Daniele De Rossi has transformed Roma since Jose Mourinho's hostile exit, Stefano Pioli deserves to STAY in Milan this summer - and it's Wojciech Szczesny to the rescue for Juventus! TEN THINGS we learned in Serie A

It was another eventful round of fixtures in Serie A this weekend, with league leaders Inter Milan securing a 2-1 win against Udinese and Juventus beating Fiorentina 1-0.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the table, the threat of relegation looms large for Salernitana following their 2-2 draw with fellow strugglers Sassuolo. 

Mail Sport's ALVISE CAGNAZZO talks us through 10 things we learned from the Italian top flight this weekend.

1 - SZCZESNY IS JUVE'S SAINT

If Juventus can continue to consolidate third place in Serie A, the credit will go mainly to Wojciech Szczesny. The Polish goalkeeper's save from Nico Gonzalez's poisonous shot for Fiorentina was worth an entire championship all by itself and showed how Juventus must once again say thank you to their goalkeeper - despite having dominated the match for around 70 minutes. 

The Juventus No 1 has often been criticised but his flight into the top corner effectively sealed the 1-0 win and kept the six-point gap from AC Milan, two points ahead of Bologna who are stuck in fourth place. 

He keeps the defence's concentration high, much more than their captain Danilo, by demanding focus and shouting at every team-mate who passes near him. 

The best goalkeepers are the decisive ones - even if they make just one save in 90 minutes - and 'Tek' Szczesny managed to make the fans who flocked to the Allianz Stadium rejoice after spending most of the match without making a save. 

The second intervention on Maxime Lopez in the 84th minute was prodigious and lit a warning light in the mechanisms of a defense that suffered too much in the final minutes of matches.

Sixty-two points in 31 games are few for a team like Juventus and at least 10 points came from the miraculous interventions of Arsene Wenger's former discovery at Arsenal: a confirmation of the chronic problems of a team that scores too little and takes refuge en masse inside penalty area.

2 - DE ROSSI HAS CHANGED ROMA ALREADY

Twenty-six points in 11 games, eight wins, two draws and one defeat. Daniele De Rossi's roadmap seems to be that of a top club in Serie A but the terrible series of negative results during the Jose Mourinho era has buried the dreams of glory - at least for now. This team today seems to be playing with the right enthusiasm. 

The derby triumph over Lazio was a perfect example of the psychological dominance of a Giallorossi team which shows that it can be the real surprise of this season. De Rossi won his first derby as a coach, bringing home a victory against Lazio who have been missing since 20 March 2022, when Roma won 3-0 with Mourinho sitting on Roma bench. 

The feeling is that De Rossi was born to coach Roma, to manage the pressures of a wonderful city, connected to 24-hour football, and that he can be considered the team's coach for many more seasons. Fifty-six goals scored, 12 more than Juventus, provides the perfect snapshot of the great technical strength of the attack which with De Rossi is roaring back, despite Romelu Lukaku's decline in form. 

De Rossi won the distant duel with Igor Tudor, he awakened a club asleep by Mourinho's anxieties and today he also brought them back to winning a derby after a very long time. 

Roma today is a cynical team that knows how to defend with courage, discipline and a spirit of sacrifice. This is a fundamental result that sees their dream of securing fourth place in Serie A continue. 

3 - PIOLI DOES NOT DESERVE TO LEAVE AC MILAN

The victory against Lecce certified a magical moment for Milan who, in the spring, began to flourish and gain points over Juventus, consolidating second place in Serie A. 

The days of technical-tactical misunderstandings seem far away and the team governs with extraordinary strength against its opponents.

Lecce were crushed in the middle of the pitch, destroyed in defence and blocked in attack, proving that they deserved their current precarious position in the standings. Stefano Pioli had the ability to regenerate a dull, lifeless and fighting spiritless team during the winter period, holding on to the talents of Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic. 

The credit for the rebirth of the team goes entirely to the coach, who is capable of relying on the right players at the right times, offering great composure in the most difficult moments of this season. 

Luck, as always, played a decisive role in allowing all the players in the attack to play well in turn, managing to compensate for the very long negative period experienced by Oliver Giroud.

