Five things we learned in Serie A

Torino are on a goals rush, Napoli are sorely missing Milik, rivals Juventus are counting up the injuries and while some Serie A shot-stoppers are impressing, Bologna’s Angelo Da Costa couldn’t stop hat-trick hero Mohamed Salah of Roma.
Here, AFP Sports looks at five things we learned in Serie A:
– Torino goals ticking over
Torino’s title chances are slim but Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men are still making an impact as they target qualification for the Europa League. After a 5-1 rout of hapless Cagliari, the ‘Granata’ (Maroons) took their goals tally to 27. For a day, Torino led the league on goals scored only for Roma to hit three in the win over Bologna to lead on 29. But at Torino, there’s consistency. No less than four players — Andrea Belotti (eight), Adem Ljajic (five), Iago Falque (five) and Marco Benassi (four) — have scored four or more goals in 12 league outings. No other club can match that statistic and Belotti, in only his second full season with Juventus’s poorer city neighbours, is just two behind the league’s top scorers, Edin Dzeko of Roma and Mauro Icardi of Inter Milan.
– Napoli missing Milik magic
Although prolific Pole Arkaduisz Milik calmed fans’ fears with four goals in seven games after he was bought from Ajax to replace Gonzalo Higuain following the 36-goal striker’s move to Juventus, times have changed at Napoli. Since Milik suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury playing for Poland against Denmark in early October, Napoli scoring powers are on the wane and Maurizio Sarri’s men are now nine points behind leaders Juve. Belgian international Dries Mertens, nearly 20 centimetres shorter than Milik, has been preferred to Manolo Gabbiadini in the central striker’s role and although his creativity has impressed, Napoli have failed to win on three attempts inside a week. After last week’s 2-1 reverse at Juventus and a 1-1 Champions League draw at Besiktas, Napoli were held to a frustrating draw by Lazio on Saturday, when Mertens missed a series of chances.
– ‘BBC’ goes off air at Juventus
Known as the ‘BBC’ defence, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini momentarily went off air at Juventus as the injuries pile up for the league champions. With Chiellini already out with a recurrence of a thigh injury and Bonucci on the substitutes’ bench after a knock to the thigh in a midweek Champions League draw with Lyon, Juve travelled to Chievo with only Barzagli match fit. After just four minutes, ‘The Wall’, as robust defender Barzagli is known, came crashing down under a challenge in the Juve area, landed heavily and dislocated his shoulder. Barzagli will undergo scans this week and could be a doubt for Italy’s World Cup qualifier away to Liechtentstein next Saturday, when national team coach Giam Piero Ventura will hope to have at least one ‘B’ (Bonucci) and one ‘C’ (Chiellini) back and match fit.
– Serie A shot-stoppers shine
Juventus ‘keeper Gianluigi Buffon has epitomised Italian football for decades, but the 38-year-old is not alone in impressing between the sticks this season. Although AC Milan’s teenaged goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is expected to be Buffon’s heir, having made his Italy debut in a friendly against France in September, he is one of several shot-stoppers wowing the fans in Italy’s top flight. Palermo’s Josip Posavec, a 20-year-old from Croatia, produced three one-handed saves to thwart AC Milan forward Suso in the Sicilians’ 2-1 defeat on Sunday. And Alex Cordaz, who plays for basement side Crotone, almost singlehandedly kept Inter Milan at bay throughout a one-sided encounter at the San Siro where the league newcomers crumbled in the final minutes to lose 3-0.
– Salah sizzling for red-hot Roma
With 10 strikes, Edin Dzeko has been leading Roma’s goals charge but the Bosnian took a back seat on Sunday when Mohamed Salah stole the show at the Stadio Olimpico with a hat-trick in a 3-0 romp over Bologna. Salah’s only previous hat-trick came for Egypt in a World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe in 2013, but the former Chelsea midfielder claimed his maiden triple in league football, albeit at the discretion of officials after his 13th minute opener took a last-minute deflection on the goalline before beating Angelo Da Costa. There was no doubt over Salah’s second-half strikes, which took his goals tally to eight.