Buon giorno! Serie A has long been a reliable source of operatic emotions and off-pitch shenanigans, which is just what makes covering Italian soccer fun. Let’s see what went down this past weekend.
Serie A Winners
Parma
They seemed to be having one of those games that relegation-threatened teams have, as Inter Milan goalkeeper Yann Sommer made some fabulous saves to deny the gialloblú a couple of early goals, while Marcus Thuram miss-kicked a breakaway chance that somehow arced over Parma keeper Zion Suzuki and across the goal line to put Inter two up. The sight of Parma’s Pontus Almqvist clearing that shot into his own face and back into the net summed up the first half. But then the home team made some changes and grabbed two goals through a screamer from Adrián Bernabé and a shot by Jacob Ondrejka that took a wicked deflection before going in. It was enough to earn Parma a valuable point, and they’ll be ruing the potential game-winner by Mateo Pellegrino that hit the crossbar.
Christos Mandas
It was a stormy winter for Lazio’s second-string goalkeeper, who was unhappy over his lack of playing time and his status as Ivan Provedel’s backup. However, the Greek shot-stopper has seen his fortunes change since last month, as he took over the starting job and signed a contract extension through the end of the decade. During Lazio’s win at Atalanta, he made a number of stops to keep a clean sheet and created his team’s only goal with his pitch-length goal kick (helped by a collision between two Atalanta defenders). His reward for sticking it out might just be Champions League play next season.
The goals in Bologna vs. Napoli
The visiting team’s Frank Anguissa opened the scoring by picking up the ball in the halfway circle and dribbling all by his lonesome between two Bologna defenders and shrugging off the attempted tackle by goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski to put the ball into an empty net. That was spectacular, but no less so was Bologna’s second-half equalizer, when Swiss striker Dan Ndoye back heeled Jens Odgaard’s cross off the crossbar and into Napoli’s net, which made CBS analyst Marco Messina shout, “Mamma mia!” The draw kept Team Lunch Meat a point ahead of Juventus in fourth place, with a chance of returning to the Champions League.
Alessandro Zanoli
The Genoa right-back was already having a great game against Udinese before he lashed Caleb Ekuban’s cross into the net for the game’s only goal. It was his first goal in a season and three-quarters, so good for him.
Set pieces
They accounted for all the goals in the Lecce-Venezia game, as Antonino Gallo turned in Alessio Zerbin’s free kick for Venezia’s goal, while team captain Federico Baschirotto equalized for Lecce off a corner kick. The resulting 1-1 draw kept the home side two points out of the relegation zone, while Venezia still has hope of escaping. Next week’s game against Monza will be huge for them.
Matteo Bonetti
The CBS commentator broke out a cheer in Uzbek when Eldor Shomurodov equalized for AS Roma against Juventus, which led to yet another 1-1 draw this week. It was a simple finish by the Uzbek striker who had just come in off the bench. Maybe Bonetti was just showing off, but hey, could you do the same?
Seria A Losers
Lorenzo Lucca
The transfer rumors are connecting the 6-foot-7 Udinese striker to some of Europe’s big-name clubs, but you wouldn’t know it from his game against Genoa. The highlights of his game were committing two fouls that negated goals for his team (including what would have been a stoppage-time equalizer) and missing a sitter that your grandma could have converted. Arthur Atta’s run and cross from the right side deserved better than that. Goalscorers do have games like this, which is the most mitigation I can offer for him.
Vanja Milinković-Savić
On a day when his opposite number stopped a penalty by Che Adams, the Torino goalkeeper dribbled the ball directly into Hellas Verona’s Amin Sarr to give him Verona’s only goal in a 1-1 draw. The Serbian netminder is having a tremendous season, but that was a farcical goal to give up.
Monza’s defense
Possibly they couldn’t have prevented Mërgim Vojvoda’s third goal, but four defenders were clueless while Jonathan Ikoné cut in between them from the right side and fired in Como’s equalizer, and then Assane Diao split two defenders to get to a loose ball and put the visitors ahead for good. No wonder Monza’s fans rained boos down on the team as the final whistle blew on Como’s 3-1 win. The biancorossi are dead last in Serie A and look doomed to relegation. At least the city has auto racing to amuse itself.
Everybody who watched Empoli vs. Cagliari
Not much going on at the Carlo Castellani Stadium. The players ran around and got some exercise, while referee Federico La Penna got to hand out a bunch of yellow cards. Nobody scored. Given that the home side is facing relegation, you’d think that the azzurri empolesi would be playing with a bit more urgency.