Serie-A: Substitute Josip Ilicic scores hat-trick in Atalanta rout

Image Credits: Twitter/@Atalanta_BC

Atalanta forward Josip Ilicic came off the bench to score a hat-trick in the last 20 minutes and lead Serie A`s dark horses to a 6-2 rout away to Sassuolo on Saturday.

Duvan Zapata headed Atalanta in front from an Alejandro Gomez free kick in the 19th minute and Gomez himself added the second with a deflected shot three minutes before halftime.

#SassuoloAtalanta 2-6#FullTime#GoAtalantaGo pic.twitter.com/PHCg1vdYsf — Atalanta B.C. (@Atalanta_BC) December 29, 2018

There were three goals in a seven-minute spell early in the second half as Alfred Duncan pulled one back for Sassuolo, Gianluca Mancini restored Atalanta`s two-goal lead and then Duncan struck again.

With the game on a knife-edge, Ilicic was brought on in the 63rd minute and the Slovenian became the first player to score a hat-trick in Serie A from the substitutes` bench since 2011.

He opened his account with an angled shot in the 74th minute, added a second with three minutes left following an exchange of passes with Gomez and completed his hat-trick on the counter-attack in stoppage time.

Juventus are currently leading the Serie-A with 53 points in their kitty. Napoli are placed second with 44 points. They are further followed by Inter Milan and Lazio.