The distance from Inter remains considerable but the great determination of AC Milan is a good indication of the future successes that the club can achieve by trying to buy two or three players who can improve the quality of the team's attack.

4 - ATALANTA HAVE RUN OUT OF FUEL

Three defeats in the last five games, a lot of confusion and the certainty of having failed in the decisive big match to relaunch the race for fourth place in Serie A. Atalanta seems to have run out of fuel in the players' muscles.

The most experienced stars like Rafael Toloi and Marten De Roon appear confused technically and the nervousness of coach Giampiero Gasperini demonstrates how much patience is needed in one of the most delicate moments of the season. 

The changes made by the coach to preserve the players ahead of the Liverpool were not successful.

Without Mario Pasalic and Alexei Miranchuk, the lights went out in the middle of the pitch and the team suffered too much. Hans Hateboer played the worst match of his career in Bergamo, helping to underline how the iconic players of the recent past are experiencing a moment of great embarrassment - a physiological decline that is bad for the team and the fans. 

Now reaching Bologna and Roma is increasingly difficult and coach Gasperini is starting to feel the pressure from Napoli, who are only two points behind the Nerazzurri. 

This paradoxical situation in the last month has transformed the path of the team which seemed like it could return to being a protagonist in Serie A into a disastrous one. 

The defeat against Cagliari weighs like a boulder on the consciences of the Atalanta players, who are desperately seeking to avoid being relegated to Serie B.

5 - POLITANO'S STUNNERS CAN INSPIRE NAPOLI

Matteo Politano awakened Napoli from the torpor that had put the team to sleep in the first 45 minutes against Monza.

His left-foot volley pierced goalkeeper Michele De Gregorio, restoring enthusiasm to a team that remained essentially without hope of reaching the fourth place useful for access to the next Champions League. 

Playing without a specific objective is difficult and the team coached by Francesco Calzona is experiencing a period of great psychological, physical and mental precariousness. The victory against Monza is a reaction to the very negative period they have endured and has the merit of identifying some of the leaders to cling to in order to rebuild the team during the next season. 

Politano is a useful winger in both a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 and most likely, also due to the failure to qualify for the Champions League, he will be among the few players destined to lead the attack of a team that will change its skin. 

Forty-eight points, 48 ​​goals scored and 38 goals conceded: Napoli's statistics are negative but undoubtedly something went wrong and the three coaching changes with Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona failed to offer the right tactical approach.

The mistakes up to now are clear to see - but the victory against Monza could be the start of a positive series of results that could bring Napoli close to fifth place.

6 - GATTI'S GOALSCORING IS IN A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN

Federico Gatti, who a few years ago worked as a bricklayer and greengrocer to help his family financially, is today the defender who has scored the most goals among all his colleagues in the top five European leagues. 

The tap-in as a starting striker against Fiorentina gave Juventus three fundamental points, consolidating third place in the table. Gatti is the iconic symbol of a team without particular individual qualities, in which with suffering, sweat and discipline Juventus is trying to recover lost ground in the standings after 40 nightmare days. 

The giant born in Rivoli plays with the determination of the working class, runs through brick walls for his team, is always in the right position and offers a resistant screen for the entire defence.

Gatti isn't the best with his feet but he rarely makes the wrong decision, reducing the risks in the defensive phase to a minimum: this data would be enough to explain why Massimiliano Allegri decides to almost never leave him on bench. 

The fourth goal in Serie A demonstrates his ability to attack spaces, especially following corner kicks. Juventus have won four matches out of four, obtaining 12 out of 12 points, in every match in which Federico Gatti has scored this season: Juventus - Torino (2-0); Monza - Juventus (1-2); Juventus - Napoli (1-0); and Juventus -Fiorentina, 1-0. 

His sixth sense for scoring has allowed the Juventus defender to overcome illustrious attackers such as Moise Kean, who until now has been stuck on zero goals as well as Marko Arnautovic and Alexis Sanchez, who have only two goals each.

7 - CAGLIARI NEED VIOLA, 34, TO BE THEIR HERO

At 34, Nicolas Viola is trying to save Cagliari after wasting much of his career traveling around Italy. The No 10 of the Sardinian team scored the decisive goal against Atalanta in a big match that could be worth the salvation of Cagliari.

