Serie A Team of the Week: Matchday 28

Here is Italian Football Daily’s Team of the Week for Matchday 28

Goalkeeper:

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus): The 38-year-old didn’t have much to do, but he has now gone 836 minutes without conceding. Buffon is not far off the record set by Dino Zoff (903’) and Sebastiano Rossi (929’).

Defenders:

Šime Vrsaljko (Sassuolo): The Croatian right-back got an assist and a clean sheet as Sassuolo beat Milan to end their nine-game unbeaten run.

Andrea Barzagli (Juventus): Barzagli his first goal of the season as he opened the scoring for Juve in their 2-0 away win at Atalanta. In their unbelievable league run where they have won 17 of their last 18 games, Barzagli has been a key figure for La Vecchia Signora.

Faouzi Ghoulam (Napoli): Ghoulam was a constant presence down Napoli’s left hand side and grabbed the assist for Higuaín’s equaliser, his third assist of the season. He almost capped off his performance with an audacious long-distance effort that was well saved by Albano Bizzarri.

Midfielders:

Miralem Pjanić (AS Roma): Despite many having expected more from Roma at the start of the season, Pjanić has been excellent and appears to be a key component of Luciano Spalletti’s system. The Bosnian now has nine goals and nine assists in Serie A so far this season.

Luca Rigoni (Genoa): The 31-year-old was instrumental in Genoa securing a much-needed win to secure some breathing room from the bottom three. He scored the only goal of the game to condemn Empoli to a fourth consecutive league defeat.

Mohamed Salah (AS Roma): Spalletti has rejuvenated Roma’s front line and Salah appears to be the biggest beneficiary. He has become a vital player and in his last four Serie A appearances, he has contributed eight goals; scoring five, assisting three.

Stephan El Shaarawy (AS Roma): Since coming in during the January transfer window, Il Faraone has now scored as many goals (5) in his first six Serie A games as he did in his final 40 games for Milan. Playing like this, he will surely be heading to the Euros.

Strikers:

Mauro Icardi (Internazionale): Inter built on their 3-0 midweek Coppa Italia win over Juventus, although they lost on penalties, with a 3-1 win over Palermo. Icardi got a goal and an assist to help Inter’s push for 3rd. The Argentine striker now has four goals in his last six games.

Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria): Fantantonio got himself a goal and appeared to be involved in everything positive going forward as Samp sent Verona further into the abyss with a 3-0 win at the Bentegodi.

Daniel Ciofani (Frosinone): Ciofani got the opener in Frosinone’s 2-0 win over Udinese as they improved their chances of avoiding relegation. The Canarini are still in the bottom three, but are now only four points off of their opponent’s in 16th.

This article originally appeared on the Italian Football Daily website.