Standings implications: Juventus garnered the final points they needed for the title against Fiorentina. Torino were the only team to succeed in the European races, since Roma shared the spoils with Inter, Milan were pipped at post in Parma and Lazio were stunned by Chievo. Atalanta will play on Monday in Naples. Empoli find themselves in a hole after being torpedoed by SPAL at home and the Estensi have now comfortable lead over the last three places. Udinese tied with Sassuolo, taking a little step forward since they are four points above the Azzurri, but were leapfrogged by Bologna, whic thumped Sampdoria. Cagliari arrived at the 40-point mark with their W over Frosinone, whose relegation is pretty much a done deal. Genoa keep spiraling, but they still have a little cushion before being in serious troubles.
Confirmations: Ivan Perisic equalized the Roma clash with his third goal in the past four appearances. Stephan El Shaarawy reached double-digit goals with a scorcher in Milan. Andrea Petagna bested Francesco Caputo with a brace in the battle of low-table strikers, where Sergio Floccari made it two in a row and Mirco Antenucci hit the net too. Erick Pulgar continues to heap pain on the opposition on set pieces and Riccardo Orsolini showed up once more. Joao Pedro drilled a penalty to down the Frosinone. Felipe Caicedo tried to ignite Lazio’s comeback, but they fell short.
Guess who is back: Samu Castillejo has been fizzy recently, but he had not put one on goal in a month. Stefano Sensi cashed in on a defensive blunder to bag his second of the year. Cristian Ansaldi capitalized on his great form with a game-winner in Genoa.
Surprise scorers: Hamed Traorè managed to break through scoring-wise after being solid all season long. Emanuel Vignato has been getting some run lately and opened his Serie A tally versus the Biancocelesti, where also the gritty Perparim Hetemaj found the target. Alex Sandro finally scored his first goal of the year, answering to Nikola Milenkovic’s third one.
Flops of the round: Lazio suffered arguably the most embarrassing loss by any team this year and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic contributed a lot to that with a silly red card in the first half, while Luis Alberto was sent off after the final whistle. Sampdoria were dreadful in Bologna and Emil Audero had a particularly rough day at the office. There were an abnormal number of own goals in this round, but they were mostly unfortunate ones rather than howlers.
Clutch goal: Bruno Alves buried a glorious free kick late to tie the Milan game, notching his fourth one of the year.
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