Serie A Round Up

Verona 2-11 AC Milan Domestic football returned to Italy this weekend, bringing a few surprises. With teams across the league strengthening in the Summer it looks to be a competitive year in Italy and one we should all keep an eye on. By far the biggest surprise of the opening weekend came on Saturday, where recently promoted Hellas Verona shocked AC Milan and the football world by securing a 2-1 victory. Pirlo gave AC Milan the lead, with his side squandering many chances before he finally put one away. Luca Toni headed in an equaliser on the half hour mark before he got his second of the game, and the winner, in the 53rd minute. In the only other game on Saturday, Sampdoria lost 1-0 at home to Juventus. New arrival Carlos Tevez scored the decisive goal in his Serie A debut to ensure the travelling supporters saw their side get their campaign off to the best possible start. On Sunday the action really kicked off, with 7 matches taking place across the country. Inter Milan were frustrated by Genoa but finally took the lead via Nagatomo 15 minutes before the final whistle. Palacio scored in the 90th minute to steer off any threat of a late comeback by the away side. Lazio started their campaign with a 2-1 victory at home to Udinese. Hernanes and a Candreva penalty gave the home side a two-goal advantage after just 16 minutes, with Muriel pulling one back for Udinese on the hour mark. Roma also started their campaign with a victory after they emerged 2-0 victors away at Livorno. Two goals in two minutes from De Rossi and Fiorenzi sealed the game for the wolves. A brace from Hamsik helped Napoli achieve a 3-0 victory over Bologna, with the opening goal coming from Callejon. Torino also won their opening fixture with a 2-0 victory against Sassuolo, with Brighi and Cerci on target for the home side. Elsewhere, there was a victory for Cagliari at home to Atalanta. Nainggolan and Cabrera got the goals as they came from behind after Stendardo gaved Atalanta the lead. In the other Sunday game, Parma and Chievo finished goalless. The final game of the opening weekend came on Monday evening as Fiorentina opened their domestic season with a 2-1 victory at home against Catania. Giuseppe Rossi gave the home side the lead before Pablo César Barrientos equalised for Catania eight minutes later. David Pizarro restored Fiorentina's lead shortly after and the goal proved to be enough to keep the points in Florence.
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Contributor

Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.