Serie A schedule was on focus this weekend, with Inter and AC Milan dueling on Saturday, in the famous Milano Derby. In the end, the victory smiled to the ‘Nerazzurri’, who keep on top of the league, above Juventus who had to sweat to beat a 10-men team of Hellas Verona.
Meanwhile, AS Roma keeps unbeaten, while Torino fell off grace. Catch on the weekend’s highlights!
Inter beats Milan rivals to continue a perfect streak
Although we saw a fairly disappointing midweek Champions League debut for Internazionale, their league form keeps perfect so far. This weekend they had the job of facing their city rivals, with whom they share a stadium: AC Milan.
The game was only decided in the second half, although Inter scored in the first one, the goal was disallowed by the video referee. D’Ambrosio was tipped offside, in a bicycle kick attempt, and the rebound goal by Lautaro Martinez didn’t count.
The second half was much more entertaining, with Marcelo Brozovic breaking the deadlock in the opening minutes. The Croatian sent a shot wide into the box, with Portuguese striker Rafael Leao deflecting the ball into his own net. A bittersweet debut for the youngster in his first Milan derby.
The ‘Rossoneri’ would soon trail by 2 when Nicolo Barella found Romelu Lukaku’s header in the center of the box. The Giant Belgian netted his 3rd of the season and his first goal in the Milanese ‘Classico’.
Inter still made Donnarumma’s goal shake one more time when Candreva sent the ball into the woodwork. The maximum that AC Milan was able to do was sending a ball into the post, courtesy of left-back Theo Hernandez.
Conte’s Inter makes it 4 wins in 4 games, with 9 goals scored and 1 goal conceded. Meanwhile, AC Milan is 9th, already having accounted for 2 losses.
Juve suffer to beat Verona
Sarri had his first game in the Allianz Arena as Juventus coach, after recovering from pneumonia, but the manager’s tactics still cast doubt over supporters. After letting a 2-0 lead over Atletico slide in the group stages of Champions League, Juventus saw themselves trailing after 20 minutes against Hellas Verona.
A calamitous sequence of events, saw Demiral committing a penalty in the box and Hellas Verona player Samuel Di Carmine sending the spot-kick into the post. In the rebound, Lazovic sent it again into the post, the ball was shot away from the area, but Verona recovered it and Portuguese veteran Miguel Veloso decided to shoot from outside the box, stunning Buffon.
1-0 and the Allianz Arena was silenced. However, 10 minutes later, Ronaldo would square it into Aaron Ramsey and the Welshman stroke it outside the area, betraying Verona’s keeper. His first goal for Juventus and an important one that brought the team back into the game.
In the reopening of the match, after the break, Juve would take the lead. Cuadrado was tripped into the box, the referee pointed at the spot and Cristiano Ronaldo (who else?) had no hesitations: 2-1.
Still, it wasn’t the end of the match and Juve saw Verona attempting 3 more dangerous shots on target. All of them, though, were denied by the rock-solid experience of Gigi Buffon.
Juve is 2nd in Serie A table, with 3 wins and 1 draw, while Hellas Verona is 13th.
Napoli too strong for Lecce
Lecce got their first win in Serie A on Monday, finishing Torino’s unbeaten run and now they hosted Napoli and tried to repeat their luck. However, coming from a 2-0 win over Liverpool in the Champions League group stages, Napoli was overly motivated, and they gave no chances to Lecce.
Llorente continued showing why Napoli signed him this window and the Spanish striker broke the deadlock in the first 20 minutes. A proper target man goal, enjoying a loose ball in the area to make it 1-0. Later, Insigne would double the lead from the penalty spot and Ancelotti’s men went for halftime with a comfortable score.
Spanish midfielder Fabian Ruiz made it 3 shortly after the interval, with a great strike from out the box. Lecce would still score a consolating goal, with Ospina unable to defend Mancosu’s penalty pick.
Despite that, they would suffer the 4th on another one from Fernando Llorente. Another loose ball and an easy finish for Napoli’s frontman.
Napoli got 9 points in 4 games, having only lost in that memorable game versus Juventus. Their attacking prowess, however, is threatening, having the high goal tally in the league.
Roma continues unbeaten in all competitions
Paulo Fonseca appointment as Roma’s coach was frown upon, by some pundits, but the Portuguese manager has been proving that he is the right man for the job. The ‘Giallorossi’ have not been beaten yet, having registered 2 wins and 2 draws in the league and a confident scoreline in their first Europa League match.
