11 September 2011

JUVENTUS 4 (Lichtsteiner 17, Pepe 58, Vidal 73, Marchisio 83)
PARMA 1 (Giovinco 92 Pen)

Lichtsteiner had the honour of scoring the first goal proper at Juve's new stadium, whatever it will be named. Pirlo made it with a lovely pass after turning Morrone inside out, with a super first touch the Swiss international dropped Mirante before applying an assured finish. The old lady's old men were pulling the strings, Matri slammed a shot off the inside of a post after Del Piero released him with a glorious crossfield pass and he played in Pepe for Juve's second. Vidal announced his arrival to Italian football within two minutes of replacing an out of sorts Krasic. Vucinic hammered a shot against a defender, Vidal juggled the ball off his chest, leapt in the air and sent a spectacular mid-air volley into the bottom left corner. Marchisio ran between two defenders onto an absolutely marvellous Pirlo pass and jumped to flick a volley over Mirante. Beautiful goal. De Ceglie was sent off for running through Giovinco and for the third successive game he scored against his former club.

Great stadium but the pitch needs a lot of work.

Attendance : 40,000
Red Card : De Ceglie 91 (Juventus)
Assists : Pirlo, Del Piero, n/a, Pirlo


CATANIA 0
SIENA 0

Attendance : 13,223
Assists : n/a


CHIEVO 2 (Pellissier 5, Thereau 24)
NOVARA 2 (Marianini 27, Paci 85)

A stirring fight back earned new boys Novara a hard earned point at Chievo. Thereau brushed aside Porcari as he ran into the box and centred for Pellissier to tap in at the back post. Thereau added a second on the break, his miss-hit shot looped over Ujkani in the Novara goal. Marianini, a classic Italian name, shot a Morimoto lay-off straight at Sorrentino but he fumbled the ball into his own net. Sardo was sent off for going in two footed on Jeda. Despite being a man down Chievo were still creating chances but unfortunately they both fell to Davide 'The Undertaker' Moscardelli, his second from six yards, was so horrific a women screamed as the ball flashed over the bar. Chievo paid the price when Paci headed the visitors level from a corner.

Attendance : 7,000
Red Card : Sardo 72 (Chievo)
Assists : Thereau, Hetemaj, Morimoto, Pinardi (ck)


FIORENTINA 2 (Gilardino 20, Cerci 47)
BOLOGNA 0

Gilardino gave Fiorentina the lead with a super header from a Pasquale cross. The full back also had a hand in the second. He fired in a low centre after collecting a pass from Lazzari, Jovetic stole the ball off Gilardino, pulled it back and Cerci slammed a shot in off the underside of the crossbar. Gilardino was sent through on goal but wastefully shot at Gillet. Diamanti rattled the inside of the left post with an outrageous free kick.

Attendance : 20,040
Assists : Pasquale, Jovetic


GENOA 2 (Veloso 6, Mesto 54)
ATALANTA 2 (Moralez 8, Moralez 43)

Palacio, who with all due respect to Genoa should be playing for one of the top clubs in the World, was inevitably involved in Genoa's goal. He ran onto a longball and dribbled into the box as his marker backed off, he rolled a center to Veloso and with a gentle shot he touched the ball wide of Consigli. Frey spilled from Cigarini, he's always had a weakness from distance, and Moralez snared the rebound. In this insanely open match, which could have easily finished 4-4, Moralez gave the visitors a shock half time lead. Denis held up a ball and held off Bovo as Atalanta countered from their own box, he sent Moralez racing clear and the Argentinean waited for Frey to commit before shooting into an empty net. Mesto punished Lucchini's dreadful headed clearance to equalise. Birsa was sent off for a foul on Denis and the big striker botched a chance at the death. A win would have been hard on Genoa.

Attendance : 19,917
Red Card : Birsa
Assists : Palacio, n/a, Denis, n/a


LECCE 0
UDINESE 2 (Basta 2, Di Natale 16)

This was the most routine victory of the weekend. Basta, which means stop in Italian, slammed in the first goal of the campaign as the Lecce defence ball watched a cross bounce in the box. Torje failed to get purchase as he shot on the turn but Di Natale swivelled to beat Julio Sergio from close range.

