Kenan Yildiz made history at just 18-years-old after becoming Juventus’ youngest goalscorer in the club’s history as Massimo Allegri’s side claimed a vital 2-1 victory over Frosinone.
It was an even happier weekend for Jose Mourinho who won the mentality battle against Napoli with Roma, producing a stunning fight to dash the reigning Serie A champions future European ambitions.
However, AC Milan’s ever-growing injury-list took another blow when Fikayo Tomori limped off in the draw against Salernitana to make it 23 muscle injuries in 17 games for Stefano Pioli’s team.
The Italian giants are also suffering from Mike Maignan’s questionable form in goal, while on the other Serie A’s other side, Bologna are being led towards Champions League qualification by an unlikely Scottish star.
Mail Sport covers 10 things we learned from Serie A’s Christmas weekend.
Roma marked a period of pre-Christmas improvement after beating reigning Serie A champions Napoli
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1 – KENAN YILDIZ IS JUVE’S TEENAGE SENSATION
Twelve minutes was enough for Kenan Yildiz to remind Juventus that he cannot be considered a player to be kept on the fringes of the first team nor a wildcard to be used to play in Serie C with Juve’s Next Gen.
This Frosinone match was a decisive moment in his career and at just 18-years-old the Turkish striker scored an extraordinary goal, worthy of the first Alessandro Del Piero.
Yildiz, who freed himself in the box with a piece of magical dribbling, skipped round three Frosinone players like skittles, before scoring his first goal in Serie A with a powerful strike. After bringing Germany to their knees in Turkey’s historic victory, Yildiz has now become the talisman of a young and poisonous Juventus.
His goal on Saturday saw Yildiz became the youngest foreign goalscorer in the club’s history at 18 years and 233 days and more importantly put on extending his long stay at the ‘Old Lady’ club.
The goal is his invention, a madness that makes football a unique spectacle in the world. The celebration was for his idol Del Piero, with the typical tongue of a proud and mischievous child.
Kenan Yildiz bagged a goal aged just 18 to become Juventus’ youngest-ever goalscorer
2 – WALTER MAZZARRI IS NOT FATHER CHRISTMAS
Napoli are weak and even worse psychologically compared to Rudi Garcia’s management. Their 2-0 defeat against Roma represents a serious blow in the club’s chase for a place in next season’s Champions League, but two red cards for Matteo Politano and Victor Osimhen are the perfect snapshot of the personality problems of a deflated Napoli, without discipline and playing without love.
Thirteen yellow cards, two expulsions and 30 fouls: a no-holds-barred battle in which Napoli lost their heads and fell into Roma’s psychological trap. Walter Mazzarri was not taken by Napoli to revolutionize the team tactically and technically, but simply to try to make emotional synapses of the same men who a few months ago celebrated championship victory.
Walter Mazzarri is limited in what he can do at Napoli after being given only a six-month deal
His task is limited, marked by a contract of only six-months, like the deadline stuck on milk cartons, and perhaps this contractual aspect may have created further problems for an insecure team that continues to fail in decisive matches.
It cannot be Mazzarri’s fault if Di Lorenzo is experiencing a moment of decline, and above all it cannot be the Tuscan coach’s fault if Stanislav Lobotka seems to have returned to the same insufficient levels of the period when Gennaro Gattuso was coach.
Napoli are psychologically on their knees but Walter Mazzarri seems to be looking the other way, aware that he cannot perform miracles in such a short time. However, Mazzarri has the duty to give an emotional shock and this drop in concentration is a direct consequence of the coach’s motivational messages.
3 – MAIGNAN… MIRACULOUS SAVES AND BEGINNER MISTAKES
On today’s reflection, it would be difficult to decipher Mike Maignan’s season. The French goalkeeper experiences moments of great concentration, with exceptional saves, alternating them with moments of absolute confusion which prevent him from being amongst Serie A’s best goalkeepers.
Against Salernitana he saved Milan in three situations with brilliant stops, but was unable to block Antonio Candreva’s desperate effort from range and putting his side in a difficult position.
Mike Maignan made some brilliant stops against Salernitana before conceding a howler
The cruelty of being a goalkeeper is that every error is visible and his serious error on Candreva’s poison-filled shot makes what would have been a great performance, insufficient.
It is not the first time that Maignan has shows his fragility in the basic technical requirements of a good goalkeeper and the doubts about his value are starting to worry the Rossoneri fans and the entire technical staff.
His technical skills with his feet and extraordinary instinct remain unchanged, but the Rossoneri goalkeeper seems to be in a negative moment. Milan’s late equaliser has a bitter taste because without his mistake the result could have been different. Losing two points in the standings at the moment means losing contact with the top of Serie A and giving their Champions League rivals some festive hope.
