Empoli 0-2 Inter Milan

A Zlatan Ibrahimovic double secured Inter their first win of the season, but it was not as straight forward a night as the scoreline suggests.

With Inter Milan keeper Julio Cesar suspended following his sending off in the opening game, experienced Italian Francesco Toldo was kept busy throughout the evening as Empoli constantly troubled the Inter defence. Any early nerves the Nerazzurri had, were eased when Maicon's left footed cross from the right was expertly turned in from Ibrahimovic with the outside of his boot.

Empoli midfielder Luca Antonini was given a good chance to equalise, when he was freed by Guillermo Giacomazzi's clever chip, Antonini controlled the ball on his chest but volleyed wide when he should have done better. Toldo was forced into a number of saves, Davide Moro testing him out from long range, and Nicola Pozzi headed his header down, only to be beaten away by the feet of Toldo.

Ibrahimovic settled it seven minutes from time, when Brazilian Aparecido Cesar played the ball through for the Swede to convert on Daniele Balli's near post, and inflict Empoli's first home defeat since December.


Atalanta 2-0 Parma

Atalanta achieved their first win of the new campaign, with a comfortable victory over a subdued Parma side at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.

Ferdinand Coly was alleged to have fouled Antonio Langella in the 21st minute, and it was Riccardo Zampagna that stepped up and confidently placed the ball into the corner of the net to give Atalanta the lead.

Parma failed to return with anything of great note, and the tie was seemingly over as a contest when Moris Carrozzieri headed in, relatively unchallenged from a Ferreira Pinto corner kick.

The result and performance will give Parma coach Domenico Di Carlo much to think about, and he will hope his new signings that were unavailable today at Atalanta, Bernardo Corradi and Kenyan midfielder Mariga, will offer them a greater threat going forward.


Cagliari 2-3 Juventus

An action packed second half saw five goals and two sending offs, and a Juventus victory that was perhaps a touch harsh on Cagliari.

The home side were undoubtedly the better side in the first half, Pasquale Foggia was a constant threat down the right, while strikers Joaquin Larrivey and Alessandro Matri were causing more than one or two problems for Jorge Andrade and Domenico Criscito. It was therefore ironic that Alessandro Del Piero should have given Juventus the lead on the brink of half time. He broke clear and lobbed the ball over keeper Marco Fortin but wastefully blasted the volley wide with a gaping goal at his mercy.

It was then poacher David Trezeguet that gave the Old Lady the lead in the second half, latching onto a brave header forward from substitute Mauro Camoranesi, to guide the ball into the net.

Nicola Legrottaglie replaced Criscito at the break to add a more physical presence at the back for Juventus. However, he was too physical when challenging Matri in the area, and Foggia converted the resultant penalty kick, despite Gigi Buffon getting a firm hand to it.

Chaos reigned on 69 minutes, when the referee pointed to a penalty for Cagliari following a tackle from Giorgio Chiellini, but the linesman intervened to correctly award a corner. Chiellini was upset, initially, to say the very least, and was restrained by his team mates, to the extent of Buffon covering the young Italian's mouth to ensure he did not get into further trouble.

Camoranesi was again involved in creating Juve's second, latching on to a hopeful ball over the top from Sergio Almiron, and catching Fortin in no mans land, with a clever volleyed lob over the keeper, gifting Del Piero the simple task of touching the ball in on the line.

Foggia was to equalise again, another goal from the penalty spot, with Zebina this time the guilty man. The Frenchman then got involved in a dispute with a cameraman pitchside, and aimed a slap in his direction, following his second yellow card, this time for dissent.

Cagliari full back Cristian Del Grosso was then unlucky to be sent off himself, following a lame second yellow card for minimal contact on Camoranesi, before Chiellini stole the headlines with a powerful header at the back post to give Juventus a hard earned victory.


Livorno 2-4 Palermo

Another four goals conceded for Livorno, following the five hit past them in their opening game against Juventus, will certainly worry coach Fernando Orsi. He was not helped here by the unavailability of top keeper Marco Amelia, who was ruled out due to his mindset, following his fallen through transfer to Palermo.

His stand in, Alfonso De Lucia, was at fault to gift Leandro Rinaudo the opener, when he parried Fabrizio Miccoli's free kick straight into his path.

Miccoli then struck twice in 14 minutes to give Palermo an unassailable lead. His first was a glorious free kick from 25 yards out, and then he combined with Amauri, before slipping the ball under De Lucia to make it three. Amauri soon after made it four, when he volleyed Miccoli's free kick home from six yards, amidst some poor Livorno marking. This was all in the first half.

Fausto Rossini replaced Diego Tristan in the second half for Livorno, and within a minute he had pulled a goal back. He exchanged passes with fellow substitute, Bogdani, and flicked the ball past the onrushing Alberto Fontana.

Alessandro Grandoni scored Livorno's second after 74 minutes, when he finished off a scramble in Palermo's box. Palermo had understandably lost their intensity in the second half, but the job was taken care of with their first half display.


Roma 3-0 Siena

Another Alberto Aquilani long range stunner set Roma on their way to their second win this season, this time at home to Siena.

It was on 17 minutes that the ball was laid back to Aquilani by Mirko Vucinic, and he thumped it home from just under 30 yards out, off the underside of the bar, giving keeper Alex Manninger no chance.

