A reborn Zapata who returns to Bergamo a year after the last time with his former team: now he wants to drag Turin into Europe
He started crying, moved like someone who knows they have closed an important page in their life but aware that they have opened another. Last December 4th Torino-Atalanta had just finished and Duvan Zapata he was the author of the goals that opened and closed the match, making the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino rejoice in what perhaps remained the best performance of the season by Juric’s team. In flash interviews after the final whistle, the number 91 shed a few tears.“Since I arrived at Turin they have welcomed me in the best way. With this double I repaid the love of Juric and the team. I was pleased to see my former teammates again and I feel sorry for them but we needed this victory” . Now Zapata returns to Bergamo for the first time as an opponent, and Turin is once again clinging to their bomber to go in search of a victory that could be worthy of Europe. To think that after the last dull season with the Nerazzurri, there were those who thought he was finished, but Zapata made them think again given that this is his fourth best season from a scoring point of view.
Atalanta was one of his favorite victims on the podium
—
A relationship that intersects again, that between Zapata and Atalanta, peppered with many, many goals, scored with the Nerazzurri shirt but also against the Goddess: the Colombian arrived in Italy in 2013 and with the Napoli shirt he scored his first goal for the Nerazzurri in the 2014/2015 season. Since then Duvan has punished the Goddess 6 more times in 10 matches, making her his second hardest hit victim after Sassuolo, against whom he scored 10 goals but in 18 matches. But it is above all in the Nerazzurri shirt that the Colombian striker has conquered much more important stages: Duvan has scored 69 goals with the Atalanta shirt in Serie A (in 153 appearances), ranking in 1st place, shared with Cristiano Doni, of the Dea’s top scorers in the top Italian league.
Zapata bête noire against his exes this year
—
On Sunday Zapata will make his first return to Bergamo with the label of an illustrious former player, and who knows how the Nerazzurri fans, who have now reached the roof of the Europa League, will welcome him. Meanwhile, Zapata’s was in any case an important season, which confirmed that the attacker is still physically well. During the season he never missed a match, practically carrying the weight of an often struggling Granata attack alone, scoring 13 goals and providing his teammates with 4 assists: numbers which were further enhanced by the weight of his performances against his former teams Napoli, Udinese and precisely Atalanta: 3 goals scored with the two against the Nerazzurri plus the one against the Bianconeri, to which we must also add the assist provided to Vlasic. The count of winning passes doesn’t stop here: 3 assists, one against Udinese and two more against Napoli in the home match won 3-0. In other words, against his former teams Zapata always has an extra push: repeating himself on Sunday could push Torino towards Europe.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
