Author Archives: Enrico Passarella

Serie A Fantasy Team of the Year

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No major surprises among the 11 selections, which mirror pretty well how the fantasy season has gone.

Samir Handanovic (63 points): it has been a pretty challenging year for defenses, especially in the restart, and nobody really put up elite numbers when it comes to conceded goals. Inter surrendered the least, 36, which is pretty pedestrian if we compare it with previous seasons, but six fewer than any other team, as Lazio allowed 42 and Juventus 43. Handanovic came in second with his 13 clean sheets, on a par with Gianluigi Donnarumma, trailing Udinese’s Juan Musso by a single unit. Continue reading →

Serie A Best Fantasy XI – Round 38

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Juan Musso: he ended his season with one of his finest performances, as he frustrated all Sassuolo attempts with great saves, in particular on a pair of bombs by Domenico Berardi and Hamed Traore, which he pulled out of the top shelf.

Danilo D’Ambrosio: another successful outing for Inter’s jack-of-all-trades, who broke the deadlock right away against Atalanta, in more typical fashion this time, as he bagged a header on a corner kick taking advantage of a defensive mishap. Continue reading →

Serie A Fantasy Recap – Round 38

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Standings implications: Inter saved best for last as they sunk Atalanta, securing the second place and closing one point shy of Juventus, which did not bother showing up against Roma. Lazio stayed in fourth as they were bested by Napoli. In the relegation zone, Lecce went down in typical chaotic fashion versus Parma, while Genoa’s win over Verona was never in doubt and so the Salentini are the final team to move back to Serie B.

In the meaningless portion of the schedule, Milan kept it going against Cagliari, Udinese picked up a quality win over Sassuolo, Bologna shared the spoils Torino, Sampdoria with Brescia.

Continue reading →

Juventus Top Perfomers – Round 38 vs Roma

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An already checked-out Juventus could not find a way to contain a more spirited Roma team and ended up throwing away one of the few things they had going for them, besides winning the title of course, as they soiled their home invincibility.

Danilo: it is again tough to find something good in the back-line, but the Brazilian fullback was more lively than usual and produced a pair of interesting runs that switched field position in a hurry, won a bunch of duels and drew some fouls in dangerous spots. He ends his campaign on a slight crescendo, despite the unlucky PK foul. Continue reading →

Serie A Fantasy Player of the Month in July – Hakan Calhanoglu

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As predictable, several Serie A contributors made the EFL Team of the Month in July, as the Italian League finished late and had more rounds than the other ones across the continent. There are some expected names such as Sassuolo’s stars Francesco Caputo (31 points) and Domenico Berardi (24 points), who have been lights out in last 30 days, and some odd ones, like Inter’s Danilo D’Ambrosio (29 points), who benefitted from few clean sheets on top of scoring, and Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic (24 points), who amassed almost his rntire haul thanks to a hat-trick. Continue reading →

Italian Football Predictions – Round 38

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Not many games with meaning in the season finale, so there are probably going to be plenty of wacky results.

Brescia-Sampdoria: the Rondinelle have lost in six of their last seven games, but have done okay at home in the restart. However, the Blucerchiati might want to bounce back after three losses in a row, not all deserved: 2-2.

Atalanta-Inter: the second place and a few extra millions of prizes are on the line here. The Bergamaschi have alternated wins and draw in the last six outings, while the Meneghini took home four of the past six, tying in the other two. The Goddess have prevailed seven straight times at home: 2-1. Continue reading →

Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 38 – Sunday Games

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SPAL-FIORENTINA

SPAL: they were thumped early against Verona and failed to generate any semblance of offense, interrupting a mini-streak of consecutive matches where they had managed to score. Their agony will finally end here after a terrible season. Marco D’Alessandro has been their best player in the resumption, while Andrea Petagna and Gabriel Strefezza were the most reliable ones in the first part of the season. Mattia Valoti and Federico Di Francesco came back from their injuries and they could be worth a flier-

Suggested picks: D’Alessandro, Petagna, Valoti. Continue reading →

Serie A Probable Lineups – Round 38

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Brescia-Sampdoria

Brescia: 4-4-2 Andrenacci; Sabelli, Gastaldello, Mateju, Mangraviti; Spalek, Tonali, Dessena, Zmrhal; Aye, Torregrossa.

Potential lineup changes: Semprini for Mangraviti, Viviani for Dessena, Donnarumma for Aye.

Likely bench options: Bjarnason, Ndoj, Martella.

Questionable: Cistana (lower leg), Joronen, Donnarumma.

Ruled Out: Balotelli (contract dispute), Bisoli (knee), Chancellor, Skrabb (ankle).

Suspended: Papetti. Continue reading →

Serie A Injury and Suspension Report – Round 38

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Atalanta: Josip Ilicic will miss another one and will be probably joined by José Palomino, who picked up a thigh problem in the last game.

Bologna: Mattia Bani (calf) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (thigh) will not be back for the season finale. Mitchell Dijks and Ladislav Krejci (thigh) have been ruled out. 

Brescia: Jhon Chancellor and Simon Skrabb are out, while Jesse Joronen, Alfredo Donnarumma and even Andrea Cistana are in the squad list, but that is not necessarily an indication they are certainly going to play.   Continue reading →

Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 38 – Saturday Games

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BRESCIA-SAMPDORIA

Brescia: they actually played better than expected versus Lazio, where they had some opportunities to score, in particular with Ernesto Torregrossa, but were unable to cash in. Several injuries left them with a skeleton crew as Torregrossa, Florian Aye, Nikolas Spalek and Jaromir Zmrhal are the only attackers available. All of them, excluding Aye, have been able to hit the net recently, while Sandro Tonali and Bruno Martella have been pretty good in the less offensive roles.

Suggested picks: Torregrossa, Spalek, Zmrhal. Continue reading →