On a weekend when Cristiano Ronaldo fired blanks for Juventus and slumped to a defeat against Inter Milan in the Serie A, Nigerian striker Simmy Nwankwo hugged the headlines, scoring twice to help his struggling team Crotone.
Derby Italia
For the latest round of matches in Italy, the San Siro was obviously the centre of attraction for Sunday’s ‘Derby Italia’ between Inter Milan and Juventus.
Though the fixture pitched the two league’s top scorers against each other, both players had no direct influence on the final outcome of the match as they neither scored nor produced any assist.
Instead, it was Inter Milan’s Nicolo Barella who scored one goal and set up another to help secure a 2-0 victory for Inter over champions Juventus and send his side joint-top of Serie A while putting a major dent in the Turin club’s title hopes.
Former Juve midfielder Arturo Vidal scored his first league goal for Inter when he headed in an inviting Barella cross after 12 minutes before Barella himself sealed victory in the 52nd minute,
It was Antonio Conte’s first Serie A win on his fourth attempt against the club he previously represented as a player and coach, and the result leaves Inter level on 40 points with league leaders AC Milan, who visit Cagliari on Monday.
Simy Shines
For Super Eagles striker Simmy Nwankwo, it was a different story entirely as the Nigerian emerged the hero for bottom side Crotone in their impressive 4-1 win over Benevento
Simmy scored twice and the victory secured the Calabrians within two points of the safety zone.
Crotone were gifted the lead after Kamil Glik headed the ball into his own net in the first half before Simy’s well-taken finishes either side of the break.
Milos Vulic curled home an unstoppable fourth before a deflected Iago Falque strike gave the visitors a consolation.
It was Crotone’s third win of the season and although they remained bottom they moved to 12 points, two behind Cagliari in 17th. Benevento are 11th with 21 points from 18.
Biggest win
The biggest win of the weekend was recorded in Naples where Napoli crushed Fiorentina 6-0.
Lorenzo Insigne scored the opening goal in the fifth minute, and then a penalty in the 72nd minute at Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo.
The Naples club’s other goals came from Diego Demme, Hirving Lozano, Piotr Zielinski and Matteo Politano.
The winning side are ranked third with 34 points, while Fiorentina are in the 14th spot with 18 points.
Other games
Sixth-placed Atalanta’s winning run in Serie A came to an end with a 0-0 draw against lowly visitors Genoa on Sunday.
Elsewhere, a Filip Djuricic penalty earned Sassuolo a 1-1 draw against Parma with the last kick of the game to deny the visitors their first win since November.
The draw ended a five-match losing run for Parma, but they remain second-bottom with 13 points, while Sassuolo are eighth with 30 after 18 games.
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