Torino Captain Duvan Zapata Out for the Season with ACL Injury
From Rodri to Éder Militão, from Bremer to Dani Carvajal, we’ve seen an alarmingly high amount of big-name footballers suffer ACL injuries in the opening months of the season. The latest player to bid farewell to his campaign and head to the operating table is Duván Zapata.
Zapata was 20 years old when he left boyhood club América de Cali for Estudiantes, and 22 when he departed Argentina for Italy. Since then, the Colombian striker has represented Napoli, Udinese, Sampdoria, and Atalanta, where he would score 82 goals and 43 assists in 191 appearances. However, after the arrivals of Charles De Ketelaere, Gianluca Scamacca and El Bilal Touré would see Zapata fall down the pecking order.
Gian Piero Gasperini refused to sanction a sale to Roma — a direct opponent for European football — who acquired Romelu Lukaku on loan instead, whilst Zapata headed for Torino. After a slow start that saw him score just 5 in the first 20 matches, Zapata managed to find his footing in the second half of the season with 8 in 17, including a goal against Milan in the final home match of the campaign, emerging as a key figure in attack under Ivan Jurić and convincing Torino to take up their option on the 33-year-old striker.
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Zapata was named club captain following the departure of Ricardo Rodriguez and proved influential in what looked set to be a transitional campaign. With Jurić parting ways after three years at the helm and key figures like Raoul Bellanova and Alessandro Buongiorno leaving for a combined €55m to Atalanta and Napoli, respectively. New Torino manager Paolo Vanoli could not bear to mask his disgust at Bellanova’s departure, stating: “I told Cairo to his face what I think. I don’t like mediocrity, and I want the club to have more courage and achieve their full potential.”
Torino’s squad weakened even further on deadline day as Pietro Pellegri joined Empoli on loan. As such, Torino took a gamble on having just three fit strikers for their two striker positions in Vanoli’s 3-5-2 formation: Che Adams, Antonio Sanabria and Zapata. With seven weeks remaining until the opening of the January transfer window, it’s fair to say that this decision has blown up in their face. The burden is now on both Sanabria and Adams to step up and deliver the goods in the final third, with Yann Karamoh, Ali Dembélé and Primavera striker Tommaso Gabellini waiting in the wings.
The Granata enjoyed a dream start to the campaign, taking 11 points from their first five matches and climbing to the top of the table for the first time in over 47 years after a 3-2 away win at Hellas Verona. As for Zapata, he quickly assumed responsibility as the leader of Torino’s attack with four goals in nine matches, linking up well with new signing Adams following his arrival on a free transfer from Southampton.
Since that historic win in Verona, Torino have been knocked out of the cup by Empoli and have lost to Lazio. Their first match of October would see them fall to 10 men after 20 minutes and concede twice to Marcus Thuram, only for Zapata to pull one back before halftime. Thuram would complete his hat-trick at the hour-mark for Inter, who were cruising to a comfortable win at home.
Zapata was chasing a lost cause in the final minutes of their defeat when he tried to win the ball back from Inter defender Francesco Acerbi, causing his knee to buckle. The San Siro gasped in collective shock as Zapata was stretchered off the field in tears. Whilst Nikola Vlašić was able to pull one back from the penalty spot in the 87th minute, the defending champions were able to hold on for a 3-2 victory.
Just a few days later, Zapata was diagnosed with a lesion of the anterior cruciate ligament of the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus. He would miss up to seven months of the season, a devastating blow for a player who has reached double digits in goals in Serie A in each of the last nine seasons.
A physically imposing bulldozer of a striker who has caused Italy’s best defenders some serious issues with his poacher’s awareness, speed, and aerial prowess, Zapata finds himself in a race against time to be fit for the final weeks of the campaign.
Torino followed that up with a 3-2 defeat at Cagliari before bouncing back against Como as substitute Alieu Njie broke the deadlock in the 75th minute to secure a 1-0 victory at home. Since then, however, they have lost 1-0 at Roma, 1-0 at home to Fiorentina, and 2-0 at Juventus in the Derby della Mole. Torino have scored 15 goals — only Empoli have scored fewer in the top 11 sides — and they find themselves in 11th place, five points above the relegation zone.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Getty Images