The former Palermo star is one of the happiest additions of Claudio Ranieri, who decided to entrust the keys of the attack to the most talented yet inconsistent player of the squad. 

Nicolas Viola is one of those players who could have had an extraordinary career but, due to indolence, injuries and some adaptation problems, was never able to express more than 50 per cent of his qualities. 

The goal to make it 2-1 made the stadium explode with joy and demonstrates how Viola has become a mature player, capable of grabbing the match by the scruff of its neck regardless of how little he plays.

Cagliari fans dream his goals will take them to safety and today Viola, despite not being Gianfranco Zola's heir, is honouring the No 10 that Claudio Ranieri decided to entrust to him. 

Ranieri decided to extend his career by having him play a few metres further forward, widening his range of action to allow him to be free from defensive tactical set-ups. 

8 - KAMADA AND ISAKSEN ARE NOT SUITABLE PLAYERS FOR LAZIO

Daichi Kamada was immediately dusted off by Igor Tudor and placed at the centre of Lazio's tactical project after months of being on the bench. Maurizio Sarri's rejection of the Japanese star was peremptory but the current Lazio coach is trying to recover his qualities with a strong dose of patience.

If we want to imagine him as Lazio's future technician, it will be necessary to change his role because the Japanese player endures serious problems playing alongside Felipe Anderson. To date it has been a flop and the risk is that Lazio will not be able to find the right tactical balance to support his talent. 

Another player who is disappointing the expectations of the club and fans is Gustav Isaksen. In the Nice derby, Tudor initially preferred Isaksen to Luis Alberto but after 45 minutes the Croatian coach changed it - perhaps out of desperation after a mediocre first half. 

Isaksen seems like a player suited to different positions on the football pitch and by accepting offers from Italy, perhaps he has forgotten how to play in Serie A, a championship in which you need to have a great temperament and great physical intensity. 

It takes him too long to understand how to move so as not to be anticipated by Roma's defenders and perhaps he doesn't yet have the fundamentals of the Italian language to read the words of his opponents. He looks like a small goldfish in a tank of piranhas and this analogy perfectly depicts his state of crisis.

9 - SASSUOLO ARE THE REAL DISAPPOINTMENT OF SERIE A

Sassuolo is the team that has disappointed the most in Serie A this season. Davide Ballardini's team only took one point against Salernitana in a game they really needed to win if they are to stay up.

The coach is partially responsible for Sassuolo's failure because he never managed to prevent final assaults of a disorganised Salernitana. 

Nedim Bajrami is the best player on team but the defence, which has more holes in it than a French cheese, conceded two goals from worst attack in Serie A. Thirty-six goals scored and 59 conceded in 31 games is the worst return ever achieved in Serie A by a team who seriously risks returning to Serie B. 

Today, Sassuolo's position is almost desperate, considering the quality and mentality they have lacked and how few matches are left to go in the Italian championship. 

Berardi's absence due to injury complicates plans and makes the run-in even harder for a team who once had European ambitions.

10 - DAVIDE NICOLA DESERVES A STATUE 

Davide Nicola is a coach who can retrace the careers of Carlo Mazzone, Serse Cosmi, Davide Ballardini and Walter Mazzarri by pulling off a miraculous escape with a team seemingly destined to go down to Serie B.

After Empoli's 3-2 victory against Torino, a match that had great pathos and an epic ending, the players were able to erase the word 'bad luck' from their heads and replace it with the word 'courage'. 

Empoli do not boast top players like Salernitana, who are last in the table and destined for Serie B, but it has a coach so well prepared that he can make up for the absence of a true champion in this team.

Coach Nicola deserves many merits and among these is that of having improved every single player. Matteo Cancellieri and Nicolo Cambiaghi are two of his technical and tactical discoveries, in addition to the revitalisation of goalkeeper Elia Caprile and the constant growth of Liberato Cacace and Youssef Maleh, players little known until 12 months ago and today key players in Serie A and Tuscany.

The sale of Tommaso Baldanzi to Roma in the January transfer window could have worsened Empoli's quality, but the arrival of M'Baye Niang and presence of Davide Nicola on the bench has significantly improved the team's performance.