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In these last few days, the tranquility of the city of Cagliari, the paradisiacal capital of the island of Sardinia (Italy), has been tormented by football fever. Especially, of course, by Gianluca Lapadula, the forward of the Peruvian National Team, who with his important goals keeps alive the hope of the 'Rosoblu' of reaching Serie A.
The 'Inca Warrior', as he is now called, is on fire. Last Saturday, he scored a double against Venezia that has put Cagliari in the running for the promotion to Serie B. The first goal came at 14 minutes. After a series of rebounds in the opponent's area, Nández took the ball on the right wing and made a precise cross for the 'Bambino', who got between the center-backs and defeated the goalkeeper Jesse Joronen with a strong header.
But that was not all for the goal machine of coach Claudio Ranieri. And it is that 'Lapa' made himself present on the scoreboard again; then, at 18', he took advantage of an error by defender Andrea Carboni, who slipped in his attempt to take the ball, and then put the partial 2-0, which ended with a 2-1 victory for Cagliari.
So, the next challenge for the team of the Italo-Peruvian will be Parma, with Gianluigi Buffon, in the semifinals of the tournament (the first leg will be on Tuesday, May 30th at home and the second leg will take place on June 3rd away). It's worth noting that 'Lapagol' knows what it's like to 'score' against the historic 'Gigi', as he did it in the recent season, scoring the goal that reduced the deficit to 2-1.
How has 'Lapa' done against Buffon?
If we talk about numbers, despite the fact that Gianluca Lapadula scored the last time they faced each other, Gianluigi Buffon comes into the semifinals with favoritism. The Italian '1', world champion, defeated the 'Bambino' both with the Benevento jersey (1-0, in the 2021/22 season) and with the Cagliari jersey (Matchday 34, last April 24th).
But there is a good memory that 'Lapagol' never forgets, and that is when he defended the colors of AC Milan (2016/17), he won the Supercoppa Italiana against Juventus and 'Gigi'. As you may remember, although Lapadula missed his penalty, the Rossoneri reacted and won 4-3 in the penalty shootout.
Lapadula surpasses Messi
Within the small list of Peruvian footballers in Europe, Gianluca Lapadula has positioned himself as a standout figure of the 22-23 season. During the course that is coming to an end, the Cagliari forward has left his goal-scoring mark. Because with goals, he has become a vital piece for his team to qualify for the playoffs for promotion to Serie A, where they will face Parma, with Gianluigi Buffon.
In the recent regular season of Serie B, the man from the Peruvian National Team left his mark in an impressive way with the 'Rossoblu'. 'Lapa' scored 42% of his team's goals, establishing himself as the top scorer under the guidance of Claudio Ranieri. With these exceptional numbers, Depor found that the 'Bambino' has positioned himself in a select group of South American forwards who play in the most competitive leagues in Europe, whether in the first or second division.
Neymar, playing for PSG, averaged 0.65 goals per game. Although unfortunately, he had to say goodbye to the season in March due to a serious injury. In second place is Gianluca Lapadula, who has scored 0.58 goals per game, closely followed by Lautaro Martínez (Inter) with 0.56 goals per game. With an average of 0.50, in fourth place is none other than Lionel Messi, perhaps playing his last championship with the Parisian team. Rounding out the Top 5 is Paulo Dybala with 0.45 goals per game, wearing the Roma jersey.
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