Race for the Scudetto: Vlahovic, Zakaria validate Juventus; Roma & Zaniolo nightmare; Giroud saves AC Milan | OneFootball

Fierce controversies over referees' decisions (as happens every weekend now), Dusan Vlahovic's first goal with the Juventus shirt, Milan winning the Derby thanks to Olivier Giroud 's brace: this and much more occurred in the last Serie A weekend. Let's see what happened:

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK - Olivier Giroud (AC Milan)

A bolt from the blue, a totally unexpected result both on the eve of the match and after the first 60 minutes of the game, Milan won the derby and Olivier Giroud was the absolute protagonist of the match, with a brace that will inevitably deliver him to the history of the Rossoneri club.

Simone Inzaghi had prepared the match to perfection and for most of the game his men had controlled the result without difficulty, just think that the Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan was the best player on the pitch.

Ivan Perisic's goal was answered by the first scored by Giroud, who played a game of a level he hadn't touched for a long time. Rarely has he been seen playing in such a dominant way with the Milan shirt.

In the moment of greatest need for Stefano Pioli, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic out due to injury (by now too many, so much so that the club is reflecting on the opportunity to have him sign a further contract renewal), the French forward took the team by the hand. Stefan De Vrij understood little or nothing in the movements of Giroud, capable of overturning a game and above all of reopening a championship that Inter seemed to have already closed.

TALKING POINT OF THE WEEK - Zaniolo and the goal disallowed by Abisso

A crazy week, almost a nightmare, for Nicolò Zaniolo and Roma.

An obvious answer ("no one can guarantee that Zaniolo will stay in Rome, I can't do it and no one else can") of the general manager of Roma, Tiago Pinto, has been exploited far and wide by the Roman and national sports press.

In the 90 minutes of the complicated home match against Genoa, the number 22 managed to score the winning goal, thanks to a sensational shot from outside the box. After the goal, he ran under the Curva Sud, where he found all his fans to celebrate and embrace.

A big celebration with all the fans and teammates, three points for Roma and the (non-existent) controversy closed definitively.

Well, none of that, as VAR referee Luigi Nasca called Rosario Abisso for an alleged foul by Tammy Abraham on an opponent, despite the referee having seen the action and judged the intervention as not a foul, he changes his mind and cancels the goal.

Then Zaniolo asks the referee "why the f**k did you blow the whistle? Why did you do it? " and Abisso pulled out the red card. Leaving aside the fact that on the same day the VAR did not intervene for tackles almost identical to that of Abraham (in Venezia-Napoli and Inter-Milan). The red card to Zaniolo has created a huge discussion inside Italian football, so much so as to push many to emphasize how many referees have a bias against the Giallorossi number 22, considered a bad boy despite never having done anything serious in his career.

Jose Mourinho hugged him, accompanied him off the pitch and defended him at the end of the game, but between Zaniolo and the Italian referees something isn't right.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)

He is definitely the man of the moment in Serie A. For better or for worse, right now the Serbian striker is the most important man in the Italian league.

From his shock transfer from Fiorentina to Juventus, with a real explosion of anger of his former fans, to the goal scored in his very first appearance with the black and white shirt. The connection with Alvao Morata and Paulo Dybala was immediate, seeing them play it seemed they had been together for several years.

His impact for Juventus was devastating from the first moment, from the first ball touched: stop and shot, immediately, saved by the Verona goalkeeper. On the second occasion, however, he scored the goal, with a nice lob. Juventus spent a lot to buy him and his first appearance was very auspicious.

SURPRISES OF THE WEEK - Sampdoria 4-0 Sassuolo and Atalanta 1-2 Cagliari

Without a doubt these were the two most surprising results of the weekend.

Marco Giampaolo has recently returned to the Sampdoria bench and has probably made the most of these weeks of rest, given that on his return to the field his team showed a very first-rate quality of play.

Sassuolo could practically do nothing and the Neroverdi of Alessio Dionisi fell under the blows of Antonio Candreva, Francesco Caputo, Stefano Sensi and Andrea Conti. A surprising performance, with the first two goals arriving early in the game. Domenico Berardi, Gianluca Scamacca and teammates struggled for the entire duration of the match.

Also surprising was the performance of Cagliari by Walter Mazzarri, who beat Atalanta at home 1-2, deserving the victory and showing clear signs of growth.

The match was full of emotions and the neutral fans appreciated a match that instead left Gian Piero Gasperini baffled. Cagliari took the lead with Gaston Pereiro and then Juan Musso was sent off. Despite their being in 10 men, Gasperini's boys had found the equalizer thanks to Jose Luis Palomino, but Gaston Pereiro managed again to score the 1-2 goal, which complicates a lot for Atalanta in the race for fourth place, seeing how much Juventus managed to strengthen the team buying Vlahovic and Zakaria.