Italian Serie A: Matchday 2

Juventus' Miralem Pjanić (centre) celebrates his goal against Lazio with teammates.

       The Italian Serie A started last week, and their has been no drop in the action as Matchday 2 gets underway. With gasps, screams and tears, the fans have surely been enjoying the scene as much as the players themselves.

 

       Juventus faced Lazio in the opening match, but Ronaldo was yet to score in Turin as Juventus beat the Romans 2-0, with Miralem Pjanić scoring at 30' while Mario Mandžukić added the second at 75'. Juventus, winners of Serie A for the last 7 years, are now again at the top of the table with 2 wins.

       Napoli faced Milan at Stadio San Paolo, and though goals from Giacomo Bonaventura at 15' and Davide Calabria at 49' gave Milan a 2 goal lead, the Neapolitans climbed back and Piotr Zieliński scored two goals at 53' and 67' to level the playfield once again. Dries Mertens won the game for the hosts with his brilliant goal at 80', securing the second win for them and handing Milan their first loss.

       SPAL then beat Parma 1-0, with the only goal coming from Mirco Antenucci at 49'. SPAL are now one of the three teams who have won their first two matches, behind Juventus and Napoli.

       The other team from Milan, Internazionale, faced the other team from Turin, Torino, at San Siro but could only manage a draw. Inter's Ivan Perišić opened  at 6' while Stefan de Vrij made it two at 32'. But goals from Andrea Belotti at 55' and Soualiho Meïté at 68' eqaulised the hosts' hard work, and the match ended 2-2.

       Fiorentina demolished Chievo 6-1, with goals from Nikola Milenković at 8', Gerson at 42', Marco Benassi at 49' and 90', Fedrico Chiesa at 71' and Giovanni Simeone at 90+3'. Nenad Tomović scored the lone goal for Chievo, as they suffered a huge defeat in the hands of the Florentines.

       Cagliari drew 2-2 with Sassuolu, with Leonardo Pavoletti scoring the both for the hosts at 10' and 73'. The first away goal came from Domenico Berardi at 53', while Kevin-Prince Boateng scored the equaliser with a penalty at 9 minutes past normal time, to ensure that Cagliari do not get their deserved win.

        Returning to the top tier of football in Italy, Frosinone suffered defeat at the hands of Atalanta last week, and still could not win against Bologna, instead drawing the match 0-0. Neither the side produced a goalscorer, but Frosinone dominated the statistics with more shots on goal, possession and passes.

       Udinese defeated Sampdoria 1-0, with the only goal, scored by Rodrigo De Paul, coming in the first 10 minutes. Though Sampdoria had 67% possession, they could not net the ball and the rest of the match went pretty uneventful, with Udinese remaining on top till the end and getting their win.

       Genoa played Empoli at Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, winning 2-1. Krzysztof Piątek opened for Genoa at 6', and Christian Kouamé made it two at 18'. Empoli's Samuel Mráz netted one at 90+4', but it was too late and not enough to secure them a draw or a win.

       Roma then went against Atalanta, and Javier Pastore opened for them at 2'. Timothy Castagne equalised at 19', while Emiliano Rigoni scored two at 22' and 38'. Roma were lagging behind two goals, but Alessandro Florenzi and Kostas Manolas filled the gap with goals at 60' and 82' respectively, thus ending the match 3-3.