Serie A Team of the Week – Round 18 and 19

The final edition of 2018 is a super-sized one since it comprises two rounds.

Juan Musso (14 points): only two teams managed to keep a clean sheet in both matches and Udinese joined Inter in that company. It does not represent a particularly big surprise, since the Zebrette have tightened their defensive phase after the appointing of Davide Nicola and the opponents, SPAL and Cagliari, were not super dangerous.

Jens Larsen (11 points): most of the Bianconeri defenders amassed ten points since they did not allow a goal in the last four days. The Dane gets the token spot for everybody since he tacked one more because he assisted Ignacio Pussetto’s goal versus Cagliari with a pinpoint long ball. Either as centre-back, right or left back, he has proven to be a reliable contributor this year.

Milan Skriniar (10 points): the Nerazzurri’s defence continue to be one of the stouter in the League, led by the Slovenian giant, who helped stymieing Napoli at San Siro, which is no easy feat, and then Empoli on the road, a little easier but not a walk in the park.

Luiz Felipe (10 points): he picked up his entire haul in the Wednesday match against Bologna, where he buried a header and set up Senad Lulic with a flick-on, basically single-handedly knocking down the opponents. He had started to drop a little in the depth chart, but he might have won back the starting job.

Josip Ilicic (14 points): he has had three hat-tricks this year, trailing only Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero (5) in that regard in the top five leagues. Even more impressively, he did it coming off the bench in Sassuolo, in half an hour. All three were classy finishes on a one-on-one, the final after a solo counter.

Cengiz Under (10 points): the Turk picked up eight points in the Parma game, which he sealed by pouncing on a loose ball in the box. He also sent in a corner kick that Bryan Cristante buried with a header and had an assist on Wednesday as well, where he linked up with Nicolò Zaniolo with a through ball.

Alfred Duncan (8 points): he was pretty much the only one to put up a fight against Atalanta, keeping his team in the game with a brace with strikes from medium range, one with the help of a big deflection, before the Ilicic avalanche.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (6 points): he bagged a stunning goal versus Torino, rifling it in the top right corner. He has put his name in the scoresheets twice in the last three matches, so he should have finally turned the corner after a prolonged slump.

Cristiano Ronaldo (12 points): three goals in two games for the Portuguese ace, who allowed Juventus to equalize the complicated Atalanta contest with a clinical header and then punished Sampdoria with one of his signature strikes and a penalty.

Duvan Zapata (10 points): he continues to hit the net and showcased his tremendous skills particularly against Juventus, where he muscled his way to the first goal. He added two more goals wiggling free on set pieces.

Fabio Quagliarella (8 points): a penalty in Turin kept his streak alive and he has now scored in nine matches in a row, tying David Trezeguet’s achievement in 2005. He is two short of reaching Gabriel Omar Batistuta’s all-time record (11). The back-heel flick versus Chievo was worth a shout-out on his own.

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