Marcus Thuram and Mateo Retegui both scored three goals to lead their teams to important wins in Serie A on Saturday.
Thuram scored all three goals in Inter Milan’s 3-2 victory over a Torino team that was down to ten players. Meanwhile, Retegui helped Atalanta win 5-1 against his former club, Genoa.
With this win, Inter moved into second place, just two points behind Napoli, who won against Como 3-1 on Friday.
Before the match, there was only a one-point difference between Inter and Torino. However, Torino’s chances diminished in the 20th minute when defender Guillermo Maripán received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Thuram.
Inter took the lead five minutes later when Thuram headed in a cross from Alessandro Bastoni, hitting the inside of the left post.
Thuram scored again in the 35th minute with another powerful header, this time from a cross by Francesco Acerbi, but Duván Zapata quickly pulled one back for Torino.
Thuram completed his hat trick on the hour mark when he scored off a rebound after Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić couldn’t handle a header from Lautaro Martínez.
Thuram received a standing ovation when he was substituted eight minutes later.
However, Inter faced some tension at the end of the match when Nikola Vlasic scored a penalty for Torino with three minutes left after Hakan Çalhanoğlu fouled Adam Masina.