Serie A Team of Week 23: Cesena Shock Juventus as Palermo Humble Napoli
It was a weekend of upsets in Serie A, as the top three sides all drew or lost. Roma had a shocker at home to Parma, drawing 0-0, but were spared somewhat later in the evening by Cesena, who surprised Juventus by fighting for a 2-2 draw.
Napoli travelled to Sicily to face Palermo, and despite being one of the form sides in the league, Rafa Benitez's men were thoroughly outclassed by the skilful and entertaining Rosanero.
Their loss at the Stadio Renzo Barbera allowed Fiorentina to close the gap to third with an impressive away victory over Sassuolo.
Etrit Berisha
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Fans of Etrit Berisha will point to his performance against Udinese as more evidence of the Albanian's superiority over Lazio's favoured goalkeeper, Federico Marchetti.
The 25-year-old took advantage of his opportunity to start, showing Stefano Pioli that's he's a very capable set of hands between the posts.
There were some other solid performances from 'keepers this round—Gigi Buffon and Parma's Antonio Mirante were both solid—but Berisha gets the nod by virtue of the fact he's not a regular starter.
Mattia Cassani
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Parma's Mattia Cassani showed a marked improvement at right-back against Roma, putting in a solid shift both defensively and going forward.
The 31-year-old Italian dealt well with the opposition attack and looked unworried by the Giallorossi's pace, while occasionally also looking dangerous himself farther up the field.
Sebastian De Maio
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Genoa's attack stole the headlines in their dramatic 5-2 victory over Hellas Verona, but Sebastian De Maio did a fine job keeping the Mastini's attack at bay.
The ex-Brescia defender made a number of good tackles and a couple of important blocks to minimise Mattia Perin's workload in goal.
Stefano Lucchini
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Cesena's defence deserves plenty of credit for holding Juventus to a draw.
Domenico Di Carlo's Romagnan minnows won't have expected to get a point out of their game with the Bianconeri, but they refused to be easy prey for Serie A's title favourites and deserved their share of the spoils.
Stefano Lucchini marshalled the back line well and impressed with a couple of important tackles. Luka Krajnc, his 20-year-old partner at the back, also showed promise.
Achraf Lazaar
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Palermo have been the neutral's favourite this season, surprising many by the way which they've settled back into life in the top flight so easily after their promotion.
The Sicilian club's Moroccan Achraf Lazaar has been consistently impressive, and was brilliant at the weekend against Napoli. The 23-year-old scored the game's opener with a long-range effort and terrorised the Partenopei on the left flank with his pace and technique.
Fredy Guarin
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Fredy Guarin played the perfect game against Atalanta. The Colombian got on the scoresheet twice in an important away victory for the Nerazzurri, and was in general the dynamo that drove Roberto Mancini's side.
After struggling under Walter Mazzarri, the 28-year-old looks like a new player since Mancini has taken over at the San Siro.
Franco Vazquez
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Palermo's Franco Vazquez was mesmerising against Napoli. The 25-year-old is an elegant a playmaker as they come, and he set up Paulo Dybala and Luca Rigoni brilliantly, while also finding the back of the net himself.
Mohamed Salah
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It was a great start to life at Fiorentina for Mohamed Salah. The ex-Chelsea winger used his full debut to display his clever play and his creative abilities. The 22-year-old linked perfectly with Khouma Babacar, got a goal of his own and then assisted his Senegalese teammate minutes later.
M'Baye Niang
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Genoa fans finally saw the best of on-loan M'Baye Niang against Hellas Verona. The talented—but sometimes troublesome—20-year-old Frenchman was stunning at the Luigi Ferraris, scoring twice and constantly threatening to tear the visitors' defence apart.
Milan Djuric
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Cesena's Milan Djuric doesn't often put in a top-class performance, but the tall Bosnian certainly showed what he's (occasionally) capable of against Juventus.
Djuric scored the opener against the Bianconeri and then set up Franco Brienza for the goal that earned his side an unlikely draw against the champions.
Khouma Babacar
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Big things are expected from Khouma Babacar at Fiorentina, and while he's not yet a household name anyone who saw the Viola's game against Sassuolo will tell you that the 21-year-old has plenty of obvious potential.
Against the Neroverdi, Babacar scored twice and assisted Salah in a new partnership that hinted at enormous possibility.