4 – KING VLAHOVIC IS BACK
Dusan Vlahovic’s sixth goal of the season bagged Juventus fundamental points in the league standings. Milan’s draw against Salernitana consolidates second place and guarantees the ‘Old Lady’ a greater chance of entering the top-four teams that will participate in next season’s Champions League. Vlahovic had started the match on the bench, sitting next to Massimiliano Allegri after a disastrous performance against Genoa.
His entry onto the pitch in place of Kenan Yildiz might have seemed like a gamble, but instead it turned out to be the winning move that guaranteed Juventus victory in a very difficult match. The Serbian star scored with a splendid acrobatic goal, celebrating the return of the goal that was missing in the match against Inter.
Vlahovic’s angry celebration demonstrates the difficult moment he is going through but the winning goal could be the best antidote to the identity crisis he has been experiencing for some time.
Dusan Vlahovic’s sixth goal of the season bagged Juventus fundamental Serie A points
Vlahovic’s angry celebration demonstrates the difficult moment he is going through but the winning goal could be the best antidote to the identity crisis he’s had at Juventus
Frosinone were fresh from their 4-0 success at the ‘Maradona’ stadium against Napoli and the enthusiasm of Eusebio Di Francesco’s team could have created further problems for Juventus but their tactics made it possible to anesthetise the match, getting three gold points before Christmas.
Negotiations for his contract renewal continue and at the moment the player has no intention of leaving Juventus, a club of which he has been a great fan of since he was a child.
5 – JOSE MOURINHO HAS NINE LIVES LIKE A CAT
Jose Mourinho always manages to be an extremely concrete coach even if sometimes not very politically correct. His Roma team won the Christmas battle against Napoli and demonstrated that they can still be in the running for a place in the next Champions League.
The Portuguese coach seems to have nine lives like cats, always managing to obtain satisfactory results despite the incredible series of injuries that deprived the team of their best players last season.
Since the beginning of the year, Mourinho has been without Tammy Abraham, Chris Smalling and Paulo Dybala, a player forced to stop too many times due to the usual muscular problems.
He wins the match by playing on the edge of tense nerves, of dialectical clashes with the Napoli players, as demonstrated by the face-to-face match with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, crashing the emotional machine of Aurelio De Laurentiis’ team.
Jose Mourinho always manages to be an extremely concrete coach even in times of adversity
Mourinho helped Roma win the match against Napoli by playing on the edge of tense nerves
Mourinho is a master of provocation and his plot of controversy and protests, his way of charging Roma players by stimulating aggression and physical clashes had the desired effects, directing the match towards a deserved victory.
Mourinho is a skilled strategist who declares that he wants to stay at Roma knowing that he will not be able to reach an immediate agreement with the Friedkin family without the certainty of a place in the top 4 of Serie A.
Without fourth place, the chances of continuing to see him on Roma’s bench is very low but the victory over Napoli relaunches the ambitions of the team and fans.
6 – MATTEO GUENDOUZI IS ARSENAL’S GREAT REGRET
Strongly wanted by Maurizio Sarri during the last summer transfer session after Arsenal and Marseille decided to offload him, Matteo Guendouzi is finally demonstrating all his best qualities in Serie A.
The period in France seemed to have definitively interrupted his rise, but the transfer to Lazio has restored confidence, space and motivation that the player seemed to have lost after so many disappointments.
Guendouzi’s Italian experience is giving a second chance to the French midfielder who was welcomed into Premier League as one of the best young players before being quickly dumped. Guendouzi is certainly Lazio’s best midfielder at this delicate moment of the season.
His attitude is commendable: the way he recovers the ball in the doubling action is an extraordinary demonstration of strength, technique and aggression.
Midfielder Matteo Guendouzi is finally demonstrating all his best qualities at Lazio in Serie A
He will never be able to replace Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, but offers important technical-tactical solutions for Lazio’s balance. He gave himself a splendid Christmas present, scoring his first goal in Serie A with Lazio, a team in which he is conquering all the space he always sought in vain in the first part of his career.
At a time when Felipe Anderson and Mattia Zaccagni seem to be uncertain about their future at the club, Guendouzi seems to be the new reference player on which to build the future technical and tactical project of the Biancocelesti team.
7 – 23 MUSCLE INJURIES, PIOLI’S STAFF ARE AT RISK OF DISMISSAL
Twenty-three muscle injuries in 17 games. This statistical data would be enough to photograph the critical situation Milan find themselves in. The athletic preparation of the Rossoneri club ends up under the critical magnifying glass of the president Cardinale and the new club assistant Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
A top club like Milan cannot live with an incredible series of injuries every week that put technical and financial assets of the team at risk. Tomori’s latest injury has frozen the blood in the veins of coach Stefano Pioli who no longer has any justification to defend his staff in managing training sessions.
Such a high number of injuries in just five-months requires in-depth analysis and drastic choices that could jeopardise the future of the coach who failed to get through Champions League qualifiers.
