Serie A round-up: Ronaldo debut makes Best XI but Gomez shines brightest
With the 2018/19 Serie A season underway, we take a look at the star performers from the first WhoScored.com team of the week of the campaign.
All eyes were on the new arrivals to the league and, in particular, Cristiano Ronaldo. After a frustrating first half in which Juventus found themselves falling behind to Chievo, the Portuguese came good after the break to ultimately earn the highest rating for his new side and a subsequent in the best XI, albeit with a modest rating of 7.54.
The star man in the curtain raiser on Saturday, however, was former Juve man Emanuele Giaccherini, who scored one and assisted the other as Chievo eventually fell to a late 3-2 defeat. Veteran keeper Stefano Sorrentino was kept busy, producing eight saves and an outstanding stop from that man Ronaldo to earn a place in the team of the week. Meanwhile young winger Fabio Depaoli also secured a spot in the side and Juventus full-back Alex Sandro ensured five players from the very first game of the season made the XI.
Roma hitman Edin Dzeko was the hero in Turin, scoring a superb 89th minute winner against Torino having twice struck the woodwork beforehand to partner Ronaldo in attack. The former Manchester City striker fired off seven shots in total and won seven aerial duels for a WhoScored.com rating of 8.99 - the second best from gameweek one.
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The best was saved until last though, as Atalanta soared to the top of the table with a 4-0 win over newly promoted Frosinone on Monday night. The protagonist was a familiar one for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side, as captain Papu Gomez opened and closed the scoring for the hosts, assisting the two goals in between for Hans Hateboer and Mario Pasalic.
With a direct hand in all four goals, the 30-year-old unsurprisingly earned the highest rating of the week in Serie A (9.82), while teammate and centre-back Rafael Toloi ranked third (8.52) having assisted Gomez’s opener, completed three dribbles out from the back and helped keep a clean sheet thereafter.
