Good start for Milan sides
Inter and Milan got off to a good start yesterday with identical 3-0 wins against Fiorentina and Crotone respectively.
The new-look Inter got off to a great start, beating a revolutionised Fiorentina 3-0 with an early Mauro Icardi brace and Ivan Perisic.
Luciano Spalletti chose several of the summer signings to start, including ex-Viola men Borja Valero and Matias Vecino.
It was captain Icardi who made the difference, earning and converting a penalty – awarded using VAR technology – and nodding in the second.
Perisic sealed the scoreline after the break, as Stefano Pioli has a lot of work to do, even though Giovanni Simeone hit the woodwork on his debut.
Milan tore 10-man Crotone to shreds with Patrick Cutrone, Franck Kessie and Suso, but the hosts saw red after just four minutes.
The game was without doubt changed when Federico Ceccherini saw red for bringing down Cutrone and Kessie converted the resulting penalty.
Teenager striker Cutrone, who has been linked with a loan move to Crotone, was inspirational and nodded in a second.
He then set up the third goal for Suso and the game was to all intents and purposes over by halftime.
Newly-promoted Spal had the best chances and clipped the woodwork, holding Lazio to a surprise goalless draw.
The Aquile fell back down to earth a week after beating Juventus 3-2 for the Italian Super Cup.
Simone Inzaghi’s men found themselves nullified by minnows Spal at the Stadio Olimpico and, if anything, the visitors went closest with Federico Viviani clipping the upright.
Adem Ljajic wiped out a splendid Federico Di Francesco opener, but Torino had a late goal controversially disallowed in Bologna.
The Stadio Dall’Ara was host to the first contentious use of the VAR technology in its debut Serie A season.
Di Francesco had put Bologna in front with his half-volley into the far top corner and Ljajic’s sudden snapshot took Antonio Mirante by surprise.
However, late on the Granata thought they had the winner with Tomas Rincon, but it was disallowed for offside even though Mattia Destro appeared to have the final touch.
VAR cannot be used on an offside leading up to a goal and the linesman had already raised his flag, when he should've let the move finish before checking the footage.
Roma's new era without Francesco Totti got off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory at Atalanta in Serie A yesterday.
This is the first season in 25 years that Roma has been without Totti, who retired at the end of the last campaign.
It was also the capital club's first match under new coach Eusebio Di Francesco.
Aleksandar Kolarov, who was signed from Manchester City in July, scored a half-hour into his debut, sending a cheeky free kick under the wall and into the bottom right corner.
Atalanta almost leveled three minutes from time but Josip Ilicic hit Papu Gomez's cross onto the right post from almost on the goalline.
Saturday Juventus-Cagliari ........................... 3-0 Mandzukic 12’, Dyabala 45+1’, Higuain 66’ Verona-Napoli ............................... 1-3 Souprayen 32’ og (N), Milik 39’ (N), Ghoulam 62’ (N), Pazzini 86’ pen (V) Yesterday Atalanta-AS Roma .......................... 0-1 Kolarov 31 Bologna-Torino .............................. 1-1 Di Francesco (B) 27, Ljajic (T) 34 Crotone-AC Milan .......................... 0-3 Kessie 6 pen, Cutrone 18, Suso 24 Inter-Fiorentina ............................. 3-0 Icardi 6 pen, 15, Perisic 79 Lazio-Spal ...................................... 0-0 Sampdoria-Benevento ................... 2-1 Ciciretti (B) 15, Quagliarella (S) 39, 54 Sassuolo-Genoa ............................. 0-0 Udinese-Chievo ............................. 1-2 Inglese (C) 15, Thereau (U) 37, Birsa (C) 54
Standings
Inter Juventus AC Milan Napoli Sampdoria Chievo AS Roma Bologna Spal Lazio Torino Sassuolo Genoa Udinese Benevento Atalanta Verona Crotone Fiorentina Cagliari P 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 W 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 L 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 F 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 A Pts 0 3 0 3 0 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 0 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 3 0
SPAIN