Serie A

Serie A Top Five, Round 23: Barrow and Bologna batter Roma

The Atalanta loanee was superb as the capital club were defeated at the Stadio Olimpico

 
9:00am on Monday 10th February 2020
By
Martin Macdonald
Musa Barrow
ST (C) - Bologna - 21 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
86'
9.5
Feb 7, 2020

Musa Barrow was in scintillating form as Bologna contributed to Roma's woeful form with a 3-2 away victory in the Italian capital, with the on-loan Atalanta forward involved in all three goals with two of his own and an assist.

He recorded his assist for the opening goal after a cross into the box with the outside of his boot, but it only reached a team-mate due to a poor piece of defending from Chris Smalling.

All game he would drift out to find space on the left wing, and it was from this position where he would score his first after whipping a deflected strike into the top right corner from the corner of the box.

While there was an element of luck for his first, there definitely wasn't for his second. After collecting the ball on the left on the counter, he embarks up a magnificent, dribble, ghosting easily past Gianluca Mancini before placing a lovely finish into the corner.

Gastón Ramírez
AM (C) - Sampdoria - 29 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
86'
9.3
Feb 8, 2020

Gaston Ramirez scored two goals of the highest quality as Sampdoria inflicted further misery on Torino with a 3-1 away win.

Even before he found the back of the net, he looked the most likely player to make something happen for the visitors as he tested the opposition keeper with a fizzing strike from the edge of the box early on. He would eventually get his first with a gorgeous, dinked free kick into the top corner from the very edge of the area.

It wasn't even five minutes later when he doubled his tally, and in brilliant fashion, too, as he exchanges a one-two with Fabio Quagliarella before smashing a low volley into the right corner, with the keeper left with absolutely no chance.

He had 71 touches during the game, and sent 23 passes into the final third.

Gianluca Lapadula
ST (C) - Lecce - 30 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
8.6
Feb 9, 2020

All three of our top three players in Serie A scored two goals this week, with Gianluca Lapadula getting his in Lecce's impressive 3-2 victory versus Napoli at the San Paolo.

He has made his name as a penalty box striker, and it was from a yard out where he scored his first after pouncing on a spilled save from David Ospina to tap home.

Then, to give the visitors the lead again after Napoli had equalised, he glanced a beautiful header into the far post after twisting his body into an awkward position around 12 yards out.

His build-up play was good, too, as he completed 15/19 passes.

Rodrigo de Paul
M, AM (C) - Udinese - 25 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
8.4
Feb 9, 2020

After three straight losses in the league, Udinese bounced back, slightly, after snatching a late draw away at Brescia.

As the visitors chased the game, Rodrigo de Paul was always going to be the player to claw them back into things.

He completed 66 passes, a whopping 52 of which were sent into the final third, while he also had 115 touches. Both of these stats were the highest of any player in Serie A this weekend.

He would eventually grab a deserved goal, albeit after some poor goalkeeping, after sliding a strike over the line from the right of the box.

Mário Rui
D (L) - Napoli - 28 yrs
90'
8.3
Feb 9, 2020

Mario Rui was unlucky to be on the losing side as Napoli were defeated by Lecce, as he was solid defensively for the hosts while providing much needed width on the left.

He won 4/5 duels and made seven ball recoveries, but his best work actually came going forward, as he sent a huge 18 crosses into the box which was, by far, the most of anyone in this round of fixtures.

In possession, he had 110 touches and completed 60/66 passes.

HONOURABLE MENTION

In the game of the weekend, Inter came back from two goals down to beat Milan 4-2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (8.1) was key to Milan gaining the initial two-goal lead. After assisting the opener for Ante Rebic, he scored a goal of his own at the near post just before half-time.

ROUND TO FORGET

Lecce may have been the winning side, but Fabio Lucioni (4.9) was still poor at the back as he made one direct error leading to a goal, another direct error which led to a big chance for Napoli, and also failed to win a single duel.

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