Marco Silvestri (7 points): few goalies are in the running in this round as five sides managed to blank the adversaries. Gianluigi Donnarumma is a worthy candidate with his multiple saves against Fiorentina, Bologna’s Lukas Skorupski had a great one-handed one late, but the Verona bulwark was more deciding and pulled it off against a mightier foe.
Alessio Romagnoli (9 points): the Milan centre-back paved the way to another victory by punching it home from close range on a corner kick in the early going, solving what could have been an issue for Milan in this one. The back-line gave up few chances but all in all was fairly stout.
Matteo Darmian (7 points): he does not have the same flashy style as his competitor Achraf Hakimi, but the formation tends to be more solid whenever he is fielded and Inter successfully stymied Sassuolo’s high-wattage front-line on Saturday. On top of that, he teed up Roberto Gagliardini ahead of the final goal.
Lorenzo De Silvestri (5 points): sound off the alarms, Bologna managed to keep the clean sheet after 41 straight games where they conceded at least once. Among their defenders, the veteran right-back was the most noticeable one as he jetted down the flank few times to help out the offense that lost Riccardo Orsolini early.
Miguel Veloso (7 points): he was brilliant in his cameo against Atalanta, where, on top of pulling the strings, he converted an impressive penalty kick and set up Mattia Zaccagni’s lovely goal with a fantastic little ball over the top. The other Verona midfielders have been fine while he was ailing, but he just possesses much more gravitas.
Fabian Ruiz (6 points): maybe it is not a coincidence that his return to form coincided with Napoli going back to fielding three central midfielders together. He had an inspiring performance where he orchestrated few dangerous actions and punished Roma with the most accurate daisy-cutter that gently picked his way to the bottom left corner.
Roberto Gagliardini (6 points): the trusted Inter midfielder is never going to blow anybody away with his understated style, but he is a steady hand to have at your disposal, especially when few teammates are missing or in a funk, and he will occasionally find the back of the net, as he achieved versus Sassuolo with an accurate strike.
Roberto Soriano (6 points): the Bologna attacker did it again, propelling his side past Crotone with a sneaky goal, as he courageously beat few defenders to the punch to head it home with a dive. It was not his most good-looking goal of the year, but it was a seminal one and he is already up to five in the season, plus three assists. He has turned into a proper fantasy star.
Antonio Candreva (6 points): his last goal dated back to July, but that did not prevent him from slotting it home after a fortituous bounce opened a crease for a deep foray into the box. He went back to his strenght few minutes later, which is playmaking, as he found Fabio Quagliarella with a gorgeous ball over the top for the temporary Sampdoria lead.
Gervinho (8 points): the Ivorian forward had a pep in his step on Monday night as he returned to the stat-sheet with a clutch twofer, in both cases taking advantage of lax defending with cool finishes from inside the box, with the help of a deflection on the second one.
Lorenzo Insigne (6 points): he honored a sad weekend for the whole football world, but obviously Napoli in particular where the memory of Diego Armando Maradona is stronger than in any other place, with a dazzling free kick from distance that had a perfect trajectory, as it fell right behind the wall and too near the post for the goalkeeper to get to it.
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