Atalanta celebrate Gasperini's 400th game by obliterating Verona
Atalanta celebrated Gian Piero Gasperini's 400th match as coach by destroying Verona 6-1 with a stunning display in which they raced into a five-goal lead in just over half an hour.
Marten de Roon, Charles De Ketelaere and doubles from Serie A top scorer Mateo Retegui and Ademola Lookman fired Atalanta up to fourth, level on 16 points with Juventus, and made up for Wednesday's frustrating goalless draw with Celtic in the Champions League.
"We were disappointed with the Celtic game as we created loads. Today we scored plenty of goals," said Retegui who has scored 10 times in his first nine league matches with Atalanta.
"It's down to the faith shown in me by the lads and the fans. I've got a lot of teammates with a lot of experience who have helped me integrate well in the team."
The hosts went ahead in the sixth minute when De Roon thumped home Lookman's cross, and the match was effectively over by the 14th minute after Retegui and De Ketelaere both curled in fine left-footed strikes.
Verona got the treatment Celtic should have suffered and coach Paolo Zanetti looked shellshocked on the sidelines as Lookman first skipped past three players and drilled home at the near post before tapping in Ederson's low cross in the 34th minute.
Amin Sarr scored a consolation goal in the 42nd minute and Atalanta took their foot off the gas after the break, only adding to their score once through a Retegui tap-in.
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