Juventus wasted a two-goal lead in the Serie A fixture against Udinese, whereas Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma won their first league game of the new season, thanks, in part, to a brilliant performance from debutant Tammy Abraham.
Returning Massimiliano Allegri left Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench for Juventus’ league opener. Instead, the Italian chose to start with Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata upfront while new signings Kaio Jorge and Manuel Locatelli were reserved as substitutes. Italy’s Euro-winning captain Georgio Chiellini was snubbed in favor of Leonardo Bonucci and Matthijs De Ligt.
Juventus took the lead within the first three minutes, courtesy of Dybala. The Argentinian got on the end of a Rodrigo Bentancur pass inside the box before turning the ball past Marco Silvestri.
In the 30th minute, the Bianconeri scored their second goal of the night; Juan Cuadrado collected a loose ball high up the pitch, drove inside before cutting back outside, and finished in the bottom left corner.
Former Juventus player Roberto Pereyra pulled a goal back for Udinese from the penalty spot in the 51st minute, after Wojciech Szczesny had fouled Tolgay Arslan. Morata and Bentancur hit both the posts for Juve in the second half before a Szczęsny howler gifted Udinese their equalizing goal, scored by Gerard Deulofeu.
Ronaldo thought he had given Juventus the lead again in stoppage time when he outjumped his marker to head the ball past the goalkeeper. But the strike was ruled out for offside, and the match finished 2-2.
Later in the day, Jose Mourinho got his first league win as the head coach of AS Roma, thanks to a masterful performance by new signing Tammy Abraham. The English forward proved to be a menace for Fiorentina throughout, as he provided two assists and had the goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski sent off for fouling him outside the box.
A Henrikh Mkhitaryan goal gave Roma the lead, which they took with them into the second half. However, the home side saw Nicolo Zaniolo pick up his second booking shortly after the restart, cancelling their man advantage.
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To make matters worse, Fiorentina equalized in the 60th minute through Nikola Milenkovic, who fired a fierce shot past Rui Patricio in goal. Nonetheless, Roma retook the lead four minutes later, with Abraham assisting Jordan Veretout for the goal. Veretout scored his second late on to condemn his former side to a 3-1 defeat.
