Seria A 16/17: 5 things we learnt from Matchday 1
The 2016/17 season of Serie A began with a bang, as all the drama returned to Italy, with some crazy games involving red cards, world class goals and last minute drama. The opening round of fixtures have left Roma on the top of the table, with Inter Milan in 19th, while Juventus’ narrow win leaves them in 6th.
It’s early doors, but all the pre-season predictions of a Juventus romp to the title look well-founded after Gonzalo Higuain’s heroics, but there was plenty of drama around Serie A with both Milan clubs and Napoli playing out some eventful games.
What a start to Italian football’s annual extravaganza!
1) Roma are Serie A’s best hope for a Title Race
The Giallorossi were considered to have been considerably weakenend when Juventus prised Miralem Pjanic away from the capital side, but watchers of Luciano Spalletti’s side would have known that the Lupi had already moved on from him tactically in the fag end of last season.
With Mo Salah and Diego Perotti at their best, Roma terrorised Udinese and controlled the game with a canny certainty about their style of play. A 4-0 drubbing of a side that barely escaped relegation and lost their legendary striker, Antonio di Natale, in the summer is hardly surprising, but the ease with which Roma dismantled Udinese’s defence points to a potential title race contender.
Udinese failed to expose any weakness in Roma’s new look defence, and the Giallorossi will face tougher tests over the course of the season. However, with Napoli struggling against Pescara, Roma are the only hope left for Serie A to have a title race and prevent Juventus from winning a sixth successive Scudetto.