There were some who believed Alessandro Del Piero was finished. He even may have thought it himself at times but he proved in Week 7 that he still has something to offer Juventus. He may not be the great champion that he once was but Alex still has the ability to be an important player for both club and country.

Del Piero hasn’t had the greatest start to the new season. After deluding for much of the last campaign due to various physical problems, he recently spent two weeks on the treatment table in a bid to resolve an Achilles tendon issue. His return to action against Bayern Munich was poor yet we saw a new player at Siena on Saturday.

Although his two goals were not the most technically difficult, it was his overall performance which pleased his many fans. They had not seen the No 10 in that sort of form for some considerable time. He was lively, full of initiative and even remembered how to dribble past opponents.

This is the Del Piero that Juventus hoped would turn up in 2004-05, especially after the sale of Fabrizio Miccoli to Fiorentina. The latter also had an excellent weekend as his double helped the Viola to a 2-2 draw at Udinese. The pint-sized attacker was easily the best player on the pitch, with his second goal simply extraordinary. Can national boss Marcello Lippi really afford to ignore him in the future?

The biggest game of Week 7 was the Milan derby – which was coincidentally also somehow won by Juventus. There may have been no goals at the San Siro but there were a host of classy individual performances. Alessandro Nesta was simply sublime in his battle against Adriano, Andrea Pirlo shined, while Kaka caused havoc with some trademark close control and turn of speed.

But credit must also go to Inter and boss Roberto Mancini whose faith in 37-year-old ‘keeper Alberto Fontana has been rewarded. He made some expert stops which only compounds the misery on first choice Francesco Toldo, a player who may have to get used to the bench this term for a little longer.

Elsewhere and Parma got their first win thanks to special strikes from Marco Marchionni and Alberto Gilardino. The latter’s chest control and volley was good but Marchionni’s scissor-kick was even better. Those two men were the Tardini’s best players even if Domenico Morfeo again illustrated just how important an element he is.

Roma were held by a solid Palermo side even if both Francesco Totti and Vincenzo Montella did everything in their power to collect the three points. Totti led by example and his free-kick, which struck the inside of both posts, was unbelievably unfortunate.

A number of players with the smaller clubs deserve praise for their efforts too. The young Riccardo Montolivo of Atalanta, Brescia ‘keeper Luca Castellazzi, Lecce’s Sasa Bjelanovic and Udinese veteran Nestor Sensini all caught the eye.

But Week 7 belonged to Juventus. Never before, since the introduction of three points for a win, have a side had such a lead at the top of the table after just seven games. The Bianconeri may have struggled for a while in Tuscany but the skill of Del Piero, plus the grand performances of Jonathan Zebina, Stephen Appiah and Emerson, still saw them collect another victory. Will anyone catch them?