Ever striving for more, Hellas Verona coach Igor Tudor insists his side should have scored ‘seven or eight goals’ during Sunday’s Serie A clash with Sassuolo.
In the end, four would suffice.
And with Antonin Barak in this kind of form, free-wheeling Hellas will be finding the back of the net plenty more times between now and May.
If there was a stroke of good fortune about his first two goals, the ball rebounding off Barak’s shins and into the net for number one and then a penalty narrowly evading the Sassuolo ‘keeper for number two, then there was certainly nothing lucky about his third of the evening.
Timing his run into penalty-area to perfection, Barak sauntered onto a defence-splitting through ball before finishing with the most nonchalant of dinks into the far corner.
It was the sort of goal Yaya Toure used to score for Manchester City. The sort of goal Patrick Vieira used to score for Arsenal.
Did we mention Barak also set up the Hellas’ other goal in a thrilling 4-2 win?
Is Antonin Barak leaving Serie A for the Premier League?
“I’m happy for Barak,” says Tudor, the former Juventus defender-turned-manager (L’Arena).
“He is a player we need. He is perfect for this type of football. A golden boy. A player who, in my opinion, has so many qualities that he can be in the squad of any team.”
If West Ham or Newcastle United get their way, Barak will be in their ‘squad’ by the time February 1 rolls around.
Barak, in contrast, has eight all on his own. you can see why relegation-threatened, shot-shy Newcastle are interested (L’Arena).
According to Tuttomercatoweb, top-flight rivals West Ham have shown the most interest at this stage, however.
It will not surprise you to learn that the £17 million-rated Barak is a Czech Republic international, like Tomas Soucek, like Alex Kral, like Vladimir Coufal and so many of the club’s other transfer targets.
“A wonderful thing,” Barak beams.
The first treble of his career lifted Hellas up to tenth, within touching distance of the Europa League spots.
“I have never scored a hat-trick. I’m really happy.”
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