Marcus Thuram Hat-Trick Propels Inter Milan to 3-2 Victory Over Torino, Climbing to Second Place
Marcus Thuram’s incredible hat-trick helped Inter Milan defeat 10-man Torino 3-2 and move up to second place in Serie A.
With this Saturday’s win, the league leaders Napoli are now only two points behind the defending champions, strengthening the competition for the championship.
With a hat-trick against 10-man Torino on Saturday, Marcus Thuram put Inter Milan second in Serie A, bringing the champions to within two points of league leaders Napoli. Thuram, a forward from France, headed in crosses from Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi in the first half. He then bunched in a third goal on the hour mark, giving Inter a thrilling, albeit close, victory at the San Siro.
In the final match of the weekend before the international break, AC Milan takes on their local rivals at Fiorentina on Sunday, and both Juventus, who host Cagliari, and AC Milan have the opportunity to pass Inter.
Along with Mateo Retegui, who scored three goals in Atalanta’s 5-1 thumping of Genoa earlier on Saturday, Thuram leads the scoring statistics in the top division in Italy with seven goals.
“It’s been a few matches since I last scored but it was more important that the team won tonight,” Thuram told Sky News.
“Being top scorer doesn’t interest me, the only thing that counts is that Inter win matches.”
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter returned to nearly full strength on Tuesday, winning their third straight game across all competitions since losing the Milan derby last month. The second string thrashed Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
Thuram was engaged in every successful move that Inter made going forward. In the 20th minute, Guillermo Maripan made a terrible tackle that left Torino down a man. Thuram was also left in agony on the ground as a result.
Despite the possibility of suffering a major injury, the 27-year-old chose to punish Torino five minutes later by scoring the first of two headers that were nearly identical, with the second coming in the 35th minute.
Soon after, Duvan Zapata, who was subsequently carted off with what appeared to be a major knee injury, gave sixth-place Torino a goal back thanks to some shoddy defending by Yann Bisseck.
However, Thuram restored Inter’s two-goal advantage when he took advantage of Vanja Milinkovic-Savic’s mistake in failing to stop Lautaro Martinez’s header.
With five minutes to go, Hakan Calhanoglu gave Torino some hope by taking down Adam Masina and allowing Nikola Vlasic to reduce the gap from the penalty spot. Inter has not been as strong as they were when they romped to the Scudetto last season.
But Inter managed to hold out for a victory, which would put them in close pursuit of Napoli as their players go for their respective national teams.
“Let’s focus on the fact that the team won three matches in a week after losing the derby,” Inzaghi told Sky Sports.
“I can’t say anything to the players as we deserved to win all of them.”
At the Gewiss Stadium, Retegui’s hat-trick ensured that Atalanta would climb up to ninth place with 10 points and consigned his previous team Genoa to a crushing defeat.
Ederson and Marten de Roon also scored fantastic goals as Atalanta blasted hapless Genoa, who trailed Lecce in goal differential but managed a late goal through Jeff Ekhator.
After joining in the summer of Gianluca Scamacca’s catastrophic knee injury, Argentina-born Retegui adapted into Bergamo fast, making an almost instant connection up front with Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere.
Additionally, the 25-year-old provided the assist that Ederson scored Atalanta’s third goal on the hour.
“I’m really happy, but not for myself, for the team, who played really well,” Retegui stated to DAZN.
“I can only thank everyone for how I’ve been treated over these first few months, I’m really happy.”
In the 24th minute, Retegui gave the home team the lead with a sliding finish on Lookman’s low cross. Five minutes into the second half, Retegui increased the lead with a quick response on the rebound after Ederson’s attempt was stopped by Pierluigi Gollini.
After Alessandro Vogliacco was called for a handball, he scored his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 74th minute, somewhat atoning for his mishandled kick that kept Atalanta from winning their inaugural Champions League match against Arsenal last month.
The emphatic victory on Saturday followed Atalanta’s impressive performance on Wednesday in Europe’s premier club competition, where they defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen.
