Atalanta, 7-2 at Villa Valle, Hojlund in great shape: two goals and … Muriel in the balance

The Dane’s brace has further mixed the cards on the table.

Atalanta does not play in Europe but is trained in a friendly match. 7-2 with Villa Valle, an opponent who plays in the Serie D championship. The resistance of the sparring partner is not irresistible, but useful for verifying the conditions of those who have found little space or have played little against Cremonese.

Game without great history, closed 6-0 in the first half. Gasperini was hunting for answers in attack, a department that suffers from the absence of Zapata, and has partially found them. Net of the opponent’s value, they involved movements and percentage of achievement. And from this point of view Pasalic and Hojlund do not disappoint expectations. One shotgun each. To complete the scoreboard also the usual Scalvini, now used to scoring in midweek friendlies, with Boga and Ederson. The former Sassuolo player left the pitch early due to a muscle problem.

A brace, that of the very young Dane, which puts Muriel’s position even more in the balance. The Colombian, already in the crosshairs of the critics for not having scored yet a goal, lost the way of the net against Spezia and has just returned from a second round to be forgotten both in terms of achievement and communication. The “ronaldito” of the Goddess appeared rather embittered at the moment of the substitution in the match against Cremonese. Attitude that did not like (euphemism) to Gasperini who spared no criticism of the South American striker, explaining in no uncertain terms that he would play even less elsewhere.

Hojlund’s brace further shuffled the cards. Last year, also thanks to Zapata’s long injury and international competitions, Muriel had practically no competition. Now, however, she has found it and seems to suffer also because the Dane has appeared much more on the ball and at ease than her in Gasperini’s schemes. You have shown it with Monza by repeating in a friendly match and everything suggests that you will also be able to find space in the match against Roma. With all due respect to the Colombian who will have to recover the hierarchies even before the smile.