Serie A is up and running and a fascinating first round of fixtures has thrown up a few questions for Italy’s big sides.
Of the eight games played on Saturday and Sunday, six of them were draws, including the match between Genoa and 2023-24 title winners Inter Milan. There are plenty of Serie A 2024 highlights to get our teeth into, as AC Milan and Napoli also had tricky starts, so let’s take a look at the best action from the weekend
Marcus Thuram scored twice for I Nerazzuri as the champions stumbled to a 2-2 draw with Genoa. The 2024 Serie A and Copa America Golden Boot winner Lautaro Martinez had a frustrating afternoon as captain, as he watched Junior Messias plunder a 95th minute equaliser, after he had been substituted late in normal time. Inter were without new signing Piotr Zielinski and went behind when Alessandro Vogliacco hammered in a rebound on 20 minutes. Thuram headed a leveller when he rose to meet a Nicolo Barella cross and soon after he thought he’d won a penalty before VAR intervened. But he did get his second with a clever chipped finish to put Inter in charge.
Genoa were not finished though and when Messias saw his late, late penalty saved by Yann Sommer he reacted quickly to fire in the rebound.
Milan leave it late
The Serie A 2024 betting odds back I Nerazzurri to defend their title and one of their chief challengers will be city rivals AC Milan. But they too had a testing afternoon after failing to break down a resilient Torino defence for almost 90 minutes. With 26 shots to seven and six to three on target I Rossoneri must have wondered how they entered the final minute of normal time two goals down after Malik Thiaw scored an own goal before Colombian Duvan Zapata doubled Il Toro’s lead. Spain’s triumphant Euro 2024 captain Alvaro Morata netted his first for the club in the 89th minute to set up a grandstand finish; and the roof came off the San Siro Stadium when Noah Okafor hammered home a spectacular volley deep into injury time.
It was a disappointing result for Paulo Fonseca’s Rossoneri but they will go into training with their tails up. The draw felt like a victory in the circumstances and they can go into two away games, to Parma and Lazio with renewed confidence.
Trip to Verona is Hell for Conte
Last week in my SBOTOP report I asked whether Conte’s Napoli can cut it in the Scudetto race this year and, on first evidence, it might be difficult for I Partenopei. Hellas Verona ran riot to give their new manager Paolo Zanetti a perfect start with a 3-0 win. Colombian striker Daniel Mosquera scored twice and skipper Darko Lazovic made two assists while keeper Lorenzo Montipo kept a clean sheet on an afternoon when everything went right for the hosts.
Napoli had over 65 per cent possession and won the shot count by 14 to nine, but they lacked a cutting edge, and organisation at the back at times, and they paid the price. Dailon Livramento opened the scoring and debutant Mosquera bagged an impressive brace as the 2023 Scudetto winners folded. Conte was apologetic to the travelling fans, saying: “We melted like snow in the sun; we should apologise to the Neapolitan supporters who follow us with passion.”
Conte is a winner and he will sort it I’m sure. The starting point is to improve on last season’s tenth place finish and then make an assault on the top four and the latest betting odds suggest he can do it. It’s going to be fascinating to watch down in Naples.
Better news for Baroni
New Lazio boss Marco Baroni had a successful afternoon as he watched his new team beat promoted Venezia in Rome. They came up through the play-offs and, now managed by Eusebio Di Francesco, the visitors took a shock lead when Danish midfielder Magnus Anderson scored in the third minute. But Baroni’s Lazio responded well and were 2-1 ahead by the break thanks to goals from Taty Castellanos and Azzurri star Mattia Zaccagni, who slotted home a penalty just before the break.
Venezia fought hard on their return to the top flight, having 11 shots on goal to Lazio’s 13 but when Giorgio Altare put through his own goal on 81 minutes the game was up.
So, with Atalanta and Juventus to play on Monday night, Lazio are, so far, the only one of the big guns to start the campaign with a win.
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