What we learnt from Serie A

Seven-times reigning champions Juventus have 46 points from 16 games, eight points ahead of last year's runners-up Napoli, with Inter Milan a further six points back in third.

Here are five things we learned from Serie A this weekend:

Ronaldo marks another milestone

Cristiano Ronaldo set another milestone when he scored Juventus' 5000th Serie A goal with his penalty against Torino. "Important victory, historical milestone... 5000 Times Juve!," the 33-year-old wrote on social media after the game. Ronaldo has scored in his last six away games and has 11 Serie A goals as unbeaten Juventus continue their march towards an eighth consecutive league title. Juventus' first top flight goal dates back to 1929 in a 3-2 win over Napoli.

Roma relief

Bryan Cristante scored the winning goal for Roma midway through the second half in a 3-2 win over Genoa to ease the pressure on his side amid protests from the fans following a poor run of form.

"This win is definitely a massive boost," Cristante said. "Sometimes the confidence suffers when you have a bad spell. You have to get that back if you want to kick on."

Coach Eusebio Di Francesco said he understood the frustration of fans who staged a silent protest in the first ten minutes.

"There was a kind of protest and we know that it's our fault that it's come to this. It wasn't easy for our players."

"There were lots of mistakes in terms of both tactics and technique tonight, but in terms of emotion that was the performance I wanted to see."

Milik shakes off penalty miss

Arkadiusz Milik shook off his missed penalty against Liverpool which contributed to Napoli's Champions League exit last week with the perfect free kick to get past Cagliari 1-0 in Serie A.

"I'm happy for Milik because he is a smart guy, a point of reference for the group, an element that always works with great seriousness and knows how to manage everything with great balance both in difficult and in the most favourable moments," said coach Carlo Ancelotti.

The 24-year-old Polish forward has scored four goals in his last three league games for a total of eight in 14 games this season compared to five in each of the two previous seasons.

Icardi prefectly unpredictable

Luciano Spalletti called Mauro Icardi "the perfect centre-forward" after the Inter Milan skipper scored the only goal in a win over Udinese but the Argentine insisted he relished being unpredictable.

Icardi slotted in after 76 minutes at the San Siro with a cheeky 'Panenka' into the centre of goal for a 1-0 win for his third-placed team over Udinese.

"I decided to mix it up a bit," said the 25-year-old after his 120th goal for the club. 

"I knew that the goalkeeper had studied me so I decided to take it like that, but all that matters is that it went in."

Simeone silences his critics

Giovanni Simeone scored his second goal in as many games as Fiorentina got back to winning ways with a 3-1 win over Empoli after six weeks without a victory.

Simeone -- son of Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone -- put his finger to his lips while looking towards the Fiorentina ultras after pulling his side ahead on the hour mark.

"I prefer other kinds of celebration," said coach Stefano Pioli.

"These kids may be young and carefree, but they are not irresponsible. We all felt troubled, because our last victory was all the way back in September.

"Conceding first was the biggest risk but we reacted wonderfully."