Cagliari fumbled away a glorious fantasy haul by giving away not one but two late cheap goals against Fiorentina. Therefore, the team that earned the best result in this round was Torino, which crushed Brescia on the road in the first game with Eugenio Corini at the helm. The Granata had not won in six rounds coming into the contest, but had fared decently in last week’s Derby with Juventus.
Walter Mazzarri picked Bremer over the other options in the back, selected Ola Aina as right wing-back, fielded both Sasa Lukic and Soualiho Meite with Daniele Baselli out of commission and trotted out Simone Verdi next to Andrea Belotti, as Simone Zaza and Iago Falque are both on the mend.
The guests benefitted from two penalties in the first half an hour, first due to an unfortunate ricochet on Andrea Cistana’s hand on a free kick, then because Ales Mateju blocked a shot with an elbow while falling to the ground. Belotti canned both, ending his five-game drought. The Granata received another gift for the Rondinelle’s back-line late in the first half as Mateju picked up his second yellow card for tackling the onrushing Belotti.
Verdi squandered a major opportunity on a slick feed by Cristian Ansaldi at the beginning of the second half, keeping the opponents alive. The Biancoblù finally managed to threat Salvatore Sirigu, but he answered the bell on two attempts from close range by Florian Aye and Nikolas Spalek.
The Granata put the finishing touches with the subs: Diego Laxalt and Alex Berenguer combined for the third goal, as the Uruguayan winger trotted down the left flank and served a square ball for the Spaniard, who slotted it home. Berenger then outjumped Stefano Sabelli on a long-ball and darted towards the goal, concluding with aplomb in the one-on-one. Before and after the final goal, Joronen brilliantly denied two powerful and precise efforts by Belotti, who almost amassed a hat-trick.
Torino return to winning ways but remain pretty distant from a European berth, as they are 11th, eight points behind the sixth-placed Roma.
Berenguer and Belotti both took home eight points thanks to their braces, Sirigu followed suit with seven as he kept a clean sheet. All of their defenders collected five, but Ansaldi who was booked, while Laxalt tacked two more to the usual two-point bonus because he dished an assist.
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