Serie A Team of the Week: Round 18 - Milito & Zanetti inspire Inter to priceless Milan derby triumph

Goal.com picks the best performers from Italy's top flight as a total of four players from Claudio Ranieri's squad feature in our Best XI following the defeat of their city rivals

Jan 17, 2012 8:00:00 AM

More On :  Bologna, Cagliari, Cesena, FC Internazionale, Genoa, Juventus
Serie A

Team Of The Week:

Round 18

Table/Results

GOALKEEPER

Sebastien FREY
Genoa
TOTW Apps: 1
Genoa rebounded from two recent heavy losses to Napoli and Cagliari with a 3-2 win over Udinese at the Marassi. Frey may have been helpless on the two goals by the visitors, but the Frenchman guaranteed a morale-boosting victory with some fantastic saves, including denying Antonio Floro Flores' close range volley during the first half and a Giampiero Pinzi piledriver late in the match.
DEFENDERS

Stephan LICHTSTEINER
Juventus
TOTW Apps: 3
Mikael ANTONSSON
Bologna
TOTW Apps: 1
Walter SAMUEL
 Inter 
  TOTW Apps: 1 


Yuto NAGATOMO
Inter
TOTW Apps: 1
The Bianconeri were pegged back by Cagliari on home soil, however Lichtsteiner's performance, full of guile and drive down the right side, was a positive feature of their display with the Switzerland international also assisting Mirko Vucinic's early goal. In Naples, former Copenhagen centre-back Antonsson was impressive in the air and on the ground against Edinson Cavani and Co, helping his side to a precious point on the road. Inter won the derby with a resolute defensive display and Samuel and Nagatomo were key contributors. The Argentine clearly the victor in his challenge with Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a no-nonsense approach, while the Japanese left-back contributed both in defence and going forward.

MIDFIELDERS

Javier ZANETTI
Inter
TOTW Apps: 2
Michael BRADLEY
Chievo
TOTW Apps: 1
Andrea COSSU
Cagliari
TOTW Apps: 2
Thirty-eight-year-old Zanetti was the Goal.com Player of the Week after his man-of-the-match worthy display versus AC Milan. The veteran had an incredible output during the 90 minutes and his tireless running also created the lone goal of the match. Nicknamed 'General Bradley' in Italy, the USA international showed why that is the case as he dominated the centre of the pitch against Palermo, recovering the ball countless times in front of the backline and sparking counter attacks for the Flying Donkeys. Something special is typically needed to beat Gianluigi Buffon these days, and Cossu certainly produced a vicious strike to beat the 2006 World Cup winner in Turin and ensure his side left with a point.

FORWARDS

Rodrigo PALACIO
Genoa
TOTW Apps: 1
Diego MILITO
Inter
TOTW Apps: 2
Adrian MUTU
Cesena
TOTW Apps: 2
The return of Palacio from injury proved pivotal for new Genoa boss Pasquale Marino. The former Boca Juniors star's presence added a lively spark to the Grifoni's attack and he also scored the winner to decide the contest against Udinese, his seventh goal of the season. Milito once again exhibited his knack for scoring against the Rossoneri, bagging the goal that could potentially reignite the Scudetto hopes of Ranieri's team after pouncing on Ignazio Abate's error and expertly finishing past goalkeeper Christian Abbiati.

Finally, the Mutu-show continues to give the Seahorses hope of avoiding the drop this season as they won a relegation dogfight against Novara after the Romanian scored a brace, striking from close range before procuring and dispatching a penalty during a favourable 3-1 result.

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