Bartlomiej Dragowski (7 points): finally a round with a decent amount of clean sheets as six teams successfully blanked their respective opponents. Gianluigi Donnarumma and the Fiorentina’s goalkeeper had the busiest and outright best performances in the lot but the Milan staple was significantly helped by the imprecision of Benevento’s attackers, so nod goes to the bearded Polish, who frustrated Bologna’s forwards with multiple strong saves.
Armando Izzo (8 points): Marco Giampaolo finally came to his senses as Izzo has always been tailor made to play in a three-man defence, but somehow it has taken a long time for the coach to field him constantly. On top of being gritty as usual in the back, he found the target for the second round in a row with a header against Parma.
Rick Karsdorp (7 points): he was about to leave the club and join Atalanta in the summer, but they reconsidered it at the last minute and they are reaping the benefit because he has been their best performer on the right wing. He notched his fifth assist versus Sampdoria with a gorgeous square ball for Edin Dzeko’s game-winner.
Simon Kjaer (5 points): it is no coincidence that the return of the savvy veteran allowed Milan to keep the first clean sheet in some time, even though his back-up Pierre Kalulu had one okay when called upon, but simply does not have the same experience and smarts of the Danish defender.
Giangiacomo Magnani (5 points): Verona confirmed to be one of the top rearguards in the League with a stifling showing against the peppy Spezia and Magnani managed to shackle down the threatening M’Bala Nzola, who had just a chance or two despite his previous success.
Piotr Zielinski (7 points): the best version of the Polish midfielder finally showed up on Sunday, as he bagged a stellar brace with two quality strikes after shaking defenders in the box with very classy plays. He had done it often in the past but had not really been able to pull it off this season even though he has been featuring as trequartista for some time given their absences.
Mattia Zaccagni (6 points): he scored one of the prettiest goals of the season with a dazzling overhead kick, creating himself the opportunity to deliver such an athletic feat with the first touch. Another big highlight in what was already shaping out to be his final breakout season.
Franck Kessie (6 points): the Milan midfielder nailed another PK and, on top of that, is always more involved in the final third than your average pivot and could have easily doubled his tally in the second half, as he unluckily hit the woodwork on surgical strike.
Lautaro Martinez (14 points): he dominated against Crotone with a hat-trick and could have even had four goals if it was not four an own goal by Luca Marrone, as he was right there. The first two goals came on pretty strikes from inside the box after leaving defenders on his tracks, the third one an easier tap-in. He matched half of his seasonal haul in one game.
Duvan Zapata (10 points): the break did not affect his form as he had begun to hit his stride in late December and he started off the new year with a bang as he put together a brace with signature powerful shots in the box after outmuscling adversaries and also added an assist on a combination with Robin Gosens.
Cristiano Ronaldo (10 points): Udinese committed a pair of costly mistakes and the Portuguese ace promptly pounced on those with two comfortable finishes in front of the goalie, plus he set up Federico Chiesa with a crafty through ball to beat the offside trap.
How well do you know Italian football? Do you want to battle the best Serie A Fantasy Managers? Play fantasyseriea.com now!
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com