ITALY: Serie A – Week 1 Round-up | WORLD FOOTBALL WEEKLY

SERIE A – WEEK 1

HELLAS VERONA 2 – 1 AC MILAN

Arguably the most surprising result of the opening weekend saw Hellas Verona take all three points from AC Milan as a double from Luca Toni cancelled out Andrea Poli’s 14th minute opener. It looked like it was going to be a stroll in the park for AC Milan when Andrea Poli gave the Rosseneri a 14th minute lead following good link-up with Mario Balotelli. But two Luca Toni headers – one coming in the first half the other in the second – gave Hellas Verona a brilliant win.

SAMPDORIA 0 – 1 JUVENTUS

Summer signing Carlos Tevez marked his Serie A debut with the winning goal for Juventus as the champions kicked off their title defence with a 1-0 win over Sampdoria. The Argentinian striker scored a close range finish which earned Juventus all three points in Genoa.

INTERNAZIONALE 2 – 0 GENOA

Walter Mazzari started his reign as the new Inter coach with an unconvincing 2-0 win over Genoa. Inter had to wait till the 75th minute for the opening goal which came from Yuto Nagatomo’s slightly fortunate finish. Rodrigo Palacio’s goal in the 90th minute secured Inter their three points.

NAPOLI 3 – 0 BOLOGNA

Rafael Benitez’s Napoli, sent a message to fellow title contenders with a great 3-0 win over Bologna. Jose Callejon opened the score for Napoli with a right footed shot from the centre of the box on his debut. Right before half time, Marek Hamsik scored from an awkward angle to make it 2-0. Napoli’s captain struck again in the 63rd minute with a right footed shot from outside the box to cap a brilliant performance from the Azzurri.

LAZIO 2 – 1 UDINESE

Lazio edged out a hard-fought battle as they beat Udinese 2-1. Hernanes gave Lazio the lead in the 13th minute. Three minutes later Lazio were awarded a penalty after Ivan Kelava brought Miroslav Klose down in the penalty box. Antonio Candreva stepped up to take it and slotted it comfortably. Luis Muriel’s 60th minute goal proved nothing more than a consolation for Udinese.

ROMA 2 – 0 LIVORNO

Rudi Garcia’s first game in charge of Roma in the Serie A went pretty well as goals from Daniele De Rossi and Alessandro Florenzi secured a 2-0 win over Livorno.

TORINO 2 – 0 SASSUOLO

Torino also won their opening game following a 2-0 victory over Sassuolo. Goals from Matteo Brighi and Alessio Cerci gave the newly promoted club, Sassuolo, their first ever defeat in their Serie A history.

CAGLIARI 2 – 1 ATALANTA

Cagliari came from behind at home to Atalanta to seize a 2-1 victory. Guglielmo Stendardo opened the score for the visitors after 27 minutes, but Atalanta didn’t lead for long with Radja Nainggolan’s goal a minute later. Matias Cabrera scored the winner in the 63rd minute to hand all three points to Cagliari.

PARMA 0 – 0 CHIEVO VERONA

Parma and Chievo Verona played out a boring goalless draw in a low key start to the campaign for both teams.

FIORENTINA 2 – 1 CATANIA

La Viola opened their Serie A account in style, with a 2-1 win over Catania. Giuseppe Rossi gave Fiorentina the lead in the 14th minute when he controlled Juan Cuadrado’s sharp cross and tucked home his first goal for La Viola. However, Catania didn’t wait long for an equalizer after Pablo Barrientos capitalized from a David Pizarro mistake in the 22nd minute. Six minutes later Pizarro payed for his mistake by scoring the winner and giving La Viola all three points.

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