Results from round 11 of the 2020/21 season:
Serie A table:
30 shots don’t prove enough for Benevento
The lack of a strong attacking presence for the Stregoni was ever-more evident on Friday, as Benevento set a negative record, being the first side this season to shoot 30 times and not finding the net in the top five leagues.
Sassuolo played a composed game, but were let down from Lukas Haraslin’s red card, which spiced up the second half.
Despite multiple attempts from the visitors, an extraordinary performance from goalkeeper Andrea Consigli, plus an organised defence, meant that Sassuolo could come away with all three points.
Crotone kick-start their season
Just a few weeks ago we mentioned the similarity between Crotone’s debut season and their current one. After 11 games, the Pitagorics finally win, soundly beating a very disappointing Spezia.
In 2016/17, their first season in Serie A, they had only two points after 10 games and got their first win on matchday 11, just like this year. At the end of the season, they stayed up. Is this a good omen?
Should striker Junior Messias keep up his performances, it won’t be impossible to replicate the come-back.
Crazy Torino lose to Udinese
Goals by Ignacio Pussetto and Rodrigo de Paul seemed to drive Udinese to a comfortable win, but with 23 minutes to go, they conceded two goals in two minutes to Torino, who somehow had managed to get back into the game.
Just as their supporters were celebrating, Udinese scored a third just a minute later, heading for a 3-2 away win.
It is another example of excessive youthful exuberance for the Granata, who keep finding themselves in the relegation zone after matching their worst-ever start.
Verona move into European places
Just when you think Lazio may have found shape and form, their progress gets to a halt. Hellas Verona get their first away win against the Biancocelesti since 1984 to move above them in the standings and into European places.
The visitors keep being very impressive this season, whereas Lazio seriously struggle to find continuity. Despite finding their way through the last 16 of the Champions League unbeaten, they get to their fourth league defeat in just 11 games.
Embed from Getty ImagesInter cannot do without a scare
The fact that, in the top five leagues, only Manchester United have won more points from losing position than Inter (10), says a lot about the Nerazzurri’s swinging performances during a game.
For the fifth time, Antonio Conte’s side concede first, going down to Cagliari despite a very positive first half. In the last 20 minutes, however, former Cagliari midfielder Nicolo Barella overturns the result, scoring and serving the assist to the ever decisive Danilo D’Ambrosio.
At distance, the lack of consistency can prove costly for Inter, who might end up dropping points even when dominating a game, as shown multiple times already.
Embed from Getty ImagesAre Papu Gomez and Josip Ilicic out of the team?
There has been infinite speculation on Atalanta in the last few weeks, as rumours of very large disagreements between the Argentinian and coach Gian Piero Gasperini emerged. Very unusually, in fact, Gomez, who is also the team captain, sat out the whole game on Sunday with Fiorentina. Similarly, Ilicic is also frequently absent, as this increases the speculation.
There is still no confirmed truth, but it will be interesting to see the evolution of the story.
Hungry Roma break Bologna apart
It took the Giallorossi 15 minutes to get to a three goals advantage over Bologna, who looked powerless in front of their visitors. Even if Bryan Cristante’s own goal had given hope to Bologna, Roma scored another two before going to the interval 5-1.
Great character displayed by Roma, who remain in the title hunt, even after failing to win any of the head to head games played against the top nine sides.
Napoli win with Gattuso’s intuition
Still without record breaking signing Victor Osimhen, Napoli beat Sampdoria after going 1-0 down. It was a poor first half for the home side, who started the second half with subs Hirving Lozano and Andrea Petagna. The two replacements proved decisive, netting a goal apiece and giving Napoli their third win in a row.
Lozano’s form is a happy note, after the Mexican’s first season was quite disappointing. The 25-year-old got his seventh goal, having two more than 2019/20 already.
Paulo Dybala finds first league goal of the season
For the first time this season, Juventus win two league games in a row. It’s an astonishing fact that shows Juventus’s struggles. Genoa resisted for 75 minutes, before being let down by two penalties converted by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Paulo Dybala also returns to scoring in the league after being goalless since July. La Joya’s contribution can be crucial for Juventus’s title retention
Stoppage time goal extends Milan’s unbeaten run
Parma were very close to beating Milan at the San Siro, with the Rossoneri proving very unlucky, hitting the woodwork a whopping four times, three of which with Hakan Calhanoglu alone.
It’s the 23rd positive league results in a row for Milan, who remain the only unbeaten side in the league together with Juventus. The advantage at the front reduces to only three points, but Milan remain convincing and their performance still had a lot of positives that could be taken away.
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