Lots of goals, lots of draws: if Udinese-Roma ends in a draw (a match interrupted due to Evan Ndicka's collapse, who is now well, however), it will have been the league weekend with the most draws in Serie A history. Inter and MIlan, at the top of the standings, also drew, while Frosinone and Verona stopped Napoli and Atalanta. Here's what happened...
PLAYER OF THE WEEK - WALID CHEDDIRA
He is the man of the moment for Frosinone and not only that, he is currently the striker of the league. Frosinone's Moroccan striker, since March, has scored four goals in six games. The former Bari forward managed to do this among all Serie A strikers and for that he has also been celebrated on the league's social channels.
Frosinone last weekend drew 2-2 at home to Napoli, after having also stopped Bologna. The Ciociari are still unable to find a victory, but in the last two games they drew with Napoli and Bologna, so the trend is definitely positive. The star player, however, is Cheddira. The striker is on loan at Frosinone and he is actually a Napoli player, a team against which he scored two goals in the last game, two goals that slowed down (if not compromised) the Francesco Calzona coached team's run for Europe.
During this season, Eusebio Di Francesco has often had problems with his forwards, lately Kaio Jorge cost the team a very important point (against Sassuolo, missing a penalty), Cuni has disappeared from the radar, so it was Cheddira's turn to take the team by the hand. And in the last match he did so. Frosinone now relies on him to avoid relegation to Serie B.
TEAM OF THE WEEK - HELLAS VERONA
On Monday afternoon after Atalanta's second goal, Verona's game seemed to be over. The match had taken on the appearance of the classic in which the "small" team surrenders to the "bigger" team without putting up too much resistance.
In just a few minutes Gian Piero Gasperini's team had taken a 2-goal lead, first with Gianluca Scamacca and then with Ederson, especially thanks to the excellent performance (one of many in this period) of the Italian striker, by now the major candidate for a call-up to the national team to complete the attack together with Mateo Retegui, the Genoa striker.
It seemed to be over, but captain Darko Lazovic found the goal of the momentary 2-1 with a venomous and precise shot that left Marco Carnesecchi frozen. Within minutes the equalising goal also arrived: a perfect assist by Fabien Centonze from the right, Tijjani Noslin arrived on the ball before Carnesecchi and scored the 2-2 leveller. Atalanta's final attempts ended up being useless, Verona managed to hold on to the draw and in the end they richly deserved to go home with a point.
A rather painful result for Gasperini and his side, who will now have to make up these points in other important matches. A false step, definitely disappointing compared to the incredible victory in Europe against Liverpool, a game in which Atalanta gave their best, maybe even too much. But these are the two faces of great European nights.
Great credit, however, must be given to Verona: Marco Baroni found himself with a dismantled team in January, weakened and depleted of talent and quality, but he managed to keep them compact and the results keep coming. That is what it means to be a very good coach.
MATCH OF THE WEEK - SASSUOLO vs AC MILAN
Six goals, Sassuolo twice in a 2-goal lead, but Milan never seemed willing to throw in the towel, showing that they care and showing that they want to avoid at all costs the risk of seeing Inter win the championship in next weekend's derby.
In the event of defeat in the derby, Milan will witness the Nerazzurri being awarded the Serie A title with five matchdays to spare after dominating since the beginning of the season. An impressive show of strength from Simone Inzaghi and his side, but that is not the topic of the weekend. Sassuolo are still looking for points that can guarantee their stay in Serie A and avoid relegation to Serie B. It has been a bad, unlucky season, during which coach Alessio Dionisi was fired and Davide Ballardini was called up.
For several weeks the Neroverdi struggled greatly to find results, but last weekend came a great performance, against the second strongest team in the league. Within minutes the Neroverdi went up 2-0, first with Andrea Pinamonti and then with Armand Laurient.
Rafael Leao scored the 2-1 goal with some magic, but the Neroverdi did not lower their intensity and also found the 3-1 goal, again thanks to the French winger. Milan did not let up and first found the 3-2 goal thanks to Luka Jovic, then the 3-3 goal a few minutes from the end with Noah Okafor, still the protagonist despite starting from the bench. An entertaining match full of goals for all Serie A lovers.
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