AC Milan ended their losing streak in superb fashion against the early pacesetters of Serie A, whilst there was also a much-needed win for Roma, and Inter Milan return to the head of the table.
Having lost their opening two games of the new campaign Milan were desperate to get off the mark, and they did so with a crushing 4-1 win over Lazio who travelled to the San Siro with a 100% record. Despite Mauro Zarate continuing his fine start to life in Italy when he equalised Clarence Seedorf’s opener, Carlo Ancelotti’s side hit back with goals from Gianluca Zambrotta, Alexandre Pato and Kaka.
Another side who were looking for their first win of the season was Luciano Spalletti’s Roma, and the Giallarossi finally got this with a 3-0 win over Reggina on Saturday night. Cristian Panucci and Alberto Aquilani struck to give the home side a cushion with 40 minutes still on the clock, before Simon Perrotta gave a flattering feel to the scoreline with an injury time third.
The other game on Saturday featured Walter Zenga’s Catania, who racked up their second win of the season with a 1-0 win at home to Atalanta, courtesy of a Michele Paolucci goal on 59 minutes. This result actually put the Rossazzurri at the top of the table for 24 hours, before Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan made light work of defeating Torino in Turin. Already ahead through a 23rd minute own-goal, the champions added to their tally through Maicon and Zlatan Ibrahimovic before Elvis Abbruscato replied.
Many pundits predicted Inter’s main challenge this season to come from Claudio Ranieri’s Juventus, and Bianconeri are level on points with the Nerazzurri after Amauri scored the only goal of the game in Cagliari, who have made a terrible start to the season and are still looking for their first point following three straight defeats. Apart from the top two, the only other unbeaten side in Italy is Napoli, but they were fortunate to hold Udinese to a goalless draw especially after Fabiano Santacroce was dismissed for the second successive match.
Alberto Gilardino, who scored twice in the UEFA Champions League this week, was again on target for Fiorentina as he scored the only goal of the game to defeat Bologna at the Artemio Franchi. Diego Milito was again on target for Genoa, but his goal was a mere consolation against Palermo who had earlier netted twice through Edison Cavani and Cesare Bovo. Lecce against Siena, and Sampdoria against Chievo, both ended in 1-1 stalemates.
RESULTS: Cagliari 0-1 Juventus; Catania 1-0 Atalanta; Fiorentina 1-0 Bologna; Lecce 1-1 Siena; Milan 4-1 Lazio; Palermo 2-1 Genoa; Roma 3-0 Reggina; Sampdoria 1-1 Chievo Torino 1-3 Inter Milan; Udinese 0-0 Napoli
