Milan start badly against Bologna
Sun 31 Aug, 06:30 PMInter's disappointment at dropping two points in their Serie A opener will have been eased by both Roma and AC Milan failing to win on Sunday.Italian champions Inter Milan began their quest for a fourth straight Scudetto with a 1-1 draw at Sampdoria on Saturday and would probably have expected to lose ground to both Roma and AC Milan on the first round of fixtures.
But Roma could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to 10-man Napoli while Milan's miserable form at the San Siro continued with a 2-1 loss to Bologna.
Not even Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko were able to reverse a trend of bad results at home which effectively condemned Milan to finishing only fifth last season.
Marco di Vaio put Bologna ahead in the 18th minute at the San Siro and, although Massimo Ambrosini got the Rossoneri back on level terms at the break, a wonder-goal from Francesco Valiani sealed the win for Bologna 10 minutes from time.
Roma, meanwhile, went ahead in the 29th minute through Alberto Aquilani as they dominated the first half against Napoli.
But it was a different story in the second period with Marek Hamsik netting a deserved equaliser in the 55th minute - shortly after Fabiano Santacroce was sent off for the visitors.
Roma's Eternal City rivals Lazio enjoyed a much more productive first afternoon, coming from behind to record a thumping 4-1 win at Cagliari.
Joaquin Larrivey put the hosts in the ascendancy but they were reduced to 10 men just after the hour mark when Diego Lopez was given his marching orders.
And Delio Rossi's men took full advantage of their numerical superiority with a brace from new signing Mauro Zarate (one penalty) and further strikes from substitute Pasquale Foggia and Goran Pandev.
The emphatic triumph sees Lazio take the early lead at the Serie A summit on goals scored from Torino - 3-0 winners at home to newly-promoted Lecce.
Alessandro Rosina's penalty in the 29th minute gave the hosts the ideal start, before Paolo Zanetti added a second four minutes later and debutant Rolando Bianchi headed home the third to complete the rout 16 minutes from time.
Other teams to enjoy winning starts on Sunday were Atalanta, Catania and Chievo.
Simone Padoin's 15th-minute goal was enough for Atalanta to register a 1-0 victory at home to Siena, who were not helped by the dismissal of Massimo Maccarone with four minutes remaining.
Walter Zenga's Catania edged past visiting Genoa 1-0 thanks to a Giuseppe Mascara strike just after the hour.
Chievo made a triumphant return to the top flight with a late 2-1 home win over Reggina.
Having spent just one season in the second division, the Gialloblu made a fine start to the new campaign and came back from a goal down through Michele Marcolini's penalty in the 76th minute and Vincenzo Italiano's strike two minutes from time.
Bernard Corradi had briefly put the visitors ahead with a 72nd-minute spot-kick but Reggina could not find an equaliser despite Chievo new boy Antonio Langella's dismissal late on.
Sunday's action concludes with the evening kick-off between Fiorentina and Juventus.
In Saturday's Serie A curtain-raiser, Antonio di Natale scored twice as Udinese posted a convincing 3-1 victory over Palermo.
The Italy international put the home side in control with two first-half strikes and, although Palermo threatened a comeback when Mark Bresciano scored, highly-rated Switzerland midfielder Gokhan Inler settled the contest shortly after.
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Midfielder Valiani blasted the ball home from outside the box in the 79th minute after Massimo Ambrosini had cancelled out Marco Di Vaio's goal for Bologna in the first half.
Last year's runners-up Roma drew 1-1 with Napoli, who had defender Fabiano Santacroce sent off for a second yellow card in the 54th minute.
Juventus also drew 1-1 at Fiorentina in Sunday's late game, which meant none of Italy's big four made a winning start, after champions Internazionale were held 1-1 at Sampdoria on Saturday.
Former Italy forward Di Vaio, a close-season signing from Genoa, dented the San Siro's excitement at Ronaldinho's debut in the 18th minute with a fine diagonal strike.
The Brazilian had a hand in the equaliser, floating a cross into the area four minutes before the break for Ambrosini to head home.
Ronaldinho went on to create a string of chances that his team mates failed to put away.
One fell to Andriy Shevchenko, who could not find the net with only the keeper to beat at the start of the second half after coming off the bench to mark his return to Milan after two troubled seasons at Chelsea.
"Early season surprises can happen when teams that aren't in top condition meet better prepared sides, like Bologna today," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti told Sky television.
"The impression I had is that this team can do excellent things, perhaps by changing something, maybe the system of play. My optimism derives, above all, from Ronaldinho's performance."
At Rome's Stadio Olimpico, Alberto Aquilani nudged the ball home for the hosts just before the half hour after fellow Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi had picked him out in the area.
Marek Hamsik knocked in the rebound of his own header on to the crossbar to level for Napoli shortly after Santacroce's sending off.
In Florence, Alberto Gilardino spun away from marker Olof Mellberg to fire into the net and earn the home side a point in the 89th minute.
Pavel Nedved had opened the score in the 39th after his Czech compatriot Zdenek Grygera burst into the box from the right and served an inviting pass from the baseline.
Fiorentina had Felipe Melo sent off shortly before Gilardino's equalizer for a bad tackle on Juve's Cristian Poulsen.
In Sunday's other matches, Torino beat Lecce 3-0 in Turin, Lazio came from behind to beat 10-man Cagliari 4-1 in Sardinia, Atalanta and Catania secured 1-0 home wins over Siena and Genoa, and Chievo beat Reggina 2-1 in Verona.
Those teams join Bologna and Udinese, who beat Palermo 3-1 in their opening game on Saturday, at the top of Serie A.
