Euro Bites: Serie A

Inter and AC driving Milan resurgence, Juve’s nightmare start continues and fans force Sinisa Mihajlovic to jump to show his allegiance

INTER DELIGHTS IN DERBY VICTORY

Sunday’s much-awaited “Madonnina” derby between Inter and Milan gave both sides reason to be positive despite Inter taking the spoils. Victorious Inter are now alone at the top of the Serie A for the first time in five years with a 100% victory record. Roberto Mancini’s ‘new’ side showed drive and strategy and while Fredy Guarin’s scorching long-range goal decided he victory, just as exciting was the midfield performance of newcomer Felipe Melo, who was incisive not only in attack but also fearless in defence. Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Milan, meanwhile, were much improved over their last match against Empoli. Mihajlovic gave Mario Balotelli a chance in the second half and he didn’t disappoint - he put Inter’s goalkeeper Handanovic to the test twice – and the Serbian coach was satisfied by his team’s performance, despite their defeat. “Playing this way,” he promised, “we’ll win a lot of games.”

JUVENTUS IN WORST TROUBLE FOR 50 YEARS

With only one point from three games, Juventus has not been in such dire straits since 1962. It has been clear this year’s Juve has only one thing in common with the great team of recent past: goalkeeper Gigi Buffon. The players seem to lack match fitness and, coupled with continuing midfield woes, Juve barely pulled a draw against Chievo on Saturday. With Claudio Marchisio and Paul Pogba on the bench for the first half, coach Massimiliano Allegri hoped new arrival Hernanes could take control of midfield, but he did not. Chievo, meanwhile, found rare form and took the lead early with a goal by Perparim Hetemaj from the edge of the box. The Verona team saw a second goal incorrectly disallowed and a potential third miraculously saved by Buffon. Allegri said: “it’s pointless to talk now about winning the Serie A. We’ll talk about that in March.”

“LITTLE” FROSINONE GIVES AS ROMA A RUN FOR ITS MONEY

On Saturday, a derby of the Lazio region was played not between Roma and Lazio but Roma and the small city of Frosinone. Although Roma won 2-0, with goals by Iago Falque and Juan Iturbe, Frosinone came out with its head held high, fighting hard especially in midfield and on the wings. Roman captain Francesco Totti’s first match of the season was disappointing: he not only missed the chance to score the 300th goal of his career, but was almost expelled for an ugly foul at the end of the second half. Roma have a Champions League match on Wednesday against Barcelona, and they will have to up their game to a whole new level of intensity and character.

SSC NAPOLI STILL WITHOUT A VICTORY

After one loss and one draw, Napoli hoped to score their first victory of the season on Sunday but were still left wanting. In a tough game against Empoli, Maurizio Sarri’s team had to fight hard to even finish with a 2-2 tie. Empoli outplayed Napoli in the first half but Napoli turned the tables in the second. Empoli’s Riccardo Saponara scored on a defensive error of Napoli, after which Neapolitan golden boy Lorenzo Insigne caught up with a spectacular shot from outside the box. After scoring again with Manuel Pucciarelli, Empoli seemed to lose steam in the second half, when Napoli took control of the match and tied the score with a goal by Brazilian newcomer Allan. Sarri said his team had continuing bad luck and claimed Empoli’s second goal should have been disallowed because of a handball.

2017 UEFA EUROPEAN UNDER-21 QUALIFIERS: ITALY-SLOVENIA

In their first Under-21 Championship qualifier, the Italian National team beat Slovenia 1-0 on Tuesday evening in Reggio Emilia. Italy dominated the match, continuing its tradition of victory against the Slovenians: Italy has won five of the past six under-21 matches between the two countries. Coach Luigi Di Biagio’s side, however, lacked decisiveness and precision near goal and, despite many opportunities, their victory was decided only by a penalty kick from ACF Fiorentina striker Federico Bernardeschi at the beginning of the second half.

SINISA MIHAJLOVIC’S CONTROVERSIAL JUMPS

One of Italian football’s favourite chants sees whole sections of the stadium jump up and down in unison shouting “if you don’t jump you’re a fan of (the opposition)”. And this chant put Milan’s new coach, Sinisa Mihajlovic in an impossible position on Thursday. At a high profile presentation of his team, the chant started. Already revving up for the Inter-Milan derby on Sunday, fans and players goaded each other on, chanting that anyone who didn’t jump was a fan of Inter. Mihajlovic played at Inter for two years before coaching, but much to the chagrin of his ex-colleagues at the club, onstage he had no choice but to jump. “Even though he only did four mini jumps, it was a huge disappointment, a betrayal,” said former Inter player Riccardo Ferri. Mihajlovic would probably prefer to refer to them as diplomatic hops.