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3. Calamity on the cards for Napoli
Possession and pass completion
The Partenopei needed a win in the worst way on Sunday evening to keep pace with Roma and recover quickly from a wasteful display opposite Porto midweek that saw them crash out of Europe.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Rafael Benitez’s men through the opening half-hour against Fiorentina – Napoli having played four key passes to the Viola’s one while out-shooting their adversaries five to one.
Disaster soon struck, however, as Faouzi Ghoulam was sent off on 37 minutes and the control of Vincenzo Montella’s men over proceedings only increased as the 10-man hosts tired.
Napoli wouldn’t get off a shot inside the penalty area at a numerical disadvantage, Fiorentina having piled on the pressure in the final half-hour with six key passes and nine attempts on goal to break through via Joaquin just before full-time.
4. Immobile back in business
Ciro Immobile and Alessio Cerci have carried Torino from the fore of the attack this term, and accordingly simultaneous goal droughts for the pair saw the Granata on a four game losing streak – not having scored once during this stretch – heading into the weekend.
The former, at last, wiped away the club’s troubles with Livorno in town, hitting a hat-trick on four total shots to take Man of the Match honours with a Performance Score of 90.
Immobile not only reignited Torino’s now-distant hopes of a top five finish with the day’s treble, but also his charge for the Serie A scoring title.
Sitting on 16 goals for the term, the Italy international has drawn level with Carlos Tevez at the top of the the peninsula’s charts, and would become the first Capocannoniere from Tornio since Francesco Graziani in the 1976-77 campaign should he reign supreme come season’s end.
5. Shocking at the Stadio Olimpico
Mario Balotelli
Milan, finally, stopped the rot with a draw against Lazio to avoid a fourth defeat on the bounce – under rather ugly circumstances.
Kaka needed a wicked deflection off of Abdoulay Konko to grab the Rossoneri’s only goal of the night, questions as to why Clarence Seedorf’s men couldn’t have had more rife.
Lazio succeeded in just three of 21 tackles (14%) as their guests completed nine of 10 take ons, but Milan seemingly just couldn’t make an example of an opponent offering such little resistance.
Mario Balotelli cracked a dipping strike off the base of the upright late on to be denied as, aside from Kaka’s redirected opener, the struggling San Siro giants failed to trouble Etrit Berisha with a single accurate effort.
