5 Best goalkeepers in Serie A this season (2020-21)
The 2020-21 Serie A campaign has finally come to an end and saw Internazionale lift their first Scudetto in a decade.
The Italian top-flight was completely and utterly dominated by Turin giants Juventus as they won nine successive league titles. Quite poetically, their dominance was brought to an end by the same man who kickstarted it in the first place, Antonio Conte.
The former Bianconero switched allegiances by moving to Inter for two years and getting them to a league title and a UEFA Europa League final.
Another impressive storyline in Serie A was the re-emergence of AC Milan, who had a remarkable campaign. Despite their campaign derailing in the second half of the season, they still managed to return to the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over half a decade.
2020-21 wasn't a particularly memorable campaign for Italian defences as a whole, given that 18 of the 20 sides conceded over 40 goals. In fact, four of these teams conceded over the 70-goal mark, with Crotone letting in 92 (!) goals.
However, some goalkeepers have still had great campaigns in Italy and have been of great importance to their side. On that note, here is a look at the five best goalkeepers in Serie A this season.
#5 Emil Audero | Sampdoria
Emil Audero kicks off this list after the his busy campaign in goal for Sampdoria. The 24-year-old who rose through the ranks at Juventus' academy moved to the Blucerchiati back in early 2019 on an initial loan with a subsequent €20m fee. He grew in stature at the Luigis Ferrari and became one of the most impressive young keepers in Italy.
Audero conceded 54 goals in his 37 games, 11 fewer than what he did last season. This, admittedly, is a lot, averaging just under 1.5 goals conceded per game. However, he doesn't have a particularly strong defence ahead of him and he's still managed a superb 71.5 save percentage. This is quite a remarkable figure, taking the quality of the individuals in their defence into account.
Audero dealt with 117 of the 165 shots he faced. The Indonesian-born keeper also saved two penalties out of the nine he faced, the joint-highest in the league. At just 24 years of age, he's one to keep an eye on.
#4 Mattia Perin | Genoa
Mattia Perin moved to Juventus back in 2018 has endured a challenging time in Turin. With game time hard to come by, he returned to his boyhood club Genoa on a loan deal, and he's been in excellent form. Il Grifone just about managed to survive in the top division last season as they ended the campaign in 17th place. This season, Genoa finished in 11th place, conceding 15 fewer goals than in 2019-20.
Perin has been one of the major reasons for this commendable improvement in Serie A. The 28-year-old boasts the highest save percentage (75.3) of any keeper to start at least 25 games in the league.
The on-loan Juventus man saved 112 of the 150 shots he has faced on target this season. He's been in excellent form, and it remains to be seen if Perin remains at Marassi after the expiry of his loan spell.
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