Serie A roundup: AC Milan survive scare in six-goal thriller as Inter sneak past Lecce
AC Milan - Udinese 4-2
For the seventh consecutive season, the team defending the Serie A title won their opening league game, after reigning champions AC Milan emerged victorious from a six-goal thriller against Udinese.
The 2021-22 Serie A season was one of the most dramatic in recent memory, so it was only fitting that the defending champions began the new campaign in a similar fashion.
Udinese were the last side to score against Milan at the San Siro, and they needed less than two minutes to find the net here, with Rodrigo Becao racing across the near post to nod home from a corner-kick.
Stefano Pioli’s title-winners showed great character to end an 11-year wait for the Scudetto last term, and they demonstrated the winning mentality that helped them clinch the silverware in the opening stages against Udinese.
Theo Hernandez drew the hosts level from the spot after Brandon Soppy brought down Davide Calabria in the box, before Ante Rebic swept the ball home just moments later, completing the Milan turnaround inside the first 15 minutes.
Unsurprisingly, after an electric start, the encounter settled down into a pattern of Milan dominance that was abruptly ended in first half stoppage time by Adam Masina, who powered the ball home with a diving header to level the contest.
Having equalised before the break, new Udinese boss Andrea Sottil would have emphasised the importance of calm heads at HT. However, what Sottil got was a moment of indecision between Nehuen Perez and Masina that allowed Brahim Diaz to poke the ball home within a minute of the restart.
After opening his account for the new season, Diaz turned provider in the 68th minute, rolling the ball across the face of the goal for Rebic to wrap up a brace and an opening day win.
Milan’s winning start to the season extends their unbeaten league run to 17 matches, while Udinese have now won only one of their previous seven Serie A openers.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ante Rebic (AC Milan)
Sampdoria - Atalanta 0-2
Atalanta recorded a fifth straight opening day win in Serie A, as Rafael Toloi and Ademola Lookman swept Sampdoria aside at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium.
Sampdoria have lost more Serie A matches than any other team in 2022, although they almost had a perfect start to the new domestic campaign. In the opening stages, a Francesco Caputo strike was ruled out by VAR as a result of a foul in the build-up, with the hosts unlucky not to make their early pressure count.
Atalanta, who finished outside of the top seven for the first time since 2015/16, had their own chances to break the deadlock throughout the first 45 minutes.
Duvan Zapata sent an effort wayward and Joakim Maehle failed to convert Hans Hateboer's cross from two yards out, although visitors eventually opened the scoring in an even first half.
Italian defender Toloi made no mistake from inside the six yard box with a calm finish in the 26th minute.
Sampdoria finished 15th last season - their lowest since returning to the top flight - and were unable to find a goal that would have avoided a fifth straight opening day defeat.
Remarkably, the hosts have now failed to score on matchday one in each of their last five attempts, although Abdelhamid Sabiri came close to changing that unwanted record when his free-kick struck the post.
After netting 12 times in previous matches against Atalanta, Sampdoria captain Fabio Quagliarella came closest to the equaliser when his shot flicked the bar late on.
However, Lookman, who was first denied a debut goal by the offside flag, secured a valuable victory for Atalanta with a composed finish in stoppage time.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Rafael Toloi (Atalanta)
Lecce - Inter 1-2
Inter Milan began their Serie A campaign with a dramatic win over Lecce at the Stadio Via del Mare, as a stoppage-time strike from Denzel Dumfries extended an unbeaten run against newly-promoted clubs to 12 games.
The Nerazzurri were looking at Romelu Lukaku to make the difference in the title race this season, as the Belgian returned on loan from Chelsea after a nightmare previous campaign in the Premier League.
The Belgian got off to the best possible start, powering home a header past Wladimiro Falcone with only 90 seconds on the clock.
Lecce could not get to grips with an Inter side barely out of second gear, and lost their only fit recognised centre back when Mert Cetin came off injured and was replaced by Alexis Blin.
Tensions were boiling over among the hosts and Federico Baschirotto was fortunate only to receive a yellow card for a hefty challenge on Lautaro Martinez.
Inter failed to find a second goal, and were made to pay for not cashing in on their dominance, as Assan Ceesay scored his first-ever Serie A goal with a sublime equaliser.
His shot clipped in off the far post following some superb link-up play with Federico Di Francesco, with the strike coming less than three minutes after the restart.
The hosts were sensing an upset and Inter had Samir Handanović to thank for a fine one-handed save to push away Kristijan Bistrović's free-kick. At the other end, Federico Dimarco was at heart of everything going forward for Inter, and substitute Dumfries was inches away from restoring their advantage when his scrappy headed effort clipped off the upright.
Lukaku was denied a second by Falcone, as the Lecce shot-stopper made himself big to deny him from inside the area in an excellent debut from the Sampdoria loanee.
Lecce hearts were broken in the fifth minute of stoppage time though, when Dumfries reacted quickest to divert the ball home after Martinez flicked on Dimarco’s corner.
A crucial win for Simone Inzaghi's men displayed their credentials as they look to regain the Scudetto from arch-rivals AC Milan.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Wladimiro Falcone (Lecce)
Monza - Torino 1-2
Despite a strong performance in their first-ever Serie A match, AC Monza were beaten 2-1 by Torino, who gatecrashed the Biancorossi’s party with goals from Atalanta loanee Aleksey Miranchuk and Antonio Sanabria.
Former Italian Prime Minister and former AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi took ownership of Monza four years ago and in that time they have climbed four divisions to reach the dizzying heights of Serie A for the first time in their 110-year history.
All eyes were on the hosts to see if they could make a splash against Torino - a club firmly part of the top-flight furniture now, entering their 11th consecutive season amongst the country’s elite.
The newly-promoted club provided a suggestion that they weren’t just there to make up the numbers, as Juventus loanee Filippo Ranocchia tested Vanja Milinkovic-Savic from range with the first attempt on target of the night.
Ranocchia continued to be at the heart of Monza’s attacking threat, though with two more shots from range before half time.
Eventually, Torino made them pay, as two minutes before the break Miranchuk got himself a debut goal.
The Russian finished off an excellent passing move with fellow attackers Sanabria and Nemanja Radonjic, calmly slotting the ball beyond Michele Di Gregorio with the outside of his left foot.
Undefeated in their final five away matches last season, Torino have previous experience in seeing out results on the road.
They were able to frustrate the home side’s attempts to get the ball forward, before putting the final nail in the coffin themselves to take all three points in the 66th minute. A botched clearance was intercepted by Radonjic, who fed Sanabria to volley in acrobatically at the back post.
Substitute Dany Mota came on to stab home a goal on the rebound with the last kick of the game, giving the home support a moment to remember on their special night, but it was ultimately too little too late to salvage a result for Giovanni Stroppa’s side.
Meanwhile, Torino will be able to take confidence from their first points of the season, with clear evidence of life after the departure of prolific goalscorer Andrea Belotti this summer.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Antonio Sanabria (Torino)
