Duván Zapata could be in the final stretch of his recovery and is already preparing to return to play with Atalanta

Duván Zapata, one of the most important Colombian strikers in recent years, hasn't had the best year of his career as a footballer. He is one of the great figures of Atalanta, even his enormous physical power and scoring ability, made several of the big clubs in Europe pay attention to him at the end of last season, however, the Colombian decided to stay with the Bergamo club in order to lead the team to become again the protagonist of Serie A and Champions League.

At the start of the season he shone again, he played 23 games between Serie A and the Champions League, scored 12 goals and was once again consolidating himself as one of the great leaders of the team, however, on December 21 he suffered a muscle injury that would take him away from the playing fields for a few weeks. He missed both qualifying matches against Peru and Argentina and finally returned to the field on February 6.

The Colombian spent 13 minutes on the court in the 2-1 defeat to Cagliar i, however, the striker suffered an injury to the adductor, so he was expected to be out for at least three months. However, the Colombian opted for a treatment in which he should not be operated on and thanks to this, he managed to subtract several weeks from his recovery. Zapata went back to training with his teammates.

You can also read: Duván Zapata advances in his recovery, there is already talk of the date of his return with Atalanta

This is great news for Gian Piero Gasperini, who in the second half of the season was unable to maintain the good pace that Atalanta had in recent dates, so he was dropping points in Serie A and is now in the fifth place, in Europa League positions, with 51 points and is eight behind Juve which is fourth and nine in the Inter who is third. Milan, for its part, is the leader with 66 units, three more than Napoli who is now second in the standings.

The return of the Colombian striker would allow the Italian coach to have more options ahead of the end of the season, where they hope to stay at the top of the standings for Europe and hope to win over Germany's RB Leipzig in the Europa League quarterfinals. Remember that the first leg against the Germans will be played next Thursday, April 7 at the Red Bull Arena.

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Duván Zapata, who recovered in the city of Seville (Spain) together with doctor Sakari Orava, will have to wait for medical discharge to take orders from Gian Piero Gasperini, who hopes to be able to take him into account for the 32nd Serie A match that will be against Sassuolo at Mapei Stadium on April 10. The medical staff of the Italian club does not want to take risks, so it follows in detail the player's recovery, since they do not want to rush him and put him at risk of a new relapse.

This is good news for Atalanta, since he suffered the injury, the Colombian was ruled out this season, however, he could start to have minutes and be once again one of the most regular starters within the team by the end of the season. Duvan Zapata scored 12 goals in this course and remains the top scorer of the Italian club.

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