Serie A Soccer
By Giulio Ricciardi
Italian Serie A Round-Up: Both reigning champions Juventus and newly outfitted Roma continue perfect starts, AC Milan and Inter Milan struggled with a draw and a loss respectively.
Roma 2 – 0 Hellas Verona:
In the first matchup of this weekend, Roma cruised to a victory over Hellas Verona, with Roma getting five wins in its first five matches. On the 38th birthday of Francesco Totti, the long time captain and icon of Roma, the team managed to score goals in the second half from both midfielder Alessandro Florenzi and striker Mattia Destro. After Florenzi broke the deadlock in the 75th minute, Destro scored a wonder goal from 40 yards out, striking the ball into the back of the net and catching the Hellas keeper off-guard. Roma continues to look fantastic this season and is mounting a title challenge in what could be their first Serie A title since the 2000-2001 season. Roma looks to follow up on this win when it takes on reigning English Premier League champions Manchester City in the Champions League on Sept. 30.
Juventus 3-0 Atalanta:
Reigning Serie A champions, Juventus continued its perfect streak of wins with an easy victory over Atalanta on Saturday. After losing former coach Antonio Conte, who led them to three straight Serie A league titles, new coach Massimiliano Allegri has gotten off to a great start. Former Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez scored two goals, one in the 35th minute and one
in the 59th minute, taking his total goal tally for this season to four goals in four Serie A games. After Juventus scored the first goal of the game, defender Giorgio Chiellini gave up a penalty to Atalanta after taking down forward Salvatore Molina in the penalty area. Juventus goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon came up big and saved the penalty kick, which prevented Atalanta from getting back into the game. Juventus sealed the deal when newly acquired striker from Real Madrid, Alvaro Morata, came off the bench to score a header. This is his first goal for the club after joining in the summer for a fee of 20 million euro. Juventus now face a tough Champions League match away from home against reigning Spanish La Liga champions Atletico Madrid on Oct. 1.
AC Milan 1-1 Cesena:
After a successful start to the season, Milan seems to have slowed down after tying a second straight game, this time to newly promoted minnows Cesena. After selling controversial striker Mario Balotelli in the summer to Liverpool for a fee of 16 million euro, the club looked for a new identity under former Milan player and new coach Pippo Inzaghi. Cesena started off with an early goal by Davide Succi to stun the Milanese giants in the first half. Milan managed to get a goal back after defender Adil Rami scored off a corner pass from midfielder Keisuke Honda. Despite Milan defender Cristian Zapata receiving a red card late in the game, Milan held on to a 1-1 draw. This result leaves Milan at 6th in the table with eight points.
Inter Milan 1-4 Cagliari
Serie A giants Inter Milan was stunned this weekend after losing to Cagliari, a team with its fair share of struggles this season. Cagliari opened up the scoring with forward Marco Sau in the first half, although Inter managed to respond through on loan striker Dani Osvaldo. However, early in the first half, Inter defender Yugo Nagotomo was sent off after receiving a harsh second yellow card. This led to an all-out frenzy from Cagliari who, led by hat-trick hero Edin Ekdal, managed to score three unanswered goals and take advantage of the 11 on 10 scenario and win the game. This leaves Inter at 5th place in the table with eight points.