There is never any dearth of drama in the Italian league, and the new season is off to a pretty entertaining start as well. With defeating champions AC Milan already dropping points in the opening two weeks, runners-up Internazaionle have joined the party as well.
However, they cannot be very disappointed as they were up against a spirited performance from Lazio. Meanwhile, Udinese picked up their first win of the campaign after a defeat and draw in the opening two games.
In the first of the two Friday night games, Udinese locked horns with Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza at the U-Power stadium. After a slightly dull opening half hour of the game, the hosts got going, with Andrea Colpani producing the opening goal. Gianluca Caprari steered the ball into Colpani’s path inside the opposition box and the latter’s first-time shot found its way through.
Beto managed to equalise just four minutes later, with Rodrigo Becao squaring him up for a simple tap-in. In the second half, right in the final quarter of the game, Destiny Udogie found his way through a crowd to establish an unassailable lead. Udinese managed to hold on and picked up a crucial away win to get their campaign running.
One of the big fixtures of the weekend happened at the Olimpico with Lazio hosting Inter. The Nerazzurri want to regain the league title to reignite the old Milan rivalry, but in that pursuit, they aren’t off to the best of starts.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was at the heart of Lazio’s attack, producing some great opportunities for the likes of Ciro Immobile and Mattia Zaccagni to score. The Serb eventually made an assist for the opening goal when he lifted a beautiful aerial ball for Felipe Anderson to head it home. The hosts went into half time break with a lead.
Five minutes after the break, Lautaro Martinez broke the deadlock for the visiting side, making most of a set piece opportunity. The introduction of Pedro in the second half for Zaccagni turned the game upside down, as the former Chelsea man produced an assist first and scored the points-sealing goal in a span of 11 minutes.
While his contribution to Luis Alberto’s stunner was very little, he very smartly snuck in to convert a loose ball to help Lazio get their second win of the season.
Among a host of other games this weekend, the meeting between Juventus and AS Roma on Saturday will garner plenty of attention in Serie A.
