Serie A Team of Week 26

By Football Italia staff

Dave Taylor picks his best XI from a Week 26 that saw Juve continue to steamroll all in front of them, and those behind as well.

Gianluigi Buffon [Juventus]

When called into question had to be at his best as Milan put Juve to the sword in the first half and would have scored if not for “Superman’s” athletic saves. However,his distribution was weak at times. Dominating.

Ignazio Abate [Milan]

Was a real problem for Juve’s left flank especially in the first half as he ran almost unopposed into the area on several occasions and the Juve defence had their hands full. At fault for the first goal. Spiky.

Shkodran Mustafi [Sampdoria]

The 21-year-old played with the intelligence of someone a lot older making several crucial tackles and deadened the Bulls’ attacks with his awareness. Set up Samp’s first goal with a classy free-kick. Clever.

Davide Astori [Cagliari]

Always in the right place to stop any attacks from going any further, leading the back line with superiority and intelligent. Had a massive hand in the opening goal when he launched the ball to set up Victor Ibarbo. Sharp.

Luca Antonelli [Genoa]

Controlled the left flank and worked just as hard in attack as in defence. Always threatening, he scored the opener after a well worked combination with Giuseppe Sculli and after blowing his first effort he snapped on to the rebound. Incomparable.

Antonio Candreva [Lazio]

At the heart of Lazio’s best moves and made the hosts’ defenders work for their money. Never stopped running and made his opposite number Manuel Pasquale look like a tortoise to his hare and made several telling crosses. Inspiring.

Walter Gargano [Parma]

The on loan Napoli midfielder showed his repertoire by controlling the midfield upsetting any rhythm the hosts tried out with his ability to retrieve the ball and set up an attack. Controlled the tempo of the game. Intimidating.

Stefano Sturaro [Genoa]

Arguably the man of the match and starting just his second full game seemed to know his place in the order of things. Unafraid to take on his man and topped an excellent performance with a well taken goal. Exceptional.

Dries Mertens [Napoli]

Man of the match, not that it was hard compared to his teammates. Converted the perfect penalty and was always looking to cause Livorno problems, also had three strong attempts on target. Threatening.

Stefano Okaka [Sampdoria]

In his first full game of the season and following a five month absence the former Roma striker seems to have found his lost potential. Was in the right place to capitalise on a rebound and slipped the ball past the ‘keeper. Menacing.

Carlos Tevez [Juventus]

When he had the ball he made it count. His ultra classy pass set up the first goal while his rocket right foot did the damage as he scored the second, which was a master class in how to score. Ruthless.

Special mentions: Francesco Bardi [Livorno],Fernando Llorente [Juventus], Alessandro Lucarelli [Parma], Stefan Radu [Lazio], Mattia Cassani [Parma],Luca Cigarini [Atalanta], Lorik Cana [Lazio].

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