Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 4:56 PM• Rian Rosendaal

Teun Koopmeiners was the great hero on the side of Atalanta on Sunday. The central midfielder signed for the winning goal in the away game against Hellas Verona (1-2) after more than an hour of play. Thanks to the victory, Atalanta overtakes Napoli and occupies third place with 37 points, as many as number two Internazionale. The Milanese will play against Cagliari at the Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday evening and Inter will go over leader and neighbor AC Milan if they win.

Atalanta, with Marten de Roon in addition to Koopmeiners, also did not have an energetic start in Verona. Halfway through the first half, the team that had been eliminated in the Champions League faced a deficit. Giovanni Simeone managed to score from a difficult angle on behalf of the home team. In the final phase of the first half, Atalanta managed to repair the damage suffered again. In the 37th minute, Giovanni Simeone scored inside the penalty area after good preparatory work by Giovanni Simeone. Halfway through, Davide Zappacosta was left in the dressing room, with Hans Hateboer as his replacement on the right side of Atalanta’s midfield.

More than ten minutes after the break, Duván Zapata and Josip Ilicic also made their appearance at Atalanta, with Mario Pasalic and Luis Muriel who were taken to the side by trainer Gian Piero Gasperini. A few minutes later, Atalanta took over the game, with Koopmeiners playing a leading role. The midfielder lashed out with his left leg and was delighted to see the ball disappear into the bottom left corner: 1-2. It was his second goal of the season in Serie A, after the Dutchman recently scored in a 4-0 win over Venezia. Atalanta did not let Hellas Verona come back in the remainder of the meeting and they are now waiting for the result of competitor Inter on Sunday evening.