Five things we learned in Serie A
Paulo Dybala and Dries Mertens scored hat-tricks as Juventus and Napoli bounced back from Champions League flops to stay perfect in Serie A and join Inter Milan with four wins from four in Italy.
Here is a look at five things we learned from the Serie A this weekend:
GENOA STARLET MAKES LAZIO SWEAT
Sixteen-year-old Pietro Pellegri, who almost ruined Roma legend Francesco Totti's farewell match in May, confirmed his potential by coming off the bench for Genoa to score a double before Lazio snatched a 3-2 win in Liguria.
Pellegri – son of Genoa team manager Marco Pellegri – scored on 57 and 73 minutes, before Ciro Immobile hit back with a double for the Romans.
Lazio are fourth in Serie A – two points behind the leading trio – after their best start to a season since 1999-2000, when they won the title under Sven-Goran Eriksson.
TECHNOLOGY TAKES CENTRE STAGE
VAR – video assistant referee – took centre stage as Atalanta had a goal and a penalty revoked with the technology, but a late equaliser given to them in a 1-1 draw at Chievo.
Nikola Kalinic also scored a double on his first Serie A start for Milan, and had a third disallowed using VAR, to beat Udinese 2-1.
“Today I really liked VAR,” said Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino.
Sassuolo coach Cristian Bucchi concedes it will take time for his struggling side to rebuild after Eusebio Di Francesco's exit.
Di Francesco – now the AS Roma boss – left after five successful seasons during which the Modena outfit reached Serie A for the first time and achieved Europa League qualification.
“A cycle has ended with Di Francesco's goodbye,” said Bucchi after crashing to a third loss to Juventus.
“We need to start again and I am trying to get the best out of my players. Change needs time. A little bit of luck wouldn't do us any harm either, and a lot of work.”
FLORENZI BACK 'STRONGER'
Roma's Alessandro Florenzi believes he has come back “a stronger person” after almost a year out with ruptured knee ligaments by setting up Edin Dzeko who scored a double in a 3-0 win over Verona.
“I wanted to make it look as if I just rested for 11 months! I ran a lot today (Saturday) and I'm glad you could tell. It has not been an easy time, as the second injury especially was a heavy blow, but it taught me a lot about sacrifice. It made me a stronger person.”
JUVE 'LUCKY' TO HAVE MATUIDI
Paulo Dybala may have scored a hat-trick for Juventus in a 3-1 win over Sassuolo but coach Massimiliano Allegri feels 'lucky' to have French international Blaise Matuidi in his squad.
“Matuidi has an extraordinary quality: he keeps quiet and he runs. In addition he knows how to play football. So we're lucky to have him as he's a player of substance. And to achieve objectives you need these kind of qualities in addition to technical qualities.”
Matuidi joined Juventus in August for 20 million euros plus an additional 10.5 million euros in bonuses depending on the number of games played
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