Inter Milan were shocked on Sunday afternoon at the San Siro thanks to a Zdenek Zeman inspired Cagliari side. Zeman the prophet of attacking 4-3-3 football stunned Inter 4-1 including a hat-trick from Swedish midfielder Albin Ekdal. Roma and Juventus kept their 100% records on Saturday night, Roma fought hard to win against a stubborn Hellas Verona side 2-0. Juventus won comfortably away in Bergamo 3-0 thanks to a double from Carlos Tevez.
Saturday 27th September
The first game of the weekend was Roma home game against Hellas Verona, Roma found it hard to break down a very stubborn Hellas Verona defence but did in the second half thanks to two fantastic goals from Alessandro Florenzi and a 40 yard strike from striker Mattia Destro which sealed the three points for Roma
The Saturday night game was Juventus travelling to Bergamo to take on Atalanta, the home side stunned Juventus with some good attacking football but Juventus weathered the storm with a Carlos Tevez strike before half time. German Denis had a penalty saved in the second half by Gigi Buffon and 20 seconds later it was 2-0 with Carlos Tevez doubling the lead. Alvaro Morata opened his Juventus account with a header late on to give Juventus a comfortable victory
Sunday 28th September
The lunch time kick off saw a struggling Napoli travel to Sassuolo looking to put the early bad form behind them. Napoli did that winning 1-0 with a very scrappy performance thanks to a first half goal from Jose Callejon. Gonzalo Higuain crossed in from the left hand side and found an unmarked Jose Callejon who volleyed home from close range.
Inter Milan were in good form and looked to continue that early season form against a winless Cagliari side, but they were in for a shock. Cagliari took an early lead when a long ball split the Inter defence and Marco Sau capitalised and volleyed past Samir Handanovic to open the scoring. Inter equalised immediately when a quick free kick was taken and Pablo Osvaldo scored from close range. Then it changed for the home side, Yuto Nagotomo got himself stupidly sent off for two yellows. Then Cagliari attack a 10 men Inter side and scored three quick first half goals all from the Swedish midfielder Albin Ekdal who scored his first hat-trick for the club. Andrea Cossu also had a penalty kick saved by Samir Handanovic which could have added more gloss to the score line.
AC Milan are now winless in their last three games after drawing away at Cesena, Cesena took the lead when AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati made an error which led to Davide Succi to score from close range. But AC Milan equalised not long after thanks to French defender Adil Rami heading home from an AC Milan corner. AC Milan were reduced to ten men when Colombian defender Cristian Zapata was sent off for a professional foul.
The two out of form sides played each other in Turin on Sunday afternoon as Torino took on Fiorentina, Fabio Quagliarella gave Torino the lead but in the second half Fiorentina equalised thanks to a goal from Khouma Babacar who calmly rounded the Torino keeper and slotting into an empty net.
Chievo and Empoli played out a 1-1 draw in Verona, Riccardo Meggiorini scored his first goal for the club but Empoli equalised thanks to a goal from Manuel Pucciarelli. Pucciarelli then missed an absolute golden chance to give Empoli the win when he scooped over from close range, a candidate for miss of the season.
The Sunday night game was the Derby Della Lanterna (The Derby of the Lantern) one of the most colourful derbies in Italy. Sampdoria made it two wins out of two this year over local rivals Genoa thanks to a free kick which evaded everyone from Italian youngster Manolo Gabbiadini.
Monday 29th September
There was two Monday night games and the first was Parma travelling to Udine in a ground which under reconstruction to take on Udinese. There was six goals and a paneka penalty, Parma took the lead thanks to youngster Jose Mauri scoring his first goal for the club. Udinese then scored twice thanks to a double from Antonio Di Natale. Just before half time Parma equalised from the penalty spot, Antonio Cassano stepped up and cheekily equalised thanks to a paneka (Chip). Udinese took the lead in the second half thanks a brilliant strike from Thomas Heurtaux who acrobatically volleyed home from inside of the area. Parma were then reduced to ten men as Afriye Acquah was sent off for two yellow cards. Udinese added a 4th to put the icing on the cake when Cyril Thereau won the ball of the Parma defence cut in from the left hand side and curled a lovely effort into the far corner.
The final game of the weekend was the Monday night game as Lazio travelled to Scilly to the Renzo Barbera to take on Palermo. Lazio came away with an emphatic 4-0 away thanks to a hat-trick from Serbian attacker Filip Djordjevic, Marco Parolo added a 4th in stoppage time to add gloss on the scoreline.
ScotM
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