Euro Bites: Serie A

The latest from Italy as Serie A finally kicks off.

MIHAJOLOVIC SETTLES IN CUP OPENER

Before the Serie A season kicked off on the weekend, Sinisa Mihajlovic settled into his new job at Milan with a 2-0 victory over Perugia in the third round of the Tim Cup (formerly Coppa Italia) on Monday. The game saw goals from Keisuke Honda e Luiz Adriano. In other matches, Chievo Verona lost 1-0 to Salernitana while Cesena beat Catania 4-1. The fourth round will be played on December 2 after which eight teams go on to play the top eight from last season’s Serie A.

LAZIO CHASE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINDFALL

Lazio took a step closer to a 40m Euro windfall after taking the upper hand in their battle for a UEFA Champions League group place on Tuesday. The first play-off leg with Bayer Leverkusen at Rome’s Olympic Stadium saw young Lazio striker Keita Balde Diao - who had asked to be transferred after a disappointing start to the season - score the winner after replacing the injured Miroslav Klose. But the bad news was Klose’s injury made him miss the start of the domestic season and sidelined him for three matches.

ROMA STRUGGLE

The opening day of Serie A was disappointing for last year’s runners-up AS Roma, who drew 1-1 with Hellas Verona. Rudi Garcia’s side, which included four former Premier League stars in Wojciech Szczesny, Edin Dzeko, Mohamed Salah and Gervinho, showed a lack of collaboration and slow pace while Verona seemed more ready for the season, with greater athleticism and cohesion. In the other Saturday match, Lazio impressed against Bologna, beating them 2-1 and dominating the first half before throttling back in the second.

HISTORIC DEFEAT FOR JUVENTUS

Juventus had never been defeated in its first home game of the season. But that changed on Sunday when Udinese beat the reigning Italian champions 1-0 by playing defensive game and catching them on the counter attack. Juventus’ goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had little to do for most of the match but could do nothing to save Cyril Thereau’s kick from a cross by Panagiotis Konè. Juve, who controlled most of the game, will rue several missed opportunities and were clearly feeling the loss of midfielders of Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal, who were transferred this summer, and Claudio Marchisio, who was out with an injury. There is hope for Roma yet.

NAPOLI SHOCKED ON OPENING WEEKEND

After Juventus’ unexpected defeat earlier in the evening, it was the turn of Napoli to suffer a shock. They went down 2-1 to Sassuolo, a side that managed just 12th in the league last season, in Maurizio Sarri’s first league game in charge since taking over from Real Madrid-bound Rafael Benitez. In other games, Fiorentina beat AC Milan in Florence 2-0, Inter won 1-0 against Atalanta, Empoli lost at home against Chievo 1-3 and Frosinone, in its first match in Serie A, lost at home to Torino 2-1. Palermo left it late to beat Genoa with an injury time goal by Abdelhamid El Kaoutari while Sampdoria crushed Carpi 5-2.

STRUGGLING FOR SPONSORS

Having a sponsor’s branding emblazoned on the team shirt is pretty much a given these days but this season Serie A started with no less than six key teams playing logo-less - including Roma, Lazio, and Fiorentina who finished second, third and fourth respectively last season. Italy’s continuing economic crisis and a changing marketing climate are two reasons: many companies don’t have the funds or prefer a more dynamic and flexible kind of advertising. In contrast Sassuolo, a team with few fans and virtually no international visibility, signed a 22m Euro per year sponsorship – although in their case the owner of the sponsor Mapei and the owner of the team is one and the same.