Standing’s implications: with different degrees of comfort, it was a chalky week at the top of the table as the first six teams were all successful. Inter and Milan sweated it out against Cagliari and Parma and Juventus tamed Genoa’s reaction, cruising to victory. Atalanta outlasted Fiorentina, Napoli handled Sampdoria away, while Lazio and Roma eked out Ws over Verona and Bologna. The trend continued on Monday as Sassuolo topped Benevento.
Spezia and Torino earned two seminal wins in the relegation struggle, the former staging a glorious late comeback versus Crotone, the latter by besting Udinese on the road. They were the only sides in the lower half of the standings to take home three points.
Confirmations: Simy extended his torrid stretch with a tap-in. The battle of center-forwards on prime time ended in a draw as both Duvan Zapata and Dusan Vlahovic put together a brace. Gianluca Scamacca has hit the net three times in the past three appearances. It was not as dazzling as last week, but Daniele Verde bagged his second goal in a row, while Giulio Maggiore and Victor Osimhen have found the target twice in the past three appearances. Josip Ilicic nailed a PK.
Guess who is back: Ante Rebic returned to the stat-sheet after three games, Franck Kessie after four, while Rafael Leao had not knocked one on goal since early January, as he also missed time with an injury. Dejan Kulusevski had not scored in nearly four months, Alvaro Morata in four matches, while Weston McKennie last hit paydirt in late February. Borja Mayoral snapped out of a nine-match scoring drought. Fabian Ruiz finally ended a seemingly eternal drought.
Surprise scorers: Koffi Djidji netted his first career goal, in pretty fashion, while Riccardo Gagliolo notched his second in the season. Matteo Darmian willed Inter past Cagliari with the second goal of his campaign.
Flops of the round: Zlatan Ibrahimovic left his side in ten men early in the second half due to some choice words towards the referee, although there is some debate about what he actually said. Federico Barba was saddled with an unfortunate but decisive own goal against Sassuolo.
Clutch goal: one per each race, as Sergej Milinkovic-Savic buried a majestic header to lift his side over the always plucky Verona, while Martin Erlic capped off Spezia’s rally, avoiding a disappointing result against the cellar-dwelling Crotone.
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