Atalanta Star Striker Ruled Out of Lazio Clash After Suffering Injury

Atalanta will be without their top goalscorer Mateo Retegui for Saturday’s big showdown against Lazio.

Top Signing

The 25-year-old arrived in Bergamo last August as a replacement for Gianluca Scamacca who suffered a devastating ACL injury in the summer. But what seemed to be a panic buy at first turned out to be one of the cleverest coups of the year, as the former Boca Juniors and Genoa man is currently leading the Serie A scoring charts with 12 goals.

Mateo Retegui to Miss Lazio vs Atalanta

But sadly for the Italy international, his outing against Empoli last Sunday was cut short due to a hamstring injury. According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, the striker’s medical tests detected a first-degree lesion of the left rectus femoris muscle, thus ruling him out of the weekend’s trip to Rome. Retegui will likely skip the Italian Super Cup semi-final against Inter on January 2nd as well.

The Solutions

While this will be a considerable blow for Atalanta, Gian Piero Gasperini can still rely on a formidable attacking unit that features Ademola Lookman and the in-form Charles De Ketelaere. Nicolo Zaniolo could come in as a replacement as he did against Empoli, but the veteran tactician could also switch to a 3-4-1-2 formation by introducing an extra midfielder in front of Marten de Roon and Ederson, with Mario Pasalic being the favorite to interpret this role.