The last round had a pair of really intriguing and well-balanced match-ups, Lazio-Fiorentina and Atalanta-Sampdoria, but those were decided by a single goal. The most entertaining game was surprisingly the Friday one between Torino and Frosinone.
The Granata were coming off a late win against Chievo, while Frosinone picked up just one point so far. Walter Mazzarri gave Simone Zaza the start after the deciding goal in the previous contest, picking Daniele Baselli over Roberto Soriano as attacking midfielder and Ola Aina and Alex Berenguer as wing backs since Lorenzo De Silvestri was out. Moreno Longo, former coach of Torino’s youth team, stuck with a 3-4-3 featuring Joel Campbell, Daniele Ciofani and Camillo Ciano up front.
The home team took quickly control of the proceedings, containing the opponent with ease and starting to generate chances. After six minutes, Andrea Belotti hit the base of the post with a cross-shot from angled position. They broke through after 20 minutes, with Tomas Rincon firing one in the bottom right corner from long range for his first goal in almost a year.
Torino appeared to put the game away a minute into the second half, when Ola Aina skittered down the right flank, sent in a square ball for Simone Zaza, whose attempt was kicked away by Marco Sportiello, but Daniele Baselli was at the right place at the right time for an easy tap-in.
However, the episode lit a fire under Frosinone, which, 12 minutes later, scored their first away goal of the season on a confusing action on a corner kick, as Daniel Ciofani sent it back towards the middle and Edoardo Goldaniga beat Salvatore Sirigu to the punch, who was probably initially obstructed. The Ciociari were not satisfied and equalized at the 64th minute, when Joel Campbell connected with a wide-open Camillo Ciano in the box with a velvety lefty cross and the attacker buried a precise header.
However, Torino were not to be denied and responded on the following wave of offence, as Alex Berenguer hammered it home from 25 meters out with an awe-inspiring curled shot. Nicolas Nkoulou smacked the bar a little later after a scrum in the box.
The guests had two chances to tied it with Stipe Perica on quick counters, but in the first case he was too slow in kicking a pinpoint square ball by the other substitute Rai Vloet and Berenguer cleared it at the last moment, then in the second case his finish, from less dangerous position but again all alone, was too weak.
Despite all the difficulties to begin the season, Frosinone are reportedly retaining Moreno Longo through the break and, despite not collecting points, they showed some improvements and some fighting spirit in the last three games. They desperately need to get better defensively though. Torino are now in 11th position after their third victory of the season.
The goal scorers Baselli, Berenguer and Rincon amassed four points in the fantasy game, Ciano one fewer because he was booked, Ciofani, Campbell and Zaza two because of their assists, the same score of Goldaniga, who was penalized for the goals they conceded.
Do you have what it takes to challenge the best Serie A Fantasy Managers? If you’re up for it play seriea-fantasy.com now!
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com