Five things we learned from Serie A

Here are five things we learned in Serie A at the weekend:

Teams work harder to beat Juventus

Juventus's status as the undisputed kings of the Italian domestic game -- they have 32 Serie A titles, compared to AC Milan's 18 -- means they are loved and hated in equal measure. And rivals teams always work harder to beat them, confirmed both Massimiliano Allegri and Fiorentina coach Paulo Sousa after Fiorentina, 2-1 winners in Florence after goals from Nikola Kalinic and Milan Badelj either side of Gonzalo Higuain's 58th minute strike, became only the fourth team to beat the five-time consecutive champions this season after Inter Milan, AC Milan and Genoa. "Teams usually play the games of their lives against us, they give it more than 100 percent," complained Juve coach Allegri.

Dzeko misses spot-kick, coach demands new players

A penalty miss by Roma striker Edin Dzeko turned out not to be costly as the Serie A title challengers edged Udinese 1-0 to close to within one point of Juventus. But the close call didn't stop coach Luciano Spalletti calling the Bosnian "too soft", or using the occasion to launch a veiled call for new players. "We'll see the extent of the problem in February, amid a 40-day spell in which we'll be playing 11-12 games. If you don't have enough players, you're in trouble. If you don't have the exact number to be able to rest players, you're in trouble. When you have a number of injured and suspended players in these periods, you might not even have 11 players," said Spalletti.

Europe, not China the target for Icardi

Amid a growing exodus of top players to China's super-rich Premier League, Argentine Mauro Icardi isn't convinced. If he leaves Inter Milan to head east, it will be an end-of-career choice: "I've just renewed my contract, I'm happy to be in the Inter Milan jersey. As for China, there's always time at the end of my career." A number of top players, including Chelsea's Brazil playmaker Oscar and former Juventus striker Carlos Tevez are set to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel, who will pocket 72 million euros ($75 million) in salary at Tianjin Quanjian after signing a four-year deal from Zenit Saint Petersburg last month. Icardi, who hit the opener for Inter in a 3-1 win over Chievo that stretched his goals lead to 15 at the top of the Serie A charts, is determined to take Inter back to Europe and is linked with Inter until 2021 after joining the Nerazzurri from Sampdoria in 2013.

Berardi return a bonus for Sassuolo

The absence of influential forward Domenico Berardi coincided with Sassuolo's steady slide towards the bottom of Serie A, so coach Eusebio Di Francesco is delighted by his return, and the immediate benefits. "It was hard to be without him for four months," Di Francesco told Radio Rai after Berardi provided two assists in a 4-1 win over Palermo on his first start since August. Berardi only returned to action from a strained cruciate knee ligament during a 20-minute appearance last week as Torino held the 'Neroverdi' (Black and Greens) to a scoreless draw in Reggio Emilia, their third draw in a 19-game spell peppered with 11 defeats. Once described by former AC Milan, Italy and Real Madrid coach Arrigo Sacchi as "a modern-day forward with heaps of talent", Berardi was back to his usual best on Sunday assisted Alessandro Matri and Antonino Ragusa's goals to give the hosts a 2-1 half-time lead.

Palermo set for more turmoil

Palermo's trigger-happy president Maurizio Zamparini was said to be drawing up a plan B last week after Palermo had sunk to their 13th defeat of the season, after a 1-0 reverse at Empoli. So the fans who have grown accustomed to seeing Zamparini's systematic sacking of dozens of underperforming coaches over the years are unlikely to be surprised if Eugenio Corini gets the boot in the coming days. A 4-1 defeat at Sassuolo left Palermo third from bottom with just two wins in 20 games, but Corini, installed just before the festive break, never returned to Sicily with the squad. He was set for a face-to-face with Zamparini, a businessman from the north of Italy, on Monday to discuss the team's current crisis. Corini was preceded at Palermo earlier this season by Roberto De Zerbi and Davide Ballardini, the latter lasting only two weeks into the campaign and the former sacked following an embarrassing exit to second division La Spezia in the Italian Cup.