Serie A round-up: Cristiano Ronaldo finally breaks Juventus duck
Juventus are already three points clear at the top of Serie A after overcoming Sassuolo in a hard-fought contest on Saturday afternoon, while the likes of AC Milan and Inter continue to struggle at the opposite end of the table. SPAL are, incredibly, Juventus’ closest challengers at the league’s summit, while Sampdoria have been another surprise package through the first four rounds of matches.
Sampdoria prised Gregoire Defrel away from Roma on a season-long loan deal in the summer and the 27-year-old has made a stunning impact at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Impressively, only Lionel Messi (8.74) has a higher WhoScored rating than Defrel (8.34) in Europe’s top five leagues this season after continuing his fine form against Frosinone at the weekend.
The French striker netted a second successive brace in Serie A to take his tally to four goals for the season. Defrel garnered a WhoScored rating of 9.74 against the Italian minnows, finishing gameweek 4 as the highest rated player in the division. Not only has Defrel been lethal in front of goal, the striker has completed 90.9% of his passes for Sampdoria, an hugely impressive feat for a striker. Only Genoa striker Krzysztof Piatek has scored as many times in Serie A as Defrel this season.
Many expected Cristiano Ronaldo to canter to the Capocannoniere this season following his blockbuster move from Real Madrid in the summer but the Portugal international has endured a difficult start to life at Juventus. Ronaldo failed to score in his first three league matches and had 23 attempts on goal in the process. Ronaldo even admitted after Saturday’s 2-1 win over Sassuolo that he was a little tense after such a quiet start to the campaign.
Nevertheless, the 33-year-old is up and running after netting twice against Sassuolo. Ronaldo gained the second highest WhoScored rating over the weekend’s Serie A action (8.52) and will now hope to put a goalscoring run together against familiar opponents Valencia in the midweek Champions League action.
Rounding off the three highest WhoScored rated players from the weekend’s action is Parma goalkeeper Luigi Sepe, who helped Parma record a shock 1-0 win away to Inter. The 27-year-old made seven saves to ensure Parma’s first clean sheet of the season and first three points.
While the aforementioned trio turned in impressive displays for their respective sides, the same cannot be said for Frosinone’s Francesco Zampano. The 24-year-old was part of the Frosinone defence that shipped five goals at home to Sampdoria on Saturday. He didn’t make a single tackle or interception; win a single aerial duel and only completed 16 passes during a woeful 90-minute performance. He finished as the lowest WhoScored rated player (5.15).
