🇮🇹 Scudetto race heats up as Serie A's top two handed first losses | OneFootball

Only two clubs in Europe’s top five leagues went into the weekend’s action with unbeaten records still on the line.

Both sat near the top of Serie A but by the end of Sunday night, both had lost the zeros in their loss column.

It’s safe to say though that it will be Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti who is the much more frustrated of the two coaches who saw their team fall to defeat for the first time.

His side took a deserved lead at San Siro through Piotr Zielinski’s slick strike but two disappointing defensive lapses saw them surrender it before half-time.

Kalidou Koulibaly’s instinctual handball blocked an effort on goal but gave away a penalty before David Ospina became too concerned with the bodies in his box from a corner to notice Ivan Perišić sneaking a header in at the near post.

That said, even after Lautaro Martínez’s goal, the Partenopei did have their chances to preserve their record and will feel they should have.

Dries Mertens pulled one back with a sumptuous strike from range but then blazed over unmarked from a much easier chance, while Mario Rui headed off the bar via a Samir Handanović wrist.

“I don’t give a damn about the result,” Spalletti told the assembled media when reflecting on their first loss. “What matters is the attitude and we played a good game. We’ve been working well for a while here and it is showing.”

Milan boss Stefano Pioli was also sympathetic to his squad when discussing his side’s shock 4-3 capitulation in Florence.

At one point, a series of defensive errors saw them fall 3-0 behind, with stand-in goalkeeper Ciprian Tătărușanu coming in for heavy criticism for his part in the loss, particularly for the opening goal when he spilled a cross under no pressure.

By the time Zlatan Ibrahimović’s double had dragged them back into it, it was too late as another excellent Dusan Vlahović goal five minutes from time proved pivotal.

It was the most out-of-sorts domestic showing of the year from the Rossoneri so far and although there were some notable and costly absentees, Pioli refused to pin the blame on that.

“Overall, it wasn’t a bad performance. It was a very unusual game. We didn’t take our chances and then paid for errors,” he said at his post-game press conference.

“We showed character in the second half but they had five chances and scored four goals. Our focus wasn’t there but we’ll use the pain of this defeat to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Luckily for Milan as they attempt to live up to their coach’s vow, the calendar is kind and their next four fixtures are against bottom half sides, two of them in the relegation zone.

And in the fifth game, they face table-topping Napoli in their final fixture before Christmas. Now that is an early present!

And elsewhere …

😱 Goal of the Weekend

There were some excellent goals from range over the weekend but we just couldn’t look past Keita Balde’s magnificent acrobatic volley at Sassuolo.

🥇 Player of the Weekend

It has to be the latest talent unearthed by Roma. Teenager Afena-Gyan only needed 16 minutes to turn the game around for his side, first with a composed finish across goal and then with a delightful curler from 25 yards. Remember his name.