Reigning champions Inter Milan missed a chance to go to the summit of Serie A on Sunday night after losing the Derbi di Milano; leaving top spot to Torino.
Il Toro have been in the shadow of Juventus in modern times, and pretty much everyone else to be fair, but they found themselves at the top of the table on Friday night after an all-action 3-2 win away to Hellas Verona. The visitors played three quarters of the game against ten men after Verona’s Pawel Dawidowicz was dismissed in the first half.
Head coach Paulo Vanoli restored Antonio Sanabria to the Torino starting line-up and he paid back his boss in spades when he opened the scoring with nine minutes on the clock, playing a one-two with Duvan Zapata before beating keeper Lorenzo Montipo with a clinical finish. Grigoris Kastanos levelled for Verona with a thunderous strike into the top corner but the game was turned on its head for the hosts when Dawidovicz copped a straight red card for an elbow on Sanabria. Torino took full advantage when Zapata scored with a powerful header and substitute Che Adams doubled the lead shortly after replacing Sanabria. Colombia striker Daniel Mosquera scored a consolation with seconds of injury time remaining as Il Toro took their place at the top of the table.
Gabbia makes it big in Milan
The Derbi di Milano is one of Europe’s biggest games and it certainly delivered on Sunday night as AC Milan edged a three goal thriller thanks to a late, late goal from centre back Matteo Gabbia.
I Nerazzurri bossed the first half but they went behind early on to a goal from Christian Pulisic. The USA star found space in the penalty area to slot a shot low into the bottom left corner beyond the despairing dive of Yann Sommer. But Inter were level on 27 minutes when Lautaro Martinez found Federico Dimarco on the left side of the area and he fired a cross shot into the opposite corner. Martinez and Marcus Thuram both came close to giving Inter a half time lead but I Rossoneri held firm to go in level.
Rafael Leao has made a quiet start to the campaign but he tested Sommer early in the second half with a powerful header and again with a well struck shot as Milan took the initiative in the second period. Alvaro Morata and Tammy Abraham had some success stretching the Inter defence while Dimarco and Hakan Calhanoglu had efforts for I Nerazzuri. And eventually, on 89 minutes, the winner came as centre back Matto Gabba rose to meet a Tijjani Reijnders cross to guide his header home.
Inter stay sixth while AC Milan climbed to seventh, both on eight points and three off the lead.
Goal drought in the Derbi di Conte
On Saturday Antonio Conte took his latest club, Napoli, to visit his old mates at Juventus; and he came away with a hard earned point in a 0-0 draw which meant both teams missed a chance to go top of the table. In a scrappy affair which produced just one shot on target from each team, Napoli midfielder Scott McTominay came close in the first half when he fired a shot in from 20 yards, bringing a strong save out of Juve keeper Michele di Gregorio. Matteo Politano and Teun Koopmeiners also came close for I Partenopei, both shooting over the bar from good positions.
Here at SBOTOP we were looking forward to this game as a match between two recent Scudetto winners and title hopefuls this year. But it was a frustrating day for new Bianconeri boss Thiago Motta as he watched his side struggle to get going, and they had to settle for a third successive league draw, which left them in fourth, a point behind second placed Napoli and two off the top. The early season Serie A 2024 betting odds make her second favourite for the title (Napoli third) but Old Lady needs to turn draws into wins if she is to challenge at the top, and this was a good result for the Milan teams, and for the other Turin side.
In other Serie A 2024 news Kosta Runjaic’s Udinese started the weekend as the surprise league leaders but they were brought crashing down to earth with a 3-0 defeat away to Roma. Artem Dovbyk, 2024 la Liga top scorer with Girona scored the first and Paulo Dybala and Tommaso Baldanzi added two more to give Ivan Juric a win in his first game as Roma boss. I Giallorossi climbed into the top half of the table while Udinese dropped to third place. Empoli moved up to fifth thanks to a 2-0 win away to bottom club Cagliari.
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