Serie A week one round up

The Italian Serie A season got off to a brilliant start with no less then 35 goals in the 10 games, including a home defeat for A.S. Roma and a late win for Palermo against Inter Milan.

Last week I predicted Roma to be AC Milan's closest rivals and I don't expect that to change despite their poor performance to go with the result against Cagliari. The team has brought in many new faces and with a new coach the team will take time to gel. The game itself saw Cagliari open the scoring mid way through the second half when Jose Angel's poor headed clearence hit Daniele Conti in the penalty box, giving Conti time to turn and smash the ball past Maarten Stekelenburg in the Roma goal.

Barely a minute later Angel's day turned for the worse when the Spaniard was sent off for serious foul play. The game went into injury time with Cagliari leading 1-0, and they doubled their lead in the third added minute through a solo goal from substitute Moestafa El Kabir, who beat Stekelenburg with a good finish. Daniele De Rossi finish from a saved free-kick saw Roma half their defeciet, however with the full time whistle straight after the goal, no undeserved hope was aroused.

Andrea Pirlo starred on his Juventus debut as the Old Lady easily overcame a poor Parma side. Full back Stephan Lichtsteiner opened the scoring on his league debut, after Pirlo's beautiful chipped past found the former Lazio man who finished well when one on one with the Parma keeper.

Alessandro Matri was guility of spurning many oppourtunites, however it didn't matter as Simone Pepe doubled Juve's lead with a drilled finished on the hour mark. Another debutant in Arturo Vidal, made it three with a half volley from outside the box. The former Leverkusen man started on the bench, but is expected to be a key player for Antonio Conti's new look Juventus side.

The best goal was saved till last however, as Pirlo once again showed he still has his incredible passing range with a beautiful lifted ball into Claudio Marchisio who superbly lifted the ball over Nicola Pavarini to make it four. A late Sebastian Giovinco penalty failed to dampen the magnitude of how one sided the encouter was.

Elsewhere in Italy, AC Milan drew 2-2 with Lazio on Friday night, with all four goals coming in an action packed first half. Miroslav Klose and Djibril Ciise stunned the hosts with an early goal apiece, both well taken finishes. AC Milan were fortunate they were still in the game before Antonio Cassano ensured Zlatan Ibrahimovic couldn't miss from a yard. Four minutes later, the creater of the first goal levelled the scored when Cassano headed home from a corner.

Palermo edged a classic against Inter Milan 4-3. Diego Milito had opened the scoring for Inter, before Fabrizo Miccoli levelled. The Argentine again gave Inter the lead, only for Abel Hernandez to draw Palermo level for a second time. With the game heading towards an entertaining draw, there was three goals in the last five minutes. The former Benfica man Miccoli doubled his account for the game as Palermo took the lead for the first time, before Pinilla put the game out of reach of the 2010 Champions. A late debut goal from Diego Forlan couldn't save Inter as they lost their first game of the 2011/12 season.

Udinese started life without the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Cristian Zapata and Gokan Inhler with a comfortable 2-0 away win against Leece, with captain and club hero Antonio Di Natale unsuprisingly amongst the scorers. Manchester City target Alessandro Cerci scored Fiorentina's second in their easy 2-0 home win against Bolonga.