The Tops and Flops of Serie A Round 12: Cagliari & Milan Produce Stellar Show | OneFootball

In the leadup to Serie A Round 12, all eyes were fixated on the major San Siro showdown, and rightfully so; After all, this was a battle between the top two sides in the table, as well as the two most recent Italian champions. So while the weekend action was perhaps expected to reveal the identity of the ultimate Scudetto favorite, instead, we ended with a Top Six separated by two clubs, in what has to be one of the slimest margins we’ve seen at this point of the campaign. So let’s recap the most significant events in a matchday packed with scorchers and razor-tight contests in our latest edition of the Serie A Tops and Flops.

Top (Player): Moise Kean

While this weekend had its fair share of mesmerizing displays, Moise Kean’s astonishing hat-trick made the selection process much easier. The striker who failed to score for Juventus throughout last season has now become an unstoppable goal-machine.

The 24-year-old is truly hitting his stride, and his confidence is at an all-time high. This is evident by the way he’s latching on every ball, leaving defenders in his wake, while his swift execution hardly gives a split second for the goalkeepers to react.

This weekend, the Italian international led Fiorentina to a 3-1 victory over Verona while showcasing his impeccable finishing touch with three different, but equally splendid strikes.

Extra Top (Player): Gabriele Zappa

While Kean’s exploits cannot be denied, failing to mention Gabriele Zappa’s superb outing would have been blasphemous. On a magical Sardinian evening that witnessed the emergence of the real Rafael Leao, the 24-year-old somehow managed to upstage the Milan superstar by scoring a spectacular brace of his own, including a jaw-dropping volley for the late equalizer.

What’s more? The youth product was denied another goal by his teammate Nicolas Viola who insisted on helping the ball in while being in an offside position, even though Zappa’s effort was already goalbound.

Flop (Player): Theo Hernandez

While Zappa will be cherishing the mouth-watering clash between Cagliari and Milan for the rest of his days, Theo Hernandez certainly won’t.

The Rossoneri stand-in captain has been showing worrying signs since the start of the season. Between shaky defending, decreasing attacking impact and nervous reactions, the France international seems to be a shadow of the player who has been in the discussion for the best left-back in Europe.

Top (Manager): Raffaele Palladino

While it certainly helps to have a striker in red-hot form, Raffaele Palladino deserves credit for betting on Kean’s credentials while most fans and observers had already dropped the ball on the Italy international.

Moreso, the young tactician has assembled a lineup from players who were shown the door by other Serie A clubs (the likes of Yacine Adli, Edoardo Bove and Danilo Cataldi) and morphed them into a well-oiled machine.

Following Fiorentina’s victory over Verona, the Tuscans find themselves third in the table, with a single point separating them from league leaders Napoli.

Moreover, Monza’s dire form under Alessandro Nesta this season speaks volumes of Palladino’s exceptional managerial talents.

Flop (Manager): Ivan Juric

Following successful spells at Verona and Torino, Ivan Juric made the ill-advised decision to sign for Roma in a time of great turmoil. The Croatian certainly envisioned himself as the hero who would lead the Giallorossi out of the dark tunnel, but instead, the team fell to a new low under his tumultuous reign which has now been put out of its misery.

Juric certainly isn’t the main culprit in the club’s great demise, but the lack of chemistry between him and the squad had been plain to see. So when the referee blew the final whistle to signal Roma’s 2-3 defeat at the hands of their visitors Bologna, the manager’s future had already been sealed, and the inevitable announcement swiftly followed.

Top (Team): Juventus

This weekend didn’t witness too many inspirational collective displays, but Juventus get the nod for smoothly navigating their way to a Derby victory over their crosstown rivals Torino.

While this fixture is usually a cagey and rogue affair, Thiago Motta’s men didn’t encounter too many difficulties on the road, as the Granata failed to produce a single save out of Mattia Perin. On the other hand, Andrea Cambiaso, Kenan Yildiz and Manuel Locatelli well all on song.

Flop (Team): Torino

Although Torino hardly prevail in the Derby della Mole, we still expected something more out of the team in a fixture that means the world to their passionate supporters. However, Paolo Vanoli’s men seemed resigned to defeat, failing to produce any sort of reaction despite spending the majority of the encounter trailing in the result.

Sadly for Torino, they haven’t been the same since Duvan Zapata’s season-ending injury.

Top (Goalkeeper): Marco Carnesecchi

Udinese ended the first half with a shocking 1-0 lead over their hosts Atalanta, but the result would have been bigger if it wasn’t for Marco Carnesecchi’s spectacular saves. The 24-year-old looked like a man possessed, and his heroics allowed La Dea to stay in the game and turn the result upside-down in the second period.

Flop (Goalkeeper): Alen Sherri

Cagliari boss Davide Nicola raised some eyebrows by handing Alen Sherri the starting gloves against Milan while leaving Simone Scuffet on the bench, but in hindsight, it wasn’t the manager’s best call, as the Albanian custodian seemed out of his depth.

Sherri charged off his line to try to reach the ball on the opener, but Leao beat him to it and managed to chip it into the open net. The 26-year-old can hardly be blamed for the Portuguese’s second goal, but should have done better on Christian Pulisic’s shot, as he parried it into the path of Tammy Abraham who scored the easiest of tap-ins.

Top (Super-Sub): Jesper Karlsson

Jesper Karlsson has been at Bologna since the summer of 2023, but was still searching for his maiden Serie A goal. The Sweden international finally broke his duck after coming off the bench in the 23rd minute to replace Dan Ndoye who smashed his foot while agonizingly sliding into the goal post.

Karlsson was embroiled in a heated duel with nasty Roma defender Gianluca Mancini, but he had the last laugh he managed to drift away from his marker to score the Rossoblu’s third goal, which ultimately proved to be the winner.

Top (Match): Cagliari vs Milan

This one will certainly be a candidate for the Match of the Season award. Not only did we witness a six-goal thriller with back-and-forth action and several twists and turns, but the quality of the strikes was something else.

When Leao scored a fabulous first-half brace, he was poised to emerge as the ultimate star of the show, only that Zappa decided that it was going to be his night.

Flop (Match): Inter vs Napoli

Admittedly, this wasn’t a terrible contest by any means, but perhaps we’ve been spoiled by the electrifying action from the Derby della Madonnina and especially the Derby d’Italia, so we expected yet another epic at San Siro.

In the end, it was a tactical warfare between two of the best managers around in Simone Inzaghi and Antonio Conte, and the fact Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Buongiorno were arguably the best on the pitch tells you all you need to know about this encounter.

Top (Assist): Tijjani Reijnders

Reijnders is simply the man at the hour at Milan. When he’s not scoring goals, he’s producing them via heart-melting assists. The Dutchman’s inch-perfect through ball with the outside of his foot wouldn’t be out of place at an art museum.

Top (Goal): Hakan Calhanoglu

From Kamara to Zappa through Stephan El-Shaarawy, Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, Mattia Zaccagni and Suat Serdar, this was the weekend of screamers in Serie A.

And yet, there could only be one winner. So take a bow, Hakan Calhanoglu.

Not even squandering a spot kick for the first team since joining Inter could take the glimmer off his venomous long-range scorcher against Napoli.