Siena had their chances to get back into the game, the best falling to Massimo Maccarone, but he shot straight at Alexander Doni.

Aquilani then struck the bar with another long range special, before Ludovic Giuly put the game out of sight, burying his chance into the bottom right hand corner. Francesco Totti, who won the Golden Shoe award for finishing top scorer in all European leagues last season, was handed his award before the game, and it was he who put the icing on the cake in this game. He struck a powerful finish from just inside the box, beating Manninger for sheer pace at his near post, having run unchallenged from the halfway line.


Torino 2-2 Reggina

Two draws in two games for both sides, following this entertaining game at the Olimpico.

The clock had just ticked past the half hour mark, when Nicola Amoruso's well struck shot found its way into the goal to give Reggina the lead, despite keeper Matteo Sereni getting a good hand on the ball.

Alessandro Rosina skipped past the diving Reggina challenges to coolly slide the ball past Andrea Campagnolo to equalise.

Torino debutant Alvaro Recoba had a hand in their second goal, when he released Salvatore Lanna down the left, he put the ball in first time, amidst claims that the ball was already out, and Nicola Ventola completed the easy task of directing his header into the unguarded goal.

Reggina left it very late, equalising in the 90th minute. They were awarded an indirect free kick inside the area, when Joelson received a high boot to his ear, and the ball was touched to Ciccio Cozza who kept his drive down from 8 yards out to send both teams home with a point.


Udinese 0-5 Napoli

Both these teams had a contrasting opening to the new season, Udinese held Champions Inter at the San Siro, while Napoli were booed off the pitch at San Paolo, following their disappointing defeat to Cagliari.

So for Napoli to register such a comfortable victory came as something of a surprise. It was a surging run down the left wing from Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi, that created the first scoring opportunity for Marcelo Zalayeta, who duly tapped home from close range.

The lead was doubled after 41 minutes, when firstly, Zalayeta rose to get his head to the ball, then Paolo Cannavaro flicked the ball into the path of Maurizio Domizzi to hammer home from five yards out.

The impressive Lavezzi opened his Serie A account, when he cut inside from the right to unleash an unstoppable left foot shot, and Zalayeta got his second of the afternoon seven minutes later, when he punished Udinese keeper Antonio Chimenti for missing a tame cross, leaving him with an easy tap in.

The final goal of the day arrived just under 10 minutes from time, when Lavezzi was again involved, playing a defence splitting ball through to substitute Roberto Sosa who slid in to poke it past Chimenti to complete a thoroughly miserable day for Udinese.


Catania 0-0 Genoa

It was a return of football to the Angelo Massimino Stadium, after the tragedy that occurred during the riots back in February. However, the crowd were not given a great deal to cheer, with the game ending in a 0-0 stalemate.

Catania coach Silvio Baldini was denied his place on the bench, following his months suspension for his altercation with Parma coach Domenico Di Carlo. Catania bossed the opening half, but it was Genoa's Ndiaye Papa Waigo that came closest to breaking the deadlock, when his header rebounded off the post. It was Papa Waigo that troubled the Catania defence throughout, and as Genoa got themselves more into the game in the second half, Albano Bizzarri was forced to make a smart save from the Senegalese striker. The ball did finally cross the line, as the visitors thought they had clinched the win, but the referee had blown for a push.

Sampdoria 0-0 Lazio

Neither sides could muster a goal to win the game, despite Sampdoria being reduced to ten men after 82 minutes. Sampdoria fans were hoping to see Antonio Cassano make his debut, but he and Vincenzo Montella had to make do with a place on the substitutes bench.

Lazio took control of the first half, and Tommaso Rocchi forced Sampdoria keeper Antonio Mirante into a smart full stretched save. Rocchi has made an impressive start to the season, but was to be denied adding to his goal tally in this game. Marco Ballotta, Lazio's 43-year old stopper, pulled off a vital save as half time approached, denying Claudio Bellucci's header, which was the best chance of the half.

Christian Ziegler received his second yellow card for a foul on Massimo Mutarelli, which meant that Cassano was not going to make his debut in this game. Sampdoria substitute Paolo Sammarco had a great opportunity to win the game for the home side in the dying minutes of the game. Montella dummied, to leave Sammarco with just Ballotta to beat, but he chipped over the bar, as the game finished with honours even.


AC Milan 1-1 Fiorentina

This game was re-arranged for the Monday night, following Milan's appearance in the Super Cup final on Friday night. The home side made only one change from that game, opting to go in with Alberto Gilardino ahead of Pippo Inzaghi. Fiorentina were missing the vital contribution of injured midfielder Riccardo Montolivio.

Fiorentina keeper Sebastien Frey denied Gilardino with an outstanding reaction save, before Milan did take the lead with a Kaka penalty. Dario Dainelli was the guilty man, his mistimed challenge on Massimo Ambrosini led to AC Milan Kaka's third goal of the live Serie A season.

Giampaolo Pazzini was twice denied by Brazilian keeper Dida, and it was not until 11 minutes into the second half, that the Viola got their equaliser. Mario Santana delivered a cross to the back post, where he found Adrian Mutu, who made no mistake in heading past Dida.

Both sides had decent chances to win the game, but no-one could quite manage it, keeping both their unbeaten starts intact. Serie A is proving a very exciting league to watch, with a number of goals flying in the opening weeks of the season. Log onto our website at Free-Football.tv.