Attendance : 8,500
Assists : Pasquale, Torje


ROMA 1 (De Rossi 97)
CAGLIARI 2 (Conti 68, El-Kabir 94)

Jose Angel headed a cross against Conti and for the fourth time in his career the son of former Roma great, Bruno 'The Dwarf' Contini, scored against his father's club. The Spanish youngster overran a ball then lashed out at Biondini to cap a miserably debut with a red card. El Kabir, a summer arrival from Mjallaby, raced onto a ball down the right flank, cut inside the box as Burdisso looked nervously for back-up and fired low past Stekelenburg. De Rossi scored at the death after Agazzi spilled a Totti free kick.

Roma were woeful. I thought we would have to wait for their first away game for it to go tits up.

Attendance : 45,000
Red Card : Jose Angel 69 (Roma)
Assists : n/a, Nainggolan, n/a


PALERMO 4 (Miccoli 48, Hernandez 54, Miccoli 86 fk, Pinilla 88)
INTER 3 (Milito 33, Milito 51 Pen, Forlan 91)

An opportunistic piece of finishing got the ball rolling in this wild encounter. Stankovic tired his luck from the edge of the box and Milito, with his back to goal, flicked out a foot to re-direct the ball past a wrong footed Tzorvas. Miccoli got between FOUR Inter players as Barreto knocked a ball over the top, a great first touch took him clear of Lucio and Julio Cesar dropped to his knees as the ball hit the back of the net. Silvestre hauled down Samuel to concede the penalty. A fantastic goal saw Palermo draw level three minutes later. Ilicic played a one-two with Hernandez as he made one of his trademark forward runs, he delayed his pass until Miccoli angled a run between two defenders and Hernandez tapped his first time centre past Julio Cesar. The Brazilian goalkeeper made last gasp saves from Miccoli and Ilicic as the home side tore through the Inter midfield but could do nothing as Miccoli blasted a phenomenal right footed free kick inside the left post. Pinilla made it 4-2 with an equally brilliant strike, a thumping 25 yard drive from wide left of goal. Amazing. An angry looking Forlan pulled down a lovely Sneijder pass to open his Serie A account.

I know it's week one but this has to be one of the games of the season.

Attendance : 36,000
Assists : Stankovic, Barreto, Samuel (won pen), Miccoli, Silvestre (won fk), n/a, Sneijder


10 September 2011

CESENA 1 (Guana 24)
NAPOLI 3 (Lavezzi 3, Campagnaro 66, Hamsik 87)

Campagnaro launched a throw-in 40 yards into the Cesena box and Lavezzi spun onto the ball before beating Ravaglia from close range. After Maggio flashed a volley wide of the left post the hosts equalised. Guana got a touch to Eder's center, De Sanctis should have saved but fumbled the ball into his own net. Benalouane was sent off for a blatant handling offence. Napoli worked a short corner and Campagnaro turned in Hamsik's clever first time pass. Maggio centred to leave Pandev with an open goal but he hit the bar from six yards out. Shocking miss. Still Napoli continued to create chances almost at will and Hamsik got hold of a hurried clearance to absolutely hammer home the third.

Attendance : 20,942
Red Card : Benalouane 55 (Cesena)
Assists : Campagnaro (throw-in), Eder, Hamsik, n/a


9 September 2011

MILAN 2 (Ibrahimovic 29, Cassano 33)
LAZIO 2 (Klose 12, Cisse 21)

Both Lazio goals came down Milan's left side, the hopeless Antonini (Zambrotta was rested and Taiwo is injured) failed to get tight on Mauri as he chested down a goal kick and chipped a ball between Nesta and Silva, Klose flicked the ball inside Nesta with his right and fired wide of Abbiati with his left. Excellent finish. Cisse got the jump on Nesta to head in a Mauri cross. A player as mediocre as Cisse should not be scoring goals against the champions of any league. Cassano played a give and go with Aquilani and Ibrahimovic tapped in his centre. Cassano headed in the equaliser from an Aquilani corner. Lazio showed little ambition in the second half. Cassano bounced a shot wide of the right post and saw another rebound off the left. Nesta, who was obviously now taking Cisse seriously, made a great clearance to deny the Frenchman. As usual Pato fluffed his lines, blazing over an Ibrahimovic knock down.

Attendance : 48,543
Assists : Mauri, Mauri, Cassano, Aquilani (ck)