Italy
The Serie A campaign kicked off on Saturday with Fiorentina earning a late victory over Udinese. The winners signed many players during the close season, with the likes of Borja Valero, Alberto Aquilani, Matias Fernandez and David Pizarro all arriving to bolster an impressive looking midfield. It was the much-coveted Stefan Jovetic who scored a double, with the latter coming on the 90th minute to conclude a successful comeback. Juventus are favourites to retain their title and the Turin team got off to a solid start with a victory over Parma, who sold the creative talents of Sebastian Giovinco to Juve. Goals from Stephan Lichsteiner and the evergreen Andrea Pirlo secured the three points. On Sunday, Napoli and Inter Milan, two teams who have invested in a title challenge, both secured impressive 3-0 away wins. The trio of Edison Cavani, Marek Hamsik and Christian Maggio all bagged goals for the southerners, while Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito and Philippe Coutinho scored for the Nerazzurri. The important news of the day was at the San Siro, where AC Milan lost 1-0 to Sampdoria. Massimo Allegris team released many of their elder statesmen before selling the pair of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to PSG. The Rossoneri are aiming to finish in the Champions League places but the 1-0 loss to the Serie A new boys came as a huge surprise. Sampdoria were the only one of the promoted teams to win on the opening weekend, with Pescara suffering the defeat to Inter Milan and Torino earning a point away to Siena.