head in just four minutes. Koopmeiners refused to leave Turin without a point as he scored again in the 75th minute to salvage a draw for the Bergamo outfit.
It was his tenth Serie A goal of the season, making him the only midfielder in the division to hit double digits. Gian Piero Gasperini spoke to the press in the aftermath, explaining how he spotted Koopmeiners’ ‘eye for goal’ and decided to play him in a more advanced position.
“Koopmeiners has been improving year on year, he is evolving so well and is also very versatile,” the Atalanta boss told DAZN, as quoted by TMW.
“He can play as a deep-lying midfielder, in front of the defence and when he joined us from the Netherlands was playing sometimes as a central defender!
“I spotted he had an eye for goal and moved him to a more advanced role.“
Despite failing to win in Turin, Atalanta edged closer to fourth-placed Bologna, reducing the gap to four points after Rossoblu’s 1-0 home loss to Inter on Saturday.
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