Cristiano Ronaldo vs Sampdoria (2)
Cristiano Ronaldo has had a forgettable start to the season. However, he is making up for it after another terrific display. We were seeing the deterioration of Cristiano Ronaldo this is just factual information. However, he’s showing all of us that he is capable of putting in these performances again on a somewhat consistent basis. When Cristiano Ronaldo is at his absolute best it is better for everyone. He continues to show all of us who he is. The criticism of his performance this season is valid there’s no denying that. However for the first time this season, he has displayed consistency as Sarri has started figuring out a way to get the best out of him. Along with Paulo Dybala over the last two weeks, the two of them have combined quite nicely together. He is starting to show the world-class abilities we all know he is capable of. Last week he put in his finest performance of the Season scoring twice as Juventus went to the top of the league. He played exceptionally well once again. He still needs to do a bit more for him to make the team of the season at the end of the season but he has shown improvements He is starting to change that narrative against Sampdoria he only builds on his performance last week showing how much of a freak athlete he actually is. He was absolutely unbelievable once again He showed his unbelievable flight scoring a header that was jaw-dropping. He delivered on one of the most outrageous goals this season. Proving that he is one of the best athletes in all of sports. He has done a lot to take care of his body and it was totally justified with a goal that had the football world in utter disbelief. He scored a ridiculous header that might be the very best of his career. He delivered from an Alex Sandro cross as his head ripped through the back of the net. Cristiano Ronaldo showed his unbelievable athleticism as he rose s 2.56 meters in the air hanging for 1.5 seconds so much that it was compared to Michael Jordan. It may have been one of the most ridiculous things from the athletic standpoint that I’ve seen a football pitch. He is heating up at exactly the right time and it starting to display the Killer Instinct he lacked earlier in the season. He has heard the critics and has delivered in a match and a game that left the world and utter shock. He returns to my list for the second consecutive week the Cristiano Ronaldo that we saw and Real Madrid made an appearance in Italy hopefully Ronaldo’s able to play like this at least somewhat close to this the rest of the season because what we saw the last two weeks was truly sensational.
Edin Dzeko vs Florentina (2)
Edin Dzeko had an absolutely Sensational performance to end 2019. Without question or the single best performance, we saw over the weekend. He was responsible for three of the four goals. As he played an influential role in Roma’s 4-1 victory in Florence. He scored a beautifully orchestrated goal that went through Lorenzo Pellegrini and Nicolo Zaniolo that gave Roma the early lead. On top of that in the second half, he assisted on two Roma goals. He supplied an exceptional pass to Lorenzo Pellegrini who hit a strike from distance. Lorenzo Pellegrini and Edin Dzeko were on the same page throughout the entire sequence of the play. After receiving the ball he immediately gave a return pass to Lorenzo Pellegrini who had a fantastic look exceptional communication. Then Edin Dzeko supplied a very accurate through ball that allowed Nicolo Zaniolo to dribble the length of the pitch before putting it into the back of the net. He was special against Florentina he showed the ability abilities to score and facilitate for teammates. However, that isn’t what made his performance so spectacular. It’s some of the other things he did doing a lot of dirty work holding up the forward line and even causing real issues with Florentina’s attack as he took the ball away multiple times. Edin Dzeko is the most complete striker in Serie A. While he is not the best in the league he has a multitude of skills that he brings to a game he’s unlike anyone else. It’s more than goals and assist for it’s impacting the game through the Midfield acting as a physical presence that made things incredibly difficult on Friday night as he typically does. His intelligence and IQ is absolutely off the charts as he is having a tremendous season. It was a truly breathtaking display. He has really thrived under Paulo Fonseca as the new manager he is getting the best out of him. Edin Dzeko was a very disappointing season last year with only 14 goals there were opportunities for him to leave around this summer but he decided to stay. This has turned out to be such an important decision. Edin Dzeko has already 10 goals this season as he’s approaching 100 goals for Roma. The way he impacts the game on so many occasions he has developed that consistency that he seemed to lack last season. Edin Dzeko does not need to score goals to impact the game. Most of the other Strikers in this league do that’s what makes him different than everybody else. The Bosnian continues to thrive as he is at best under Paulo Fonseca this week is just another display of that this has become an expectation but against Florentina, he took it up a level. We won’t realize how historic Edin Dzeko has been with Rama until he’s gone there’s an argument to be made He’s one of the five best players in their history hopefully this season Roma will be able to justify that with a trophy.
Romelu Lukaku vs Genoa (3)
Romelu Lukaku rises to the occasion without Martinez in the lineup. Martinez is without question the best player in Inter Milan regardless of what the stats say the way he attracts so much attention allows romelu Lukaku to be successful at Inter Milan. Without him, he was the number one priority and thrived under the circumstances. He was the primary scoring option for Inter Milan in what was their last match of the year. He was quite simply sensational there’s a reason he has made this list so many times. Even though Martinez is the best player he has found ways to be effective and still is an incredibly dynamic scorer. Against a Genoa team that really has yet to find the way Lukaku made them suffer. The Belgium striker scored one and assisted two more goals being responsible for three of the four goals Inter Milan scored at the San Siro against Genoa. He was Sensational continues to show to be an incredibly special talent this season. On top of that, he sacrificed his hat-trick to allow the youngster to take the penalty in what was a very simple victory for Inter Milan. Despite how things went at Manchester United Inter Milan have found their target men as he is playing at a much higher level and on this team in which he’s able to be effective. Despite how much he cost romelu Lukaku has found a home in Italy and he continues to display incredibly impressive performances as Inter Milan remains one of the title favorites. He has been a big part of that. As he has shown his qualities once again with an influential performance.
DONKEY OF THE WEEK: Serie A
This week I’m giving the donkey the week to Serie A. while this did not happen this week it was something that needed to be talked about and discussed. So I felt the need to dive into this for Donkey of the week this entire situation seemed to be the right time to talk about this. Italian football has a racism problem. I want to make it clear it’s not just Italy but the number of times we’ve had to deal with this over the last 5 seasons is ridiculous. There are racism and other European countries but Italian football as highlighted for some of the stuff we have seen. We have things Mario Balotelli receives monkey chants in Verona. We have seen countless Lazio racism misconduct we have seen racism towards koulibaly in Napoli and others. It is targeting black players especially but the racism that they are dealing with comes from all shapes and sizes from everyone. It is a serious problem and I think that the league itself doesn’t understand the significance of this and how important it actually is. Seri A came out with a say no to racism campaign the problem is the execution of the message. They used monkey pictures to launch this. They had an artist put together an artistic piece that featured monkeys. The reason this is such a big deal is because monkey chants and that animal, in particular, has been a target of racism black players and others. They just don’t understand this and don’t get this. They have to know better. This league is one of the best in the world Italy should be able to manage this and be able to send across the right message. I feel they do not care about this and they actually made things worse and it shows the lack of seriousness to having this issue. This may be corrected at some point but we’re not there yet there people who have defended this there’s nothing to defend here. They could have made this point clear without using monkeys they could have gone so many other directions in this but they just don’t understand how serious this is. There was racism within an anti-racist campaign and that’s the problem. This is something that needs to be fixed quickly this is one of the best leagues in the world African-Americans and Africans Should want to come to this league because you can make an argument is actually the best in the world. However, if there continue to be treated this way they’re not going to want to come here. This advertisement and campaign shows the disconnect.
Everything Roma 