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Race for the Scudetto: Osimhen's Napoli meltdown; Dimarco an Inter Milan star; Juventus reality check

Surprises for Lazio, Roma and Napoli, with Rudi Garcia challenged on the Azzurri's social channels. The difference between this season and last for Victor Osimhen and his teammates is already concerning. Inter and Milan won, while Juventus collapsed thunderously. Let's see what happened over the last Serie A weekend...


SURPRISE OF THE WEEK - SASSUOLO DEFEAT JUVENTUS

Juventus should be favored by the absence of European commitments, but in the very week when Fede Chiesa and his teammates did not play in any European competition, a heavy defeat came against Sassuolo.

The Neroverdi were not experiencing a positive moment, in fact, quite the opposite, yet they got the better of the Bianconeri without struggling much.

The man of the match was Domenico Berardi, a player who when is fit is among the best in the league, but the real disasters came from Wojciech Szczesny and Fede Gatti: the former caused two Sassuolo goals by committing two gross mistakes, unworthy of his career and level, while Gatti threw the ball into his own goal and immediately became a meme on all social media.

The mistake was to pass him the ball at that moment, but the picture coming out of Juventus after the match is definitely worrying. The Neroverdi deserved the victory and the final score of 4-2 is absolutely fair and not exaggerated. Some serious mistakes from Dusan Vlahovic near the opponent's goal, but Sassuolo were better than Juventus and the three points were the natural conclusion of the match.

A bad misstep for Max Allegri and his team, which will now have to go for a win against Lecce to erase this defeat immediately.


PLAYER OF THE WEEK - FEDE DIMARCO

After Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Lautaro Martinez, Fede Dimarco is probably the most important player for Simone Inzaghi. He may not be particularly gifted defensively, certainly defending is not his best quality, but he is a real offensive wild card, capable of changing the match and deciding the fate of any contest at any moment.

Whether it's an assist or a goal, Dimarco has numbers worthy of a striker or a trequartista and this allows Inzaghi to earn three points even when Lautaro or Marcus Thuram are having a tricky day or struggling against good opposition defenders.

With a masterful shot he found the goal that gave Inter Milan the win against Empoli, first in the standings with full points, with five wins in five games. In this start to the season he has been the extra man and once again he was MVP: after the final whistle Beppe Marotta said that talks to renew his contract will soon begin. A great moment for Dimarco.


INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK - PIETRO TERRACCIANO (FIORENTINA)

Against Udinese we probably saw the worst Fiorentina in recent times, with so many easy goal chances fluffed they probably would not have scored even if the match had lasted six hours.

The best on the field among Vincenzo Italiano's boys was without the slightest doubt Pietro Terracciano, who walled off the goal and made so many decisive saves for the final result.

If your team wins 2-0 and the goalkeeper turns out to be the best on the field, it's easy to imagine Fiorentina's performance, but it's the three points that count, and on Sunday Terracciano pretty much earned them himself. Well done.


TALKING POINT - OSIMHEN'S REACTION

The relationship between Rudi Garcia and his new team is far from idyllic. Rumours speak of locker room problems, with some big-names not liking neither the style of play nor the management of the new Napoli coach.

And during the match against Bologna there was an episode that placed Victor Osimhen himself in a bad light. Napoli struggled throughout the game, a negative performance by almost all of the Azzurri's major players, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia subbed off with the score still 0-0, until there was a great chance from the penalty spot for Napoli.

Osimhen, last year an unstoppable goalscorer, showed up to take the penalty, but he struck it badly, straight out. Shortly afterwards Garcia replaced him with Giovanni Simeone and the Nigerian striker reacted badly, showing obvious signs of discontent, with angry gestures and a few too many words aimed at Garcia.

An extremely negative show of behavior from a leader, who as such should set a good example and lead the team. Garcia will have to resolve these issues of insubordination or the season will soon become very complicated

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Matteo Vitale
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Matteo Vitale

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