For the last three years, Serie A has been full of fun and no shortage of surprises with results which have taken this SBOTOP writer aback, not to mention upset the Serie A betting odds.
Based on this weekend, the 2024/25 campaign is going to be no different.
I’m going to start with the giants which hail from the beautiful city of Milan – home to the 2022 and 2024 Italian champions.
What contrasting weekends they had!
The first stop has to be newly promoted Parma.
Their current crop may be a pale imitation of the side which thrilled Europe during much of the 1990s, but their Serie A highlights collection is up and running once more after a memorable 2-1 victory over Milan.
Dennis Man and Matteo Cancellieri were the match-winning marksmen but it was a team effort with 20 year-old striker Ange-Yoan Bonny particularly impressive for Fabio Pecchia’s men.
It took less than a minute and a half for the home side to break the deadlock as Emanuele Valeri rolled the ball into the danger zone and Romanian international Man was on hand to tap home from close range.
Milan, missing new signing Alvaro Morata alongside the likes of Alessandro Florenzi and Marco Sportiello, had chances to level but it took them until midway through the second half when the always lively Rafael Leao danced down the left, played a 1-2 with Theo Hernandez and found American attacker Christian Pulisic for the most straightforward of tap-ins.
Former Premier League men Emerson Royal and Youssouf Fofana made their Milan debuts moments later but Parma grabbed what proved to be the winner 13 minutes from time which owed a lot to Pontus Almqvist who ran from inside his own half before finding Cancellieri who did the rest.
If that was the result of the weekend (jointly), then Udinese deserve plenty of credit for running out home winners over Lazio by the same scoreline with Lorenzo Lucca and Florian Thauvin on target.
Depending on your allegiance, there was confusion and frustration (or both) around the opening goal as the offside flag was raised during the build-up.
The referee’s whistle did not sound, however, as Lucca nodded in a Thauvin cross and, when VAR intervened, the goal stood.
Udinese doubled their advantage shortly after the restart as a misplaced pass from Matteo Guendouzi was seized upon and Thauvin ran clear before coolly stroking the ball into the bottom corner without challenge.
After that, it appeared fairly straightforward until midway through the second half when Udinese were reduced to 10 men as Hassane Kamara received a second booking for a lunge on Gustav Isaksen.
The same player pounced deep in stoppage time after a Mattia Zaccagni snapshot was parried into his path, but it was too little too late for a side who are aiming to improve on their seventh placed finish last term.
Back to Milan and, of course, one team are clear favourites to make it back-to-back titles this term.
There’s a reason for that.
Inter not only won the Italian title last term, but they romped it.
Finishing 19 points clear of their nearest competitors, city rivals Milan, the Nerazzurri lost just two of their 38 league matches, conceded 22 goals (nine fewer than the team with the next best defensive record) and provided the league’s top scorer in Lautaro Martinez (24 goals).
They also went 28 matches unbeaten and won 10 games in a row.
World Cup winner Martinez actually scored eight goals more than his nearest rival, Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic, and was joined in the top 10 of the league’ scorers by team-mates Marcus Thuram and Hakan Calhanoglu, who grabbed 13 apiece.
They only need five minutes to open the scoring against Lecce at the San Siro too as former Man Utd man Matteo Darmian looped a header into the far corner of the net.
The influential Calhanoglu secured Simone Inzaghi’s side their first win of the season from the penalty spot in the 69th minute, after Inter were awarded a penalty for Kialonda Gaspar’s foul on Thuram.
The team who held Inter on the opening weekend, Genoa, continued their fine start to the campaign as they snatched victory at Monza – a header from debutant Andrea Pinamonti separating the sides.
Meanwhile, former Southampton striker Che Adams enjoyed a dream home debut for Torino with an assist and the matchwinner as they edged out Europa League winners Atalanta in Turin.
That was only possible as home goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić saved a 96th minute penalty from Mario Pasalic to spark wild scenes amongst the home faithful.
Elsewhere, Napoli were in action at home to last season’s surprise package, but now significantly weakened, Bologna.
Under new boss Antonio Conte, the 2023 champions could not have made a worse start to the campaign as they went down 3-0 to Verona seven days earlier.
Conte’s appointment this summer had brought an immediate rush of optimism to a club that was coming off one of the worst-ever title defences, finishing in 10th position, 41 points behind the Inter team that dethroned them.
It is too soon to know where their season will lead, just as it is too early to write off Conte at Napoli, but his track record dictates that, if he doesn’t get the backing he wants in the transfer market, his relationships don’t last long.
With Romelu Lukaku and Scott McTominay seemingly on the way, he may well get his wish and there was certainly improvement as they recorded a 3-0 home win on Sunday night, courtesy of goals from Giovanni Di Lorenzo – converting a superb Khvicha Kvaratskhelia pass in first half stoppage time – the Georgian himself and, deep in injury time, Giovanni Simeone.
How Roma could have done with the same as Empoli stunned them in the Stadio Olimpico – Paulo Dybala denied an equaliser by the post in stoppage time.
For a team which survived by a solitary point last term, this was a result to match the achievements of Parma a day earlier.
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