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That was the Week 1 that was
A bite-size review of the opening weekend of the Serie A season…
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The boy was a bit special
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese)
We left him dejected during the summer when his missed shoot-out spot-kick against Spain saw an ineffective Italy rightly dumped out of Euro 2008. Just 90 minutes into the new season and he’s reminded us why he was there in the first place after a quite scintillating opening weekend of the campaign. Aside from his two superb goals, the Udinese captain led by example against Palermo. It’ll be tough to live up to that kind of display for another 37 games.
A day to forget for
Felipe Melo (Fiorentina)
We’ve got a wild one here without a doubt. Making his Serie A debut against Fiorentina, this Brazilian is more Dunga than ‘Dinho. Clearly talented with the ball at his feet, it is without it that he may become something of a liability for the ambitious Viola. His second booking for a foul on Christian Poulsen was straight out of the Paolo Montero book of tackling. Ouch. His disbelief that he got sent-off was, well, unbelievable.
Master tactician
Daniele Arrigoni (Bologna)
Faced with the prospect of taking on a rejuvenated Milan side at San Siro on the opening day of the season, Arrigoni kept faith with the old school Italian tactics of defending attentively and hoping to grab something on the counter-attack. Although Bologna snatched the three points thanks to a sublime Francesco Valiani rocket, we have to pay tribute to the former Cagliari tactician who still has his doubters at this level.
Golaccio!
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese)
This pint-sized Neapolitan is not just a great scorer, he’s a scorer of great goals as his second against Palermo illustrated. The Italian international perfectly controlled a searching Gaetano D’Agostino pass, then instantly opted to delicately chip the ball over the advancing Marco Amelia in the Rosanero goal. The subsequent standing ovation he received was recognition of just how special that strike was.
Mamma mia!
Newly promoted Bologna’s win at Milan was clearly the biggest shock of the opening round of games. The Rossoneri, on paper at least, had the easiest fixture with title rivals Inter travelling to Sampdoria, Roma taking on a Napoli side who shouldn’t be underestimated and Fiorentina playing Juventus. Given that those games all ended in a draw, the Rossoneri should be two points clear of that quartet – instead they are one point behind.
Quote…unquote
Claudio Ranieri, Juventus boss
“An expert side such as Juventus should not have left such opportunities to Fiorentina. We were a bit like chickens in the build up to their equaliser. You can sometimes accept a draw, on other occasions it is just very disappointing. You can say we dropped two points this evening.”
Carlo Ancelotti, Milan boss
“It was an odd game, but I think it was just one of those early season surprises when one team is in better shape than the other. We may have lost yet I am still optimistic. The side attacked for 90 minutes whereas Bologna had two chances…”
Jose Mourinho, Inter boss
“I have a group of players who worked very hard and I cannot criticise them for their efforts. Perhaps I am not the right Coach for this Italian type of post-match analysis. I would hate to read in the newspapers tomorrow that Inter were at fault for only getting a point, they should instead praise Sampdoria for achieving this result.”
What we learned this week
After Inter could ‘only’ collect a draw against a Sampdoria side who arguably had the better of the game, not everything that Jose Mourinho touches does turn to gold. It’s going to take a little more time for The Special One to turn Roberto Mancini’s side into his own. Across the San Siro divide, Ronaldinho showed some encouraging signs. Although not stellar by any means, we saw the odd touch of magic which bodes well for Milan and Serie A as a whole.
What’s in a number?
Juventus maintained their positive opening day record with a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina. The Bianconeri have now gone 26 years without being defeated in Week 1 of the Serie A campaign. Since a loss at Sampdoria in 1982, they’ve collected 18 wins and eight draws. Meanwhile, Milan hadn’t previously lost their opener for 22 years after they suffered a 1-0 reverse to Ascoli back in September 1986.
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| Words: Antonio Labbate |
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