Serie A Players of the Week – Round 17

Some shocking results in the last Serie A round: let’s take a look at the best performances by the single players.

Alex Cordaz: four goalkeepers collected seven points thanks to the clean sheet, the others being Wojciech Szczesny, Marco Sportiello and Alisson. Neither was particularly busy in their game, so Cordaz gets the nod because it is always quite remarkable when Crotone manage to not concede.

Federico Fazio: he was one of the two defenders who scored and it was a massive goal, as it gave Roma the win in the final minutes. He was in perfect position when Alessio Cragno mistakenly punched the ball away centrally, hitting the body of the centre-back, who had no trouble putting the ball in the empty net. It was an easy game defensively for Roma.

Antonio Caracciolo: his thunderous header opened the score in Verona-Milan and left Gianluigi Donnarumma flat-footed. A scrappy Serie B lifer, he was inserted into the starting XI because of injuries and has managed to hold onto the starting job. Like Fazio, he got nine points thanks to the goal and the clean sheet.

Romulo: he is the heart and soul of Hellas Verona, his runs on the right flank always electrify the crowd and galvanize his team. In Sunday’s lunch match, he sent in the corner kick that resulted in Antonio Caracciolo’s goal and orchestrated the perfect counter that was capped off by Daniel Bessa’s easy finish that sealed the game. He earned nine points thanks to the clean sheet and the double assist.

Francesco Acerbi: Sassuolo survived Marassi and pulled off an impressive win. Acerbi spent the afternoon battling Duvan Zapata and Fabio Quagliarella and it is extremely hard to hold Sampdoria scoreless at home and that gave him five points, like a bunch of other defenders. However, he gets a shout-out for an impressive feat: it was his 100^th full game in a row, a true ironman.

Josip Ilicic: he continued to deliver on Sunday night against Lazio by scoring a brace. In the first goal, he buried it thanks to a sliding volley after a perfect cut, nicely assisted by Alejandro Gomez. Later in the game, he converted a penalty. He has scored four times in the last three games and he has quickly become an indispensable player for Gian Piero Gasperini. He amassed eight points thanks to the brace.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic: Lazio needed a shot in the arm after they went down two-nothing in Bergamo and he provided just that with the precise strike from just outside the box that cut the lead in half. About ten minutes later, he tied the game with another shoot from distance, where he caught Etrit Berisha by surprise.

Daniel Bessa: he was a big contributor in Hellas’ stunning win over Milan on Sunday as he set up Moise Kean for the second goal and found the back of the net on another counter-attack few minutes later for his first goal of the season. He was among the team’s leader in that department in Serie B, but he had a tough time adjusting to the top league and to a slightly different role. He garnered eight points thanks to the goal, the assist and the clean sheet.

Miralem Pjanic: he scored his first free kick of the season in Serie A thanks to the help of Antonio Mirante, who probably misread the trajectory of the ball and basically accompanied it on goal. He also served Mario Mandzukic with a sweet lobby for the second goal. Eight points for him as well.

Sergio Floccari: he was the only striker who scored two goals, therefore earning eight points. He got a surprise start and delivered with two easy scores where he showed off his knack for being at the right place at the right time. He lost few spots in the pecking order due to an early injury, but he was a leader last season.

Kevin Lasagna: Udinese deserve a token spot for their impressive win at San Siro against Inter, which were still undefeated. Lasagna opened the game early with a short-range finish, once again punishing a Milan team. The Bianconeri wreaked havoc on the counters in the second half and he played a big role in that as well.

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