A huge milestone was reached this weekend for Italian and South American football. Duván Zapata has put another feather in his cap by becoming the first Colombian to hit triple digit goals in Serie A! I have not done the full research, but he may also be the first Colombian to score 100+ goals in a single domestic league – Radamel Falcao for who dynamic he was split way too much of his time between La Liga, Ligue 1, and the Premier League to aggregate sufficient goals in one country.
This is quite the accomplishment for the 30 year old, and is a milestone that embodies both his strong center forward play but also his marked consistency. Italy is the only European league Zapata has participated in, coming over to Napoli in 2013 after playing in both his native Colombia and Argentina. Arguably not given the time to blossom in Naples, barely playing the equivalent of 13 full matches, in which he still managed to score 11 goals. Zapata then bounced around a bit, briefly featuring for Udinese and Sampdoria before coming to Bergamo at the start of the 2018 season. His time Atalanta has been nothing short of a boon, netting 60 goals in less than three and a half season capped by a marvelous 23 goal campaign in his first season in black and blue.
Congratulations to Zapata, and here’s to many more goals to come for the Colombian in Serie A – hopefully with La Dea. And while we’re at it, let’s take a look at some of his most note worthy goals as an Atalantino.
November 11, 2018 – At Bologna
Surprisingly it took until matchday 11 for Zapata to score his first Serie A goal for Atalanta. His next 22 came in at a ruthless clip, but there’s nothing like getting the monkey off your back to notch your first goal (although he did score in Europa League qualifers, but we’re just looking at Serie A here!).
December 9, 2018 – At Udinese
Zapata had two hat tricks in his first campaign, but his first against his old club Udinese was capped off by a nice one time shot, assisted by a lively Hateboer – giving a new friendly face, Juan Musso, no chance to reach the strike.
September 15, 2019 – At Genoa
Zapata’s strike from outside the box to seal a victory against plucky Genoa demonstrates Zapata’s versatility to not only get his own shot in the box, but to fire in bullets from distance. Zapata made sure to fuel the flames of a Genoa side that was riding high on a penalty converted just three minutes earlier by Domenico Criscito, but the end it was all for naught.
February 21, 2021 – Versus Napoli
In an epic stretch that saw Atalanta play Napoli three times in a month, Atalanta was able to get the best of Napoli in both the Coppa Italia and Serie A. Largely thanks to Duván. In a critical Serie A match with huge Champion’s League implications, Zapata got on the end of a cross from fellow compatriot Luis Muriel, bullying the slight of build Mario Rui for a bruising opening goal that open the flood gates for Atalanta to end up putting away four in the match.
October 17, 2021 – At Empoli
How could we not end with his 100th goal in Serie A. A sheer hustle and strength play that saw Zapata win the ball on the counter and set Mario Pasalic free. A perfect embodiment of all his qualities: technique, strength, speed, and finishing!
Again, huge congratulations to Zapata for hitting such a milestone, and we can only hope that there are even better things coming for the Colombian. It’s also quite the accolade for Colombian football that has lagged behind some of its more prominent counterparts in South America. World class footballers are still in abundance in “The Gateway to South America,” proven even further when this article will repeat itself once Luis Muriel eventually hits the 100 goal threshold (he’s less than 10 away himself!). As always, Forza Dea!!
