As imaginable from their sizeable contingent in the Team of the Week, the best club in the last Serie A round was Roma thanks to their commanding win over Torino. Crotone narrowly missed the shout-out because they conceded one goal to Sampdoria, therefore hurting their fantasy haul.
Eusebio Di Francesco was down two starters on Friday as Edin Dzeko and Federico Fazio were suspended and replaced in the line-up by Patrik Schick and Juan Jesus. The coach is preaching patience with the young striker, hoping that he will eventually break out like Cengiz Under did, but he had another disappointing outing despite featuring in the lead role upfront this time.
The Giallorossi did not have a good half and allowed the Granata to create a pair of good scoring chances: Kostas Manolas thwarted one by Andrea Belotti with a slide, then Alisson was superb on a curly low shot by Iago Falque and then on Afriyie Acquah, who tried to take advantage of a lost ball by the opponents in the build-up of the action.
The tide turned dramatically in the second 45 minutes and, after a pair of offensive salvoes, the home team broke the deadlock: Alessandro Florenzi collected the ball on the opposite flank after a corner kick, sharply sent it back and found a wide-open Kostas Manolas for an easy header from in close.
Roma kept pushing and the guests evaporated: they eventually doubled the lead about twenty minutes later, when Daniele De Rossi was able to latch onto a through ball by Radja Nainggolan and remarkably slotted it home with a sliding shot. The Wolf finished off the opponents with Lorenzo Pellegrini founding the back of the net after a quick counter in the stoppage time.
In the standings, the Giallorossi gained two points on Lazio and Inter, solidifying their third spot, even though they are poised for a dog fight with those two teams, and perhaps Milan as well, for the rest of the season.
Conspicuous spoils from the fantasy perspective, also thanks to the clean sheet: Manolas was the top earner with nine points, Alisson garnered seven, Pellegrini and Nainggolan six each, Daniele De Rossi and the defenders five, the midfielders closed with two. Alessandro Florenzi racked up four points due to the assist.
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