Atalanta incredibly fought back from two goals down to beat Inter 4-3 in a thrilling Lombardy derby at San Siro on Sunday night in Serie A action.
Tommaso Rocchi scored his first goal for the club and his first in 18 months to put Inter ahead before Giacomo Bonaventura equalised in the second half.
Ricky Alvarez then bagged a brace for the Beneamata which looked to have put the game beyond doubt before German Denis hit an astonishing 12-minute hat-trick to blitz Andrea Stramaccioni’s side.
Ciro Polito saved well midway through the half from a fierce Fredy Guarin free-kick before his cross was headed wide by Rocchi.
On the stroke of half time, the former Lazio forward grabbed the opener by flicking home at the near post from a corner.
La Dea levelled though just over 10 minutes after the restart when capitalising on an error from Walter Samuel and Bonaventura scored from a Marko Livaja cross.
However, then the much-criticised Alvarez came to the fore just a minute later having came off the bench for the injured Antonio Cassano in the first half.
Firstly, he headed past Polito when Michele Canini misjudged the flight of the ball and allowed the midfielder in to immediately put themselves back in front.
Just minutes later, the Argentine skipped past the challenge of two defenders before crashing into the back of the net for a fine goal.
The visitors were then awarded an extremely soft penalty that they greatly appealed after a coming together in the box between Andrea Ranocchia and Livaja and Denis made no mistake from the spot, making it five successful spot kicks from five in the league.
Livaja then came so close to punishing his former club himself with a powerful header that cannoned back off Samir Handanovic’s crossbar.
With just under 20 minutes remaining, they equalised en route to a comeback that recently deceased former president Ivan Ruggeri would be proud of when Denis dribbled Rannochia’s challenge and blasted home.
‘El Tanque’ completed his hat-trick six minutes later when he converted a cross from Bonaventura to stun the San Siro and give his side their second win in Milan this season despite Cristian Raimondi being sent off for an elbow in injury time while Ranocchia missed the easiest of chances inside the six yard box.
