Maurizio Sarri has a disappointing debut
Maurizio Sarri’s first game with Juventus wasn’t as he had envisioned. It was a very disappointing team effort which resulted in many costly errors and, fortunately for the Bianconeri, didn’t cost them the win. Frank Ribery had a strong performance for Fiorentina creating chances throughout the game.
In the 41st minute of the game, Frank Ribery delivered a nice pass to Dalbert, who was unable to head in the lead goal. Wojciech Szczesny made a brilliant save to keep the game at 0-0 near half time. Fiorentina continued their pressure on the defending Serie A champions as Dalbert, once again, had a chance at the 52nd minute. Dalbert had a nice shot from the left side, but the goalkeeper made another great save.
Most opportunities came the Viola’s way, yet they were unable to capitalize. As for Juventus, it was a poor performance with hardly any chances and, overall, a game which they will want to forget. Injuries continued to pile up for the Bianconeri as they lost Danilo, Douglas Costa and Miralem Pjanic in this game and could be without these players in their first Champions League game. It was a good performance from the Viola and they got their first points of the season with a 0-0 draw.
Stefano Sensi is the difference-maker against Udinese
Stefano Sensi’s goal at the 44th minute was the difference for Inter as they won 1-0 against Udinese. While being a man up half the game after a red card from Rodrigo De Paul in the 33rd minute, Inter Milan didn’t look very convincing as they did not take advantage of their opportunities and struggled to get a rhythm in the game. The game started off well for Inter as, in the fifth minute, Matteo Politano had space midfield and carried the ball up, taking a nice shot outside the box to beat the goalie but was denied by the post.
At the 25th minute, Udinese got their first chance of the game from De Paul on a nice set piece off a free-kick. He delivered the ball nicely into the box which was headed from Walace to Nicholas Opoku but is just headed wide.
At the 33rd minute, the game took a turn as Video Audio Review needed to be used. After Antonio Candreva pointed his finger in the face of the midfielder, De Paul slapped the defender in the face. Upon further review from VAR, he was given a straight red card.
Udinese played with 11 men and Inter made it count at the 44th minute as Stefano Sensi delivered a nice goal. The midfielder made a nice run into the box, behind the defensive centre player, and headed in a beautiful pass from Diego Godin to take the lead in the game. In the second half, Udinese had limited chances while Alexis Sanchez made his Inter debut looking strong in the game. The Nerazzurri left the game with a 1-0 victory.
Atalanta scores late winner to beat Genoa
Neither side found the back of the net until the 64th minute when a penalty kick was awarded to Atalanta. The away side made it count as Luis Muriel opened the scoring, making it 1-0. While Atalanta had the most chances in this game, they were the unfortunate side as another penalty kick was awarded, this time to Genoa. Domenico Criscito converted, however, shortly afterwards at the 95th minute, Duvan Zapata scored from outside the box with a beautiful strike of the ball off the crossbar and into the net. Atalanta gained three crucial points.
SPAL Upsets Lazio
Lazio started with most of the possession their way and chances created by Felipe Caicedo and Lucas Leiva. Early in the game, VAR was needed for further review of a handball from Nenad Tomovic inside the penalty area. Lazio was awarded a penalty shot and Ciro Immobile made no mistake capitalizing and scoring his third goal of the season.
After taking the lead, Lazio had chances from Luis Alberto and Felipe Caicedo, who hit the post, but the Biancocesete failed to capitalize on their chances and gave SPAL a chance to come back into this game. At the 63rd minute of the game, SPAL equalized off a corner kick, which Andrea Petagna kicked into the back of the net.
The game was tied at 1-1 until injury time when SPAL converted on a counter-attack. Ex-Lazio player Alessandro Murgia sent the ball to the right side to Federico Di Francesco, who then passed to the middle to Gabriel Strefezza, whose shot went off the defender and went to Jasmin Kurtic, who scored and gave SPAL the win. It was a very disappointing result and effort from the Biancoceleste as they let three points slip away.
Key Results
Elsewhere, Brescia lost a 3-1 lead after Daniele Dessena was sent off for two yellow cards. This sparked a comeback by Bologna, who came back to win 4-3.
Cagliari got their first win of the season surprisingly beating Parma 3-1 which featured a lot of VAR throughout the game.
Napoli won 2-0 against Sampdoria with both goals from Dries Mertens. The team delivered a strong performance and Kalidou Koulibaly rebounded with a strong performance, after his unfortunate mistake against Juventus in his previous game.
Roma got four first-half goals against Sassuolo and the Giallorossi won the game 4-2. Eden Dzeko delivered a strong performance, scoring two goals and helping Roma with the win.
AC Milan were up a man most of the game against Hellas Verona but needed a penalty kick goal from Krzysztof Piatek to win 1-0.
The final game of the week saw Torino at home versus Lecce. Lecce won the game 2-1 in the 73rd minute with a goal from Mario Mancosu denying Torino first place with Inter Milan in the standings while collecting their first three points of the season.