It’s shaping up to be a Merry Christmas indeed for AC Milan and Inter as the two Milan clubs have maintained the top two spots in the Serie A table with wins this weekend.
Milan finally avoided having to come from behind for a change as they took down Sassuolo, and Inter extended their impressive winning run to six matches in a row by beating newly promoted Spezia.
Meanwhile, Juventus and Atalanta also recorded impressive victories with notable attacking performances as they look to keep pace with the Milan sides.
Read on below as SBOTOP runs down all of the top takeaways from the most recent round of Serie A matches.
Milan’s record start earns big win
AC Milan have had to do things the hard way in recent games as they fell behind to both Parma and Genoa. To their credit, they came from behind both times, but they dropped four valuable points as they could only draw those matches.
The leaders finally learned their lesson in their match against Sassuolo, though. They took the lead through Rafael Leao, who scored the fastest goal in Serie A history after just six seconds. They then doubled their advantage within the first half-hour through Alex Saelemaekers en route to a 2-1 win.
Milan have shown over the last month that they are indeed capable of scoring goals without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is nearing his return. And if they can avoid getting into losing situations like in recent games, their Serie A 2020 odds of winning the title will be in good shape.
Hakimi holds the key for Inter
Inter Milan continued their impressive run of Serie A 2020 results as they picked up their sixth win on the bounce in the league with a 2-1 win over Spezia. Achraf Hakimi gave the Nerazzurri the lead and Romelu Lukaku added a second from the penalty spot.
Hakimi has shown that he is the type of wing-back who can thrive in Antonio Conte’s preferred 3-5-2 system. The 22-year-old has already got four goals and two assists in the league this season.
However, Hakimi has yet to fully cement himself as a regular starter for Inter as Conte remains unconvinced of his defensive abilities; he’s started just seven of their 13 league matches.
Hakimi’s talent is undeniable, though, and Conte will give him every opportunity to prove himself. If and when he does figure out that part of the game, Inter figure to be quite a force to be reckoned with in the title race.
Juventus finally show attacking potential
Juventus have been unconvincing for the most part in their first year under new manager Andrea Pirlo. But the Old Lady finally produced their biggest league win to date as they blew Parma away, 4-0.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two more goals as his tally for the season reaches a league-leading 12, while Dejan Kulusevski and Alvaro Morata also got on the scoresheet.
Morata also set up the first two goals, giving him five assists on the season. The Spaniard is proving to be the perfect strike partner for Ronaldo as his link-up play has been impeccable.
The more chemistry Morata builds with the likes of Ronaldo, Kulusevski, Federico Chiesa, and others, the more potent Juve’s attack figures to be moving forward.
No Papu, no problem for Atalanta against Roma
There is a lot of drama around Atalanta at the moment, with captain Papu Gomez seemingly on his way out of the club after a bust-up with manager Gian Piero Gasperini.
After coming on as a substitute in their draw with Juventus in midweek, Papu was left out of the side completely for the team’s match against Roma this weekend.
But Atalanta fared just fine without their captain as they came back from an early deficit to win 4-1. The win sees Atalanta jump back up to seventh with a game in hand.
Colombian strikers Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel both got on the scoresheet. Meanwhile, Josip Ilicic had arguably his best game of the season as he set up two goals and scored the team’s fourth.
Papu has been a great servant to the club and will go down as one of its all-time great players. But Gasperini has proven time and again that he is the mastermind behind Atalanta’s ascent into one of Italy’s top teams. And even if Papu is no longer in the fold, Atalanta can still be a dangerous top-four contender this season.
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