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Marcus Thuram fired Inter Milan into second place in Serie A with a hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-2 win over 10-man Torino, moving the champions to within two points of leaders Napoli.
France striker Thuram headed in crosses from Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi in the first half before scoring his third goal after the hour to give Inter a narrow but deserved win at the San Siro.
Inter can be overtaken by both Juventus, who host Cagliari, and AC Milan, with their local rivals in Fiorentina, on Sunday in the final game of the weekend before the international break.
Thuram leads the top scorers list in Italy’s top flight with seven goals, along with Mateo Retegui, who scored a hat-trick in Atalanta’s 5-1 win over Genoa on Saturday.
“It’s been a few games since I last scored, but it was more important that the team won tonight,” Thuram told Sky.
“I don’t care about being top scorer, the only thing that matters is that Inter wins games.”
After Simone Inzaghi’s strike against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Tuesday, Inter are back to almost full strength and have won a third straight game in all competitions since defeat in the Milan derby last month.
Thuram was involved in all of Inter’s good moves up front and was also left in agony by Guillermo Maripan’s terrible tackle in the 20th minute that left Torino a man behind.
The 27-year-old could easily have been injured, but instead he punished Torino five minutes later with the first of two almost identical headers, the second coming in the 35th minute.
Duvan Zapata, who was later forced off with a potentially serious knee injury, scored for sixth-placed Torino seconds later after poor defending from Yann Bisseck.
But Thuram restored Inter’s two-goal lead when he pounced on goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, who failed to save Lautaro Martinez’s header.
Inter were less solid than when they won the Scudetto last season and Hakan Calhanoglu gave Torino some hope with five minutes left by bringing down Adam Masina and allowing Nikola Vlasic to reduce the deficit with a penalty.
However, Inter held on for a win which will see them close on Napoli’s heels as their players head off to their respective national teams.
“Let’s focus on the fact that the team won three games in a week after the derby defeat,” Inzaghi told Sky.
“I can’t say anything about the players because we all deserve to win it.”
– Retegui on fire –
Retegui condemned his former club Genoa to a heavy defeat with his hat-trick at the Gewiss Stadium, which ensured Atalanta moved up to ninth place with 10 points.
Ederson and Marten de Roon also scored with spectacular goals as Atalanta beat woeful Genoa, who scored late through Jeff Ekhator but fell behind Lecce into the relegation zone on goal difference.
Argentine-born Retegui has quickly settled into life in Bergamo since signing in the summer after Gianluca Scamacca suffered a serious knee injury, forming an almost immediate connection with Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere up front.
The 25-year-old also provided the pass that Ederson converted into Atalanta’s third on the hour mark.
“I’m really happy, but not for myself, but for the team, who played really well,” Retegui told DAZN.
“I can only thank everyone for the way I was treated in the first few months, I’m really happy.”
Retegui opened the scoring in the 24th minute with a low cross from Lookman and doubled the hosts’ lead five minutes after the break when he reacted quickest to the rebound after Ederson’s shot was parried by Pierluigi Gollini.
He completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 74th minute after Alessandro Vogliacco was penalized for a handball, making up for his clumsy penalty that denied Atalanta an opening Champions League win over Arsenal last month.
Saturday’s convincing win came after another strong performance on Wednesday when Atalanta beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen in Europe’s top club competition.
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