Mateo Retegui is gunning for his first Champions League goal as the Italy striker heads into Atalanta’s Champions League clash with Celtic in hot form and ready to make up for the incredible double miss which cost his team a win against Arsenal.
Born in Argentina, Retegui has replaced Gianluca Scamacca as starting centre-forward for Italy and Atalanta since his Azzurri teammate suffered a serious knee injury before the start of the season.
Scamacca was one of the key figures behind Atalanta’s stunning Europa League triumph last season, expertly leading the line and banging in crucial goals in his team’s best ever campaign.
But Retegui has had such an impact up front since signing from Genoa in August that by the time Scamacca returns next year he will have a huge task winning back his place in Atalanta’s exciting front line alongside Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere.
The 25-year-old is the leading scorer in Serie A with eight goals and netted in both of rejuvenated Italy’s recent Nations League matches against Belgium and Israel.
“He was a player that we liked before he came here for his playing style and what he did before at Genoa,” said coach Gian Piero Gasperini after Sunday’s 2-0 win at Venezia.
“We all hoped that he would develop his game even more and that’s what’s happening, anyone can see it. But the team is putting him in the right situations so that he can be decisive for us.”
Retegui’s latest effort was an absolute peach, a delightful dink over Filip Stankovic which effectively sealed Atalanta’s win at Venezia on Sunday afternoon.
‘Quality’ Retegui
He was also crucial to Mario Pasalic’s early opener, challenging for the ball which dropped to the Croatia midfielder for a simple seventh-minute finish.
“He does that really often and I have to say that he’s just got great quality,” added Gasperini.
“Today’s goal was a real quality goal, and it came at a point in the match when it was still all to play for, that made it crucial.”
Retegui has scored 10 times in total this season but is yet to net in the Champions League, in which Atalanta have collected a very respectable four points from their first two matches against Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk.
However Atalanta would surely have had a perfect points tally for Wednesday’s visit of Celtic had Retegui not fallen victim to what will surely by one of the saves of the season against Arsenal.
Retegui watched on in horror as David Raya first saved his weak penalty and then somehow managed to scramble across goal to keep out what looked like a certain goal on the rebound.
However he has scored six goals in his last four matches for club and country and looks fully settled into a team finding its feet after a bumpy start to the season.
Gasperini will be hoping that Lookman will be back in top form after the Nigeria striker was substituted at half-time on Sunday for “not playing for the team” due to fatigue from his national team’s boycotted Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Libya.
The Nigeria squad were left stranded for 20 hours at an airport 230 kilometres (143 miles) from the qualifier’s venue in Benghazi, and left for home without playing the fixture while decrying “inhumane treatment” from their hosts.
