La Settimana in Serie A – Return of the prodigal son

Marek Hamsik of Napoli

Five Clubs on Maximum Points

Napoli, Juventus, Roma, Inter Milan and Fiorentina have all won their opening two matches.

Inter and new coach Walter Mazzarri won again, this time away to Catania. Rodrigo Palacio and Yuto Nagatomo both got their second goal in two games with Ricardo Alvarez adding to the score-sheet later on. Inter, along with Roma, are one of only two clubs in the league who are yet to concede a goal.

Fiorentina also managed an away win at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris against Genoa in a game which saw seven goals. Alberto Aquilani scored the first for the visitors before Guiseppe Rossi and Mario Gomez got a brace each. Consolation goals from Alberto Gilardino and a penalty goal from Francesco Lodi meant the match finished 5-2 to the Viola.

Rafa and Napoli on Top

Rafa Benitez’s Napoli can’t stop scoring. They beat Chievo Verona away 4-2, a good result after thrashing Bologna 3-0 the week before. Marek Hamsik scored a cracker into the bottom corner to open the scoring before Chievo equalised through Alberto Paloschi, a sloppy goal, although so was the attempted celebration – slipping into the advertising board behind the goal.

Jose Callejon scored to put the Blues back in front, only for the lead to be cancelled out through another goal by Paloschi, this time the ball passing through the legs of Pepe Reina. Hamsik fired in a loose ball for his second goal later and Gonzalo Higuain scored the fourth, killing off any hope for the Veronese.

Tevez Scores… Again

Juventus won their second match of their Serie A campaign by brushing aside Lazio. The build up to Juve’s first goal was excellent, with Arturo Vidal finishing perfectly to put Conte’s men in front. Vidal got his second with a sweet finish before Miroslav Klose managed to force in a rebound to put the Biancoblu one behind. It ended up as a consolation goal however, as Mirko Vucinic cleverly rolled the ball past Lazio’s keeper Marcetti before Carlos Tevez, cool as you like, placed his shot with perfection to finish off the game.

Debut Goal for Ljajic

Adam Ljajic scored on his debut with a fierce shot outside the box in a 3-0 victory for Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. The first goal came from Brazilian signing Maicon, who shot across goal only for Hellas defender Fabrizio Cacciatore to lift the shot over the keeper. Miralem Pjanic then scored an outrageous lob before Ljajic came on as a substitute to finish the game off three minutes after.

Sassuolo Bottom of the Pack

Three clubs are still yet to get off the mark though. Sassuolo, Genoa and Catania who lost to Livorno, Fiorentina and Inter respectively. Sassuolo, a town in the region of Emilia-Romagna with a population of just over 40,000, are already finding life difficult in their first spell in Italy’s top division- they lost 4-1 at home to Livorno. It’s early stages, but if a club trying to stay up concede that amount at home, it’s a worrying sign.

The Return of Kaka

Dominating the Italian papers today though is that the legend of the red-and-black half of Milan. Kaka has rejoined AC Milan, the club where he spent six years previously before moving to Real Madrid. The 31-year-old left for Real Madrid for £56m in 2009, so was, for a very short while at least, the most expensive player the world had ever seen.

With the news of his imminent arrival, it turned out to be a successful day for the Rossoneri as they also managed to get off the mark with a 3-1 home win against Cagliari with goals from Robinho, Philippe Mexes and Mario Balotelli.

The Rest

Elsewhere, Udinese won 3-1 at home against Parma to gain their first win after their defeat to Lazio last week. It’s not a great start for Parma after their 0-0 draw last week and it looks to get harder, as their next game will be against an in-form Roma team. Meanwhile in Bergamo, Atalanta beat Torino 2-0 with goals from Guglielmo Standardo and Stefano Lucchini to get their first points on the board. The only draw this week came in the Bologna – Sampdoria match which ended 2-2.

Next Week

No Serie A games next week because of the international break, but the week after promises to be exciting, starting with the Derby d’Italia – Inter Milan v Juventus as well as the Derby della Lanterna between Sampdoria and Genoa.