Fikayo Tomori ‘s latest injury has frozen the blood in the veins of Milan coach Stefano Pioli
Today Milan risks being out of Serie A fight as well as out of the main door that leads to the Scudetto: an early verdict that destroys the hopes of a season that began under the best auspices, burning the enthusiasm for the sumptuous summer signing campaign, the first without Paolo Maldini at club’s management helm.
The defensive emergency of Pioli’s team has become chronic. At half-time the Rossoneri had also lost Simon Kjaer, replaced by Jan Carlo Simic, due to problems related to a facial injury.
At the moment, Milan’s defensive rotation is blocked and Pioli’s team is in an injury emergency. In Serie A, between ailments and various problems, the list of injured players is growing even longer.
8 – LEWIS FERGUSON DRAGS BOLOGNA INTO THE MIX
Thirty-one points, 21 goals scored and 12 conceded, Bologna’s season has been perfect so far. The great technical leader of Thiago Motta’s team is Lewis Ferguson, a Scottish midfielder who is proving he is ready to become a top player.
Ferguson offers a lot of balance and sacrifice between the lines, qualities that make him a specialised worker who attacks spaces and repairs all the connections in Bologna’s midfield.
The goal scored in the 86th minute brought Atalanta to its knees, rewriting the hierarchies of the Italian championship. He plays a decisive game in defence for the first time this season but finds time to score such an important goal that it will be remembered as the best Christmas gift for Bologna fans.
Key midfield star Lewis Ferguson is proving he is ready to become a top player at Bologna
A less happy afternoon due to the quality of the game expressed frustration, but the result certainly demonstrates how Bologna is capable of playing, running and winning even in moments in which their best player is not at 100 per cent physical fitness.
His contribution to the team can be quantified as approximately 8/10 points in the standings, he’s scored four goals and made two assists, contributing to Bologna’s extraordinary run.
Thiago Motta considers Ferguson an indispensable player to try to realise the club’s European dream and has asked Bologna to postpone his sale to a top club until July 2024. With no offers exceeding 35 million euros, the Scottish star will remain in Bologna until at least next summer.
9 – ANTONIO CANDREVA IS THE MAYOR OF SALERNO
The story of Antonio Candreva deserves a place of honour in the Serie A Hall of Fame. At almost 37-years-old he is a charismatic leader, an icon to cling to in times of difficulty and his Salernitana team has experienced many in recent years. With better luck Candreva would be at a top club that plays in the Champions League and instead fights almost every year not to be relegated to Serie B.
After the unhappy parenthesis at Sampdoria, today, he is the top player of the team looking for their second sporting miracle in three-years. Candreva is a box-to-box winger, a universal player who, thanks to a frail physique, seems not to feel the weight of the years accumulating on his identity card.
The goal scored against Milan was born from a sensational mistake by Mike Maignan, but his shot was poisonous, sudden and above all unpredictable in its trajectory. A bolt of lightning stunned the French goalkeeper’s feline reflexes, triggering a roar in the ‘Arechi’ stadium in Salerno.
At almost 37-years-old, Antonio Candreva (left) is a charismatic leader at Salernitana. Today, he is the top player of the team looking for the second sporting miracle in three-years
At the end of the match there is also the regret of not having won three fundamental points, conceding Luka Jovic’s goal a few minutes before the final whistle. Yet this Salernitana has heart and courage and an extraordinary player like Candreva.
He has the lungs of Angelo Di Livio and the stubbornness of his coach Filippo Inzaghi, lethal in the penalty area until the age of 40. He looks like a robot but he is simply an amazing athlete who loves to play football.
10 – IS CELEB EKUBAN A SWAN OR UGLY DUCKLING?
On the worst evening of his Italian career, Celeb Ekuban scores an important goal that can catapult him to the center of the attack after the Christmas break. He scored his first goal in Serie A at the age of 29 and this testifies to his great stubbornness, but also to the great delay accumulated during a globetrotting career.
Ekuban is an Italian-Ghanaian striker born in Villafranca di Verona who gave three vital points to Genoa in the match against Sassuolo, scoring his first goal in the Italian championship after 13 appearances. Ekuban has the movements of a swan, elegant and lanky, as well as very willing.
The Genoa striker is capable of committing himself for 90 minutes to a job that is not very visible to lovers of the figure of a pure centre forward. His big problem is a lack of confidence with scoring: he scores very little and this has always been the weak point of his career.
On average, he realizes 1/3 of the opportunities that come his way and which he creates with precision and continuity, proving that he is often too emotional in front of the opposing goalkeeper.
After failing to get his big chance at Leeds, a club where he was rarely used due to two fractures suffered in the same foot, he began to wander around Europe without ever finding his right fit. Genoa could represent the second half of his career and Alberto Gilardino seems to be very satisfied with his work.