Serie A is back!
That is how the Saturday morning Italian newspapers greeted readers at the start of another campaign.
Just under three months after an exciting finish at both the top and bottom of Italian football’s top flight, it was time to resume combat and, as far as the SBOTOP Serie A betting odds are concerned, the 2022-23 title race could be as close again.
There’s only one place to start and that is with the champions.
After falling behind within two minutes to a Rodrigo Becao header, AC Milan show their pedigree with a quick and resolute response.
It was debatable whether an 11th minute penalty should have been awarded with Davide Calabria adjudged to have been fouled in the box but Theo Hernandez converted from the spot and the champs were up and running.
Within another four minutes it was the time for the first of two goals from Croatia international Ante Rebic who fired home from close range.
Now, despite only conceding 11 goals in 20 games in 2022, the Rossoneri still fail to convince me defensively and that was evident again when Adam Masina levelled deep into stoppage time at the end of the first half.
Yet you certainly can’t question their character and, within seconds of the restart, the hosts were in front again when Masina failed to deal with a Hernandez cross and inadvertently knocked the ball into the path of Brahim Diaz for an easy tap in.
Rebic then added his second, and Milan’s fourth, after good work from Diaz to take the ball off Roberto Pereyra near the touchline.
A winning start for Milan who became Italian champions for the first time in over a decade last season, beating rivals Inter by two points.
Inter, champions in 2021, are also up and running but had drama of their own and were perhaps slightly fortuitous to see off one of the new boys hoping to take Serie A by storm.
When their goalscoring hero from last year’s title triumph, Romelu Lukaku, headed home inside two minutes, it was as if the Belgian, who has re-signed on a season-long loan from Chelsea, had never been away.
It took him less than 90 seconds to return to goalscoring Italian action with his first touch – this after Matteo Darmian knocked down a Federico Dimarco cross at the back post and Lukaku nodded in from point-blank range.
However, Lecce hit back three minutes after the restart through Assan Ceesay.
It wasn’t until the 95th minute that Denzel Dumfries sealed all three points with a last-gasp effort following a corner.
Spare a thought for spirited Lecce, who played for more than an hour without a recognised centre back after Mert Cetin limped off after 20 minutes.
Elsewhere, Atalanta also needed a 95th minute goal to be sure of the points at Sampdoria.
Rafael Toloi had opened the scoring for the visitors midway through the first half, sliding in after a Duvan Zapata cross was nodded down by Mario Pasalic.
The outcome remained in the balance with the hosts hitting the woodwork twice through Abdelhamid Sabiri and Fabio Quagliarella before debutant Ademola Lookman produced a confident and cute finish to secure Atalanta a precious opening victory.
The story of the day many neutrals had hoped for didn’t materialise as Torino won at Monza – competing in the top flight for the first time in the club’s history.
Aleksey Miranchuk, just before the break, and an acrobatic Antonio Sanabria scissor-kick volley, won the day for Torino before Monza netted their first ever Serie A goal in stoppage time via Mota Carvalho.
There is still time for more Serie A highlights to come from the opening weekend with two matches on Monday night, including Juventus.
But the final teams to catch my eye on Sunday were Lazio and Cremonese with both their goalkeepers at the heart of the drama.
After recovering from debutant Arantes Maximiano’s sixth minute dismissal – shown a straight red card for smothering the ball outside the penalty area – Lazio fought back from a Marko Arnautovic goal to win 2-1.
Whether they would have done without Bologna also going down to 10 men – Adama Soumaoro receiving a second yellow card on the stroke of half-time – is unknown but, with 11 minutes remaining, Ciro Immobile, so often their hero, sprang the offside trap to latch onto Sergej Milinkovic-Savic through ball and produce a delicate finish.
Cremonese, back in the top tier of Italian football for the first time since 1995-96, were terrific at Fiorentina until a late Ionut Radu howler.
Until that point, the goalkeeper had made several great saves and was in line for man of the match.
Twice, they had pegged back the hosts in Florence, despite the first half sending-off of Gonzalo Escalante, on his debut after moving from Lazio on loan, who was perhaps a little harsh to see red for a clumsy tackle.
Just seconds were left when Radu caught a Rolando Mandragora cross-shot and took a step backwards, carrying the ball into his own net.
It was harsh on the visitors and a stark return to Serie A after more than a quarter of a century.
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