This time the team had to sweat to beat Bologna, but the victory smiled to the team who did more to win it. Bologna, is worth remembering, was unbeaten too, before this match and nearly continued their streak, if it wasn’t for Roma’s late winner.
It took until the second half for Roma to score, with Kolarov placing a perfect free-kick, that glued Bologna’s keeper to the ground. From hero to villain, Kolarov would then make a clumsy tackle on Soriano and give Bologna a chance to equalize.
Sansone made no mistake and put Bologna leveled. Later they could have got the lead if it wasn’t for Pau Lopez splendid save.
The game became harder for Roma, as Gianluca Mancini got a second yellow and a subsequent red. Still, the Gladiators did not give up and in the dieing minutes, Pellegrini sent a cross into Edin Dzeko’s head and the Bosnian clinched the win.
Roma sits 4th on the Serie A table, while Bologna dropped to 7th.
Atalanta draw after being 2 goals down
Atalanta registered a surprising defeat on their Champions League group stages debut when they lost 4×0 to Dinamo Zagreb. Now, they hosted Fiorentina, who had just stood up against Juventus in the previous weekend.
Chiesa opened the scored for Fiorentina in the early minutes of the first half, with a shot that took a deflection. The same Chiesa would later make a perfect run into the right flank, to cross it into Ribery, who scored his first official goal for Fiorentina.
It seemed settled that Atalanta would get 2 consecutive losses, but the game took a turn in the last minutes. Slovenian midfielder Ilicic would put one in for the Bergamo club in the 84th.
The drama would then intensify, with VAR having a word to say. First Atalanta equalized by Pasalic, but it was disallowed for handball. But Atalanta held on to the hope and in the last second, with every player, including the keeper, in the box, Castagne got a loose ball and looped it inside, with the home crowd going wild.
Fiorentina is now bottom of the table, with just 2 points in 4 games, while Atalanta holds on to the 6th place.
Torino falls off grace with 2 consecutive losses
One week ago we were praising Torino for having 2 consecutive wins and having a chance of equaling Inter on top. However, on Monday, they received bottom side Lecce and lost 1-2, making their positive start of the season suddenly fly away.
It would be just a minor point in their run if they hadn’t lost once again this weekend. And once again they lost to a team who had yet no points until this match. This time was Sampdoria, who came from 3 consecutive defeats.
Gabbiadini scored the only goal of the game, with the keepers of both teams being the main protagonists with spectacular saves: 1-0.
Immobile gives Lazio their second win of the season
Lazio had just come from two consecutive defeats – one to SPAL in the league and one on Thursday to Cluj, for Europa League group stages. The Romans need badly to get a win and Immobile made sure they took the lead after only 8 minutes, against Parma.
In the Olimpico, Lazio dominated the game and the result was never in doubt. Marusic was the author of the second goal, in a close-range effort after a Milinkovic-Savic pass. Lazio won 2-0, climbing 5th and sending Parma to the 15th position.
Wins for Cagliari, SPAL and Brescia
In the opening fixture of Serie A weekend, Cagliari hosted and defeated Genoa. The Sardinia team got their first goal of the night seconds after the restart of the second half, with Giovanni Simeone netting a header, from a Ionita’s cross.
However, in the last minutes of the match, Kouame would score his 3rd goal of the season, to put Genoa leveled. Only for Genoa’s Cristian Zapata to reestablish Cagliari’s lead, putting the ball into his own net.
Three minutes later, with Genoa team fully on the attack, Joao Pedro run an empty field to put the ball easily past the opponent’s keeper and make the final score. 3-1, with Cagliari now on the 12th place and Genoa on the 14th.
Meanwhile, promoted side Brescia got their second win of the season, on a 0-1 victory over Udinese. The Udine team are now in 3 consecutive defeats, after their inaugural win over AC Milan.
Romulo was the author of Brescia’s single goal, with a shot at the 57th minute that flew low and deflected into the back of the net. Brescia holds on to the 10th place with this result, while Udinese drops to the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, in the remaining match of the weekend, Sassuolo received SPAL and won 3-0. SPAL had just come from their first win of the season, against Lazio, but they were numb to stop Sassuolo’s fast pace counter-attack.
Francesco Caputo scored a brace in the first half, with Alfred Duncan placing the final nail in the coffin. 3-0 and Sassuolo moving to 11th place, while SPAL drops to 16th.
There is more Serie A already tomorrow, with midweek clashes opposing leaders Inter to Lazio. Stay tuned!
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