Serie A roundup: Lazio come back for three points, Jovic scores on debut as Fiorentina win
Fiorentina - Cremonese 3-2
Fiorentina snatched victory deep into stoppage time in dramatic circumstances, as Andre Radu’s howler handed the Viola a 3-2 opening day victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi against Cremonese.
The early signs were daunting for the visitors, recently promoted to Serie A, as Riccardo Sottil could not be contained on the left, cutting in from the wing before firing just wide of the target.
Moments later, the home side was ahead through Giacomo Bonaventura, who showed all of his class and experience, curling a beautiful left-footed finish into the far corner.
The hosts’ lead would last less than two minutes though, as Cremonese fought back in emphatic fashion. Paolo Ghiglione’s cross from the right picked out David Okereke who was unmarked in the middle.
The forward executed a towering header, beating Pierluigi Gollini all ends up, netting for the second time in as many appearances for his new club.
Vincenzo Italiano’s men looked stunned by the equaliser, but eventually regained their composure and restored the lead. Sottil, the danger man once more, picked out Jovic inside the area, with the Serbian allowed far too much time to spin and shoot, picking out the far corner, leaving Radu rooted to the spot.
There would be another flashpoint before the break, with Gonzalo Escalante being dismissed for a two-footed lunge, leaving the referee with no choice but to produce a red card.
Down to 10 men, Cremonese refused to give in as they pursued a positive result on their return to the top flight. Anxiety was growing within the stadium, and Le Tigri took advantage to score an equaliser.
A corner from the left looked to be creeping in at the near post before Gollini palmed it away, only for Matteo Bianchetti to prod home.
Fiorentina piled the pressure on late as they searched for a winner. Rolando Madragora’s cross from the left was in a dangerous area but Radu was unchallenged.
Amazingly, the Romanian backpedalled into his own post, completely ruining his balance, and he fell with the ball into the back of the net, breaking Cremonese hearts of a famous opening day point.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Giacomo Bonaventura (Fiorentina)
Lazio - Bologna 2-1
Ciro Immobile scored on a fifth Serie A opening day in a row, to help 10-man Lazio come from behind and deny 10-man Bologna a first victory away to the Biancocelesti since 2012.
Despite high expectations heading into the season, Lazio’s Serie A campaign got off to the worst possible start when debutant goalkeeper Luis Maximiano saw red just six minutes in.
Adjudged to have handled outside the penalty area, the 23-year-old, who arrived from Granada in the summer, would not have endeared himself to the home faithful with his early blunder.
With the man advantage, Bologna naturally found themselves in the ascendancy, and the visitors were handed the chance to take the lead from the spot, when Mattia Zaccagni brought down Roberto Soriano inside the penalty area.
Amidst rumours linking him with a switch to Manchester United, Marko Arnautovic confidently converted from 12-yards to put the visitors ahead.
Already an action-packed opening 45 minutes, the drama continued right up until the half-time whistle, with two quick-fire yellow cards seeing Adama Soumaoro sent off.
Having been booked five minutes earlier, a clumsy trailing leg from the Bologna defender left referee Luca Massimi with little choice but to show the red.
Now back on a level playing field, the onus was on Lazio to take the game to their 10-man opponents.
Despite creating numerous chances, the hosts were unable to breach the Bologna backline, until a fortunate ricochet struck Bologna defender Lorenzo De Silvestri, before trundling across the goal line.
Inevitably, it was Immobile who popped up with yet another Serie A opening day strike, giving Lazio the three points. Bologna will be forced to wait yet another year for an away victory against Lazio, with over a decade having now passed since they last achieved just that.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ciro Immobile (Lazio)
Salernitana - Roma 0-1
Bryan Cristante’s deflected first-half strike was enough for AS Roma to clinch a 1-0 win away to Salernitana in their opening Serie A fixture.
Jose Mourinho’s men began making immediate inroads to the hosts’ penalty area, though putting the ball beyond Luigi Sepe and into the back of the net proved to be an issue for Nicolo Zaniolo, who spurned a hat trick of one-on-ones in the opening 24 minutes.
But there only looked to be one team drawing first blood, and Cristante was the man to open the Giallorossi’s account for the new season.
Picking the ball up on the edge of the box, he set himself before drilling across goal, and with Sepe unsighted, the ball took a deflection off the outstretched leg of Lassana Coulibaly on its way to the bottom right corner.
It was a mystery as to how Roma didn't build their lead come half time too, as Paulo Dybala struck the post, before Tammy Abraham’s follow-up in front of a seemingly open goal was blocked by Norbert Gyomber.
To give credit where due, Salernitana managed to stave off a nightmare restart and showed glimpses they were prepared to cause an upset, with Pasquale Mazzocchi denied a penalty minutes into the second half following a tussle with Rick Karsdorp.
They turned up the heat on Roma, though Rui Patricio remained untroubled as his defenders allowed not a single shot on target in the second half.
Hoping to kill the game, Mourinho turned to summer signings Georginio Wijnaldum and Nemanja Matic off the bench, and with 468 Premier League matches of experience between the duo, they were able to tighten up the midfield.
Wijnaldum was denied a debut goal three minutes from the end by the offside flag, but Cristante’s earlier strike proved to be enough to hand Roma their first points towards their aim of ending a four-year exodus outside of Serie A’s top four.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bryan Cristante (AS Roma)
Spezia - Empoli 1-0
Spezia registered their first victory on the opening day of a Serie A campaign at the third attempt of asking, after a 1-0 victory over Empoli at the Stadio Alberto Picco.
Hoping to build upon their convincing 5-1 victory over Serie B outfit Como in the first round of the Coppa Italia, the hosts began their opening 2022/23 SA contest in determined fashion.
Looking to avoid extending their record of 10 defeats across their previous 14 encounters, the visitors struggled to match their hosts’ invigorated attack, failing to register any meaningful efforts on Bartlomiej Dragowski’s goal until the 24th minute.
After flirting with the prospect of relegation last season, Spezia looked a completely unrecognisable outfit with last season’s top scorer Daniele Verde continuing to look menacing in the final third.
However, only five minutes after Dragowski had sublimely kept out Sam Lammers’ header, Spezia ruthlessly made their visitors pay for their missed opportunity, taking a deserved lead in the 38th minute.
Making the most of Simone Bastoni’s exquisite defence-splitting pass, M'Bala Nzola took the opportunity to open the scoring in his stride, slotting the ball through the legs of Guglielmo Vicario to open his and Spezia’s account for the season.
The hosts continued where they left off before the half-time interval, peppering Vicario’s goal with an array of goal-scoring opportunities as Empoli manager Paolo Zanetti continued to look concerned in the dugout.
On the brink of continuing their unwanted narrative of registering the fewest victories of any other Serie A side throughout 2022, Empoli introduced on-loan Inter Milan striker Martin Satriano into the fray for the final quarter of an hour.
Despite the alterations, Spezia remained relatively untroubled by their underwhelming visitors in the concluding stages to register their first-ever victory over Empoli in the league.
Meanwhile, Empoli's festering opening day away record continues for another year after a seventh defeat across their last nine matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: M'Bala Nzola (Spezia)
