Friday night’s clash between Roma and AC Milan was a great opening to the weekend’s Serie A action and an even better one for Rossoneri fans.
Goals from Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao gave Stefano Pioli’s team a 2-1 win away to Roma which made it three wins from three and placed AC Milan at the top of the table. And with the international break coming up that’s a great position to be in. The early Serie A 2023 betting odds are backing Inter Milan to wrestle the Scudetto away from Naples but the race will be wide open and expect I Rossoneri to play a big part.
Playing away to Jose Mourinho’s Roma was a good test of Milan’s title credentials and they passed with flying colours thanks to a penalty converted by the evergreen Giroud and a spectacular effort from Leao. The visitors were ahead on just 11 minutes when Ruben Loftus Cheek was brought down by Roma stopper Rui Patricio and Giroud sent the Portuguese goalie the wrong way with his spot-kick. It was the Frenchman’s third penalty in to games and his fourth goal of the season.
Could the 36-year-old Giroud be a Capocannoniere candidate?
Maybe so, and Leao has already put in his first entry for ‘goal of the season’ when he doubled Milan’s lead. David Calabria’s swinging cross looked to be out of reach for Leao and his marker, but the Milan man stretched out his leg to lift an overhead kick in the far corner to win the points. He is one of the most highly rated attacking midfielders in European football and Milan fans are delighted that Leao has extended his contract at the San Siro.
Roma briefly had hope when Milan centre-back Fikayo Tomori picked up a red card and Leonardo Spinazzola halved the deficit in injury time, but that proved only to be a consolation and I Rossoneri took all three points; leaving their hosts with just one point from the campaign so far.
Loan signing Romelu Lukaku played the last 20 minutes for Roma; he had a quiet introduction but Mourinho is counting on him to spark his team’s season into life.
Napoli’s perfect start wrecked by stubborn Lazio
Napoli’s home game against Lazio was one of the SBOTOP picks of the week and we went for a Partonepei victory. The stats suggest they should have come through with over 60 per cent possession, 22 shots to six and four to two on target, but Lazio’s two efforts landed in the net as Luis Alberto and Daichi Kamada scored either side of Piotr Zielinski’s strike.
It was a classic away smash and grab by Lazio who picked up their first points of the new campaign, and it was a good result for AC Milan too. Napoli will have to wait until after the international break to put things right, when they travel away to Genoa.
In the other Saturday night fixture Atalanta whacked Monza 3-0 to pick up their second win of the season and draw level on points with Napoli, and ahead on goal difference. After Ederson had given La Dea an early lead, summer signing Gianluca Scammaca scored twice to see off Monza; and he looked very happy to be back in Italy after a difficult season with West Ham United in the Premier League
Sassuolo turn the tables on Verona
In other Serie A 2023 news Hellas Verona’s strong start to the season came to an abrupt end when they met up with Sassuolo who had started the campaign with back-to-back defeats. After beating Empoli and Roma, Hellas headed to Sassuolo full of confidence but within 11 minutes they were behind to a glancing header from Andrea Pinamonti. Hellas were a little lucky to get back into the game when Cyril Ngonge’s low cross evaded everyone and skidded into the net.
But the returned Domenico Berardi gave Sassuolo a deserved win with a brace. The hosts’ best player looked like he was on the way to Juventus last week but that move failed to materialise and he was welcomed back into the fold. His first goal came when he latched onto to a through ball to fire a deflected shot home, and he made it 3-1 from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by Josh Doig. Sassuolo pulled away from the drop zone and up to 13th, while Verona dropped to fifth and they could fall further if results go against them on Sunday.
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