Serie A

Serie A Top Five, Round Five: Brilliant Belotti adds to Milan misery

And Pjanic maintains Juventus' unbeaten start

 
11:19am on Friday 27th September 2019
By
Martin Macdonald

AC Milan followed up two Serie A victories with two defeats, with the latest coming versus Torino. After the damaging loss against Inter in the derby, they led for the majority of the game, but were eventually punished by Belotti, who scored twice in five minutes.

Elsewhere Atalanta defeated Roma 2-0 at Stadio Olimpico, and two of their stars feature in our top five.

Belotti scored his first brace of the Serie A campaign with two in five minutes against AC Milan, helping the hosts come from behind to win 2-1. The first, a strike from range, proved to be too hot to handle for Gianluigi Donnarumma, who palmed it into the side of the net and the second was a display of superb opportunism as he took advantage of another Donnarumma save to leap high and turn an overhead kick into the empty net from close range.

Another game, another narrow win for Juventus. The Old Lady overcame Brescia 2-1 on Tuesday, coming back from behind after an own-goal from Jhon Chancellor followed by a winner from Pjanic, and what a winner it was. After a Paulo Dybala free-kick struck the wall, Pjanic latched on to the rebound to fire a superb, low half-volley into the bottom corner. He also completed 108 out of 115 attempted passes.

There wasn't much quality between Parma and Sassuolo at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, with the home side running out 1-0 winners thanks to a last-gasp own-goal from Mehdi Bourabia. One man who was unlucky to be on the losing side was Consigli who helped Sassuolo stay in the game for the majority with an excellent penalty save as well as five additional stops.

Atalanta surprised Roma with an impressive 2-0 win at the Olimpico, thanks to second-half goals from Duvan Zapata and Marten de Roon. Key to the win was the midfield exploits of Freuler, who provided a beautiful assist with a lofted pass through for Zapata to smash home. He was superb in his defensive duties too, as he won 100% of his tackles as well as seven out of eight duels in the middle of the pitch.

De Roon takes our final spot thanks to his clinching goal against Roma. After Mario Pasalic's header looped over Pau Lopez to the back post, the Dutchman was positioned perfectly to nod into the empty net. He also managed 13 ball recoveries and completed 60/67 passes.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Bologna secured a valuable point away at Genoa and Tomiyasu was important in keeping a clean sheet for the Rossoblu, winning 7/9 aerial duels and 100% of his attempted tackles as well as seven ball recoveries, three interceptions, and two clearances.

ROUND TO FORGET

If you are Sampdoria, and you have only won one game all season, and you lie at the bottom of the table, what is the last thing you need? Your key central defender to be sent off 10 minutes after half-time. Murillo (4.95) was the main guilty party in the loss against Fiorentina, as not only did he receive two silly bookings, but didn't attempt a single tackle during his 54 minutes on the pitch.

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