Standings implications: the top two teams, Juventus and Napoli, both prevailed, albeit in opposite fashion, against the Emilian teams Bologna and Parma, and so the gap remains untouched going into their clash. Milan and Roma stayed hot: the Rossoneri smoked Empoli, while the Giallorossi won it at the buzzer in Frosinone and they are now both within striking distance from Inter, who tied in a crazy one in Florence. Torino upended Atalanta and are now tied at the sixth position in the ever-changing Europa League race, where Sampdoria return in the picture thanks to a narrow victory over Cagliari. SPAL gained a point over the relegation strugglers in the Derby with Sassuolo and Genoa and Chievo shared the spoils too.
Confirmations: Krzysztof Piatek hit the net again and moved closer to the top of the scorers’ chart, while Fabio Quagliarella returned to the scoresheet after a brief pause with a perfect penalty. Edin Dzeko again brought the thunder on the road, adding two more to his seasonal tally. Arkadiusz Milik had a devilish brace against Parma. Luis Muriel buried a gem of a free kick against Inter. Paulo Dybala netted his second in a row to best Bologna. Andrea Petagna kept it rolling with a penalty. Frosinone continue to get all the scoring from his strikers, this time it was Andrea Pinamonti founding the target, besides the boxscore regular Camillo Ciano.
Guess who is back: Franck Kessié had not scored since early December, Samu Castillejo since late December, but in his case mostly because of lack of playing time. Iago Falque and Piotr Zielinski weirdly had yet to bag one in 2019. Both Inter wingers, Matteo Politano and Ivan Perisic, broke out of a lengthy slump in Serie A. Lorenzo Pellegrini had taken a backseat to Nicolò Zaniolo recently, but he took advantage of his teammate being rested to return to the no.10 role and tucked one home, ending a five-month famine. Matias Vecino had not bagged one yet in Serie A play this season.
Surprise scorers: Armando Izzo replicated what he was able to do a couple of rounds ago, this time punishing Atalanta. Federico Peluso drained a volley worthy of a consummate striker.
Flops of the round: Atalanta had the second pedestrian showing in a row versus Torino and Genoa did not do much offensively against Chievo Verona.
Clutch goals: Edin Dzeko solved the tricky clash with Frosinone by deflecting the ball into the net with his thigh on a pinpoint assist by Stephan El Shaarawy in the very last minute, while Jordan Veretout kept his cool through an eternal VAR review to equalize from the penalty spot against Inter.
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