Mario Pašalić scored the game winner in the 80th minute for Atalanta Monday night to beat 2nd place Napoli 2-1. The win puts Atalanta even on points with AC Milan for Italy’s last Champions League berth for next season with five matches remaining in Serie A.
Pašalić was sold to Chelsea from Hajduk Split in 2014 and has been a ‘loan journeyman’ across Europe since the deal. Chelsea – who are notorious for buying young players and loaning them out immediately until they show first-team promise – have loaned Pašalić out to Elche, Monaco, AC Milan, Spartak Moscow, and Atalanta in the past five seasons. Pašalić has scored three times for Atalanta this season – but at 24 years-old – he will need to find a permanent home if he is to mature into the player Chelsea thought he would be.
Was not a simple tap in.
The reason why we are getting excited about Pasalic is that we wanna see him reach his potential and being a Hajduk man it would be just another example of us spawning another great player
Actually he did hit it well….
…..he was looking to side foot the ball into the far corner—as the goalie and the defender Malcuit were going in the other direction. And he manages to wrong foot Koulibaly on the line, who comically goes down on the play.
Pasalic was going for placement, not a sweet footed strike. The ball does “pop up” a bit giving the illusion of mis-hit, as Malcuit does get a very slight touch on it.
There was actually a lot going on there—this wasn’t a simple tap in ya know!
He didn’t hit it well, but more importantly he put himself in the right position to score.
Mandžo makes a living doing this. It’s more important than actually being able to hit it nicely.
Pašalić always seems to find himself in the starting lineup of every team he gets loaned to. That is very impressive for a loanee player, especially since there is little incentive for all these teams to start him.
I still don’t know what his future is on the National Team, but this is the age where Croats begin to make strides in their careers (since we seem to be late bloomers).
That was a great goal, especially how he cooly slots the ball past the defender, the goalie, and finally Koulibaly of all people!
Let’s not forget the sheer significance of this goal. Game winning goal, against Napoli, Away, and putting them level on pts for the 4th CL spot…..
….NOW that is something to write home about!
Pašalić has actually been performing well all season and is definitely worthy of attention after a goal in a big game such as this. I really like his offensive capability especially when you have players like Kovačić who has none. I’d like to see him somewhere like Atalanta for longer and for Dalić to give him a chance. Don’t forget he has plenty of time left at 24, especially considering how late Croatians peak.
^ ^
Ha! Very true. That ball was put on a plate for Pasalic and not struck very well. Let’s all praise him this week!
An average player scores a goal and this site blows up.
Last week might have been the low point.
Perisic pk and Halilovic phantom goal was all we had to talk about.
It’s getting to be slim pickings isn’t it?
Right now Pasalic is apart of something special, so the move to Atalanta was a good one.
Atalanta have a High Octane offense, that can score goals like there is no tomorrow. They also run double compared to all the other teams in Serie A. And Mario is apart of this.
Hopefully they get that last CL spot.
Now if Pasalic can make the permanent move to Atalanta it would be good for him. He can’t keep going out on loan, he needs stability in his career at this point.
How much did Chelsea pay him to waste his career?
For mind Pasalic seems like a consistent performer who can score on a regular basis which Croatia needs at the moment
The midfields looking good for the next few years
For mind Pasalic seems like a consistent performer who can score on a regular which Croatia needs at the moment
The midfields looking good for the next few years