Aside from Cagliari’s upset of Juventus, it was business as usual in the Italian top flight, though the elite teams had to work for their three points.

By Vincent Lai

The Isolani have to be the darling of round 14, with Nene the star of the show as the Rossoblu climbed to a nose-bleed high at seventh place.

Sebastien Frey - Fiorentina

The French custodian was unlucky to be on the losing end after having a blinder of a match against reigning champions Inter Milan. Frey pulled world class saves out of the hat as he denied Diego Milito's deflected shot, palmed away Lucio's freekick, and stood tall as he shut out Samuel Eto'o's one-on-one attempt. He could do nothing to stop Milito's penalty five minutes from time though.

Javier Zanetti - Inter Milan

The man does not age! Zanetti was played on his more-favoured right-back position on Sunday, and proceeded to shackle the in-form Juan Manuel Vargas, while maintaining his attacking flair when Inter was on the attack. The Argentine full-back ran from start to finish and never seemed to tire from the constant hustle and bustle down the right flank.

Walter Samuel - Inter Milan

The Argentine centre-back shut down the prolific Alberto Gilardino in Inter's clash with Fiorentina. Samuel patrolled his area well, and was unlucky to have a goal disallowed in the 51^st minute as the referee had judged him to have fouled Dario Dainelli as both players went for the ball.

Diego Lopez - Cagliari

The veteran centre-back produced one of his best performances as the Islanders upset the Bianconeri on Sunday. Lopez led the backline with gusto and rendered Amauri ineffective in the David-vs-Goliath bout.

Domenico Criscito - Genoa

The in-form Italian left-back played his heart out as the Rossoblu hammered Sampdoria 3-0 on Saturday. Criscito bombed down the left flank constantly, supporting the Genoa midfielders, and defended extremely well, getting under Antonio Cassano's skin for the whole game.

Simone Perrotta - AS Roma

The Roma midfield enforcer showed his class and determination in the Lupi's comeback win over Atalanta. Perrotta covered a lot of ground during the match, and even came away from the game with the winning goal as he leapt to meet Mirko Vucinic's cross in the 64^th minute.

Ronaldinho - AC Milan

The Brazilian maestro is slowly, but surely, regaining his best form as he featured prominently in Milan's forays into the Catania penalty area. 'Dinho almost scored from a curling corner late in the game, as the ball rebounded off the crossbar and back into play.

Omar Milanetto - Genoa

Milanetto was at the heart of all of Genoa's attacks, and played Marco Rossi in for the Rossoblu's second in the Derby della Lanterna. The defensive midfielder also grabbed a goal in the 3-0 rout of Sampdoria as he scored from the penalty spot after Reto Ziegler was adjudged to have pushed Rodrigo Palacio in the box.

Nene - Cagliari

The 26-year-old Brazilian striker is part of this list after his stunning missile from outside the area beat Gianluigi Buffon to give the Islanders the lead in the 30^th minute of their 2-0 upset over Juventus.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan

Huntelaar came on in the 84^th minute as Leonardo gambled on his Dutch striker to secure all three points for the Rossoneri, and boy did the hitman respond, scoring twice in stoppage time to give Milan a last-gasp win.

Mirko Vucinic - AS Roma

The Roma striker put in a remarkable performance for the Giallorossi as Roma battled back from a goal down to beat Atalanta 2-1. Vucinic scored from a David Pizarro corner, nodding the ball past Andrea Consigli, and supplied the cross for Perrotta to score in the 64^th minute.