Media: Serie A Team of the Week Matchday 35

Here is Italian Football Daily’s Team of the Week for Matchday 35...

Goalkeeper

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

Despite being 38 years of age, Buffon continues to show that he is like a fine wine as he gets better with age. In Juventus’ trip to face Fiorentina, Buffon was in excellent form as he kept out the Fiorentina attack and saved a Nikola Kalinić penalty in the 89thminute to prevent La Viola from taking a point. With the victory and Napoli’s loss at Roma, Juventus became Serie A champions for the fifth season in a row.

Defenders

Andrea Masiello (Atalanta)

The balding 30-year-old was solid as La Dea kept a clean sheet against an in-form Chievo side. He made three tackles and, along with the rest of the back four, he allowed the Atalanta attackers to flourish. With their 1-0 win, Atalanta secure their Serie A safety for next season.

Thiago Cionek (Palermo)

The Rosanero picked up a vital 2-0 win away at Frosinone as they climbed to 18th, three points from safety. Cionek, a Polish-Brazilian centre-back, was the leader in the defence as he played on the right side of a back three and was rarely beaten as the Frosinone attack was unable to get past goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino.

Simone Romagnoli (Carpi)

Alessio Romagnoli’s older brother was in great form as theBiancorosso helped their chances of avoiding relegation with a much-needed 1-0 victory over Empoli. The 26-year-old almost opened the scoring, but his header hit the crossbar in the 67thminute. Instead, his performance defensively allowed Carpi to remain in the game and, five minutes from time, Kevin Lasagna made it 1-0 to ensure that Castori’s men remain 17th, three points above Palermo and three points behind Udinese.

Midfielders

Paul Pogba (Juventus):

In recent weeks Pogba has showed why he is one of the most wanted players in the world, and he played a vital role in Juventus scoring their two goals in their 2-1 win at Fiorentina. The Frenchman headed down for Mario Mandžukić to put the Bianconeri 1-0 ahead, and then it was his corner that led to Álvaro Morata’s winner. Pogba has proved that he is not just about scoring goals as he continues to get assists; he now has six assists in Juve’s last 13 goals in Serie A.

Fernando (Sampdoria)

Samp’s 24-year-old enforcer has been thoroughly impressive this season and was involved in both Sampdoria goals as they condemned Simone Inzaghi to back-to-back defeats after winning his first two as Lazio manager. Fernando scored after being put through by Nenad Krstičić and then calmly beat Federico Marchetti, and then his free-kick led to a goalline scramble in which Lorenzo De Silvestri was able to force the ball into the net.

Bruno Peres (Torino)

Despite a pretty underwhelming season for il Toro, Bruno Peres has been outstanding and will surely be heading for pastures new in the summer. Peres was able to grab a goal to make it 1-1 after just seven minutes with a cool finish as he came inside and then hit his shot across Andrea Consigli, but Torino then went on to lose 3-1 as Sassuolo secured their 52nd point of the season, a club record in Serie A.

Franco Brienza (Bologna)

Bologna recorded their first win since Valentine’s Day as they beat Genoa 2-0 at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara. Brienza, now 37, was playing some sublime passes and one of them led to Emanuele Giaccherini opening the scoring. He was then involved in the second as it was his inventive flick to Sergio Floccari that led to the former Sassuolo striker doubling the Rossoblu’s lead.

Mohamed Salah (AS Roma)

Salah was a pest for Napoli’s defence and he was involved in Radja Nainggolan’s 89th minute winner. After Francesco Totti played a beautiful ball over the top, the ball made its way to Salah and he calmly waited for the Belgian midfielder to arrive as he passed the ball and Nainggolan calmly passed it into the bottom corner of Pepe Reina’s goal to secure the Scudetto for Juventus.

Strikers

Mario Mandžukić (Juventus)

Mandžukić scored the opener as Juventus wrapped up the title with a 2-1 victory away at Fiorentina (and Napoli’s subsequent loss away at Roma on the Monday). The Croatian has been lethal recently and has now scored four goals in his previous five Serie A appearances. The 29-year-old also played a part in Morata’s winner as it was his header back to Patrice Evra that then led to the Spaniard being in the right place to poke home the Frenchman’s blocked shot, just one minute and 45 seconds after Fiorentina had equalised.

Stevan Jovetić (Internazionale)

Jovetić appeared to be involved in everything good for Inter and was able to grab two tap-ins as he ensured that Inter beat Udinese 3-1 to make 4th position their own. Both sides fielded an XI without an Italian player for the first time in Serie A history, but the Montenegrin forward’s goals helped the Nerazzurri as they accept that they will be playing Europa League football next season.