Category: Italy Serie A

There were signs of disharmony even after Rafael Leão’s equaliser against Lazio as Milan extended their winless start

The cooling break ought to have been a moment of opportunity for Milan, a chance to come together and plan a final assault. They had just pulled level at 2-2 away to Lazio, Rafael Leão driving the ball home from Tammy Abraham’s pass barely a minute after they were both introduced from the bench.

With a little over a quarter of an hour remaining, players gathered around their manager, Paulo Fonseca, to take on water and listen to his instructions. All except for Leão and Theo Hernández, who convened instead on the far side of the pitch.

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• Former PSG attacker scores twice in 2-0 win
• England captain converts penalty for Bayern

Kylian Mbappé opened his La Liga account at the fourth time of asking with a double to fire Real Madrid to a 2-0 home win over Real Betis.

Mbappé had failed to score in Madrid’s opening three league fixtures, which resulted in the champions dropping points at Mallorca and Las Palmas.

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• Raphinha hat-trick helps Barça extend their perfect start
• Napoli score twice in stoppage time to sink 10-man Parma

Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and added two assists to guide Barcelona to a 7-0 rout of Real Valladolid in La Liga on Saturday.

Hansi Flick’s side will go into the international break top of the table with a perfect 12 points from four games, seven clear of bitter rivals Real Madrid, who have a game in hand. Facing a side who gave Madrid a tough game last weekend, Barça were ruthless as they took their goal tally to 13 from four matches.

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Former Southampton striker has made strong start at new club, but there are simmering tensions in the background

By full time, the joke going around the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino was that nobody should let the home team’s owner know how good his new striker was. Ché Adams had marked his full debut for the Granata with a goal and an assist, helping turn a 1-0 deficit against Atalanta into a 2-1 win. So, naturally, Torino’s supporters were starting to worry how long it would be until their club tried to cash in.

It has been a painful summer of bidding farewell to their favourites. The centre-back Alessandro Buongiorno, whose breakout season earned him a place in Italy’s Euro 2024 squad, was sold to Napoli. Raoul Bellanova, who served up seven assists from right wing-back, completed a transfer to Atalanta just days before Torino were due to face them.

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• Bayern win 3-2 in Vincent Kompany’s first league match
• Real Madrid 3-0 Valladolid; Napoli 3-0 Bologna

A late goal by Serge Gnabry secured Bayern Munich a hard-fought 3-2 Bundesliga victory at Wolfsburg to give their new coach Vincent Kompany a winning start.

Wolfsburg began brightly but it was the visitors who made the better chances in the first half, taking the lead after fine work by Sacha Boey down the right to set up Jamal Musiala for an easy tap-in. Bayern made a poor start to the second half, however, as they gave away a penalty when Tiago Tomas was brought down by Boey, and Lovro Majer made no mistake from the spot.

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• Milan shocked by 2-1 loss to Parma in Serie A
• Dortmund make winning start in Bundesliga

Robert Lewandowski smashed home a rebound to earn Barcelona a 2-1 win against Athletic Bilbao in an absorbing La Liga clash on Saturday.

A deflected strike by Lamine Yamal in the 24th minute gave Barça the lead. The visitors levelled in the 42nd minute when Oihan Sancet struck home from the penalty spot after Pau Cubarsí fouled Álex Berenguer inside the box.

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If the four-time Scudetto winner was supposed to cure Napoli’s ills, a 3-0 defeat to Verona soon nixed that idea

Antonio Conte was ready to lead by example. Asked what fans could expect from Napoli this season, during his official unveiling as manager in June, he promised the team would have “una faccia incazzata” – “a pissed-off face”. On the eve of their season opener at Verona, he showed up with one of his own.

“I expected to find a better situation,” he said, as he assessed his team’s readiness for the new campaign. “I thought there might be some positive surprises [to go with the challenges] but I’ve struggled to find any.”

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• Napoli lose 3-0 at Verona in Conte’s first league game
• Mallorca hit back in second half against Real Madrid

Napoli’s Serie A season kicked off in disastrous fashion on Sunday when they were overwhelmed 3-0 at Verona and lost midfielder Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after he collided with an opposing player.

Antonio Conte, in his first league match in charge of the 2023 champions, was forced to take off Kvaratskhelia just before half-time when the Georgian looked uncomfortable after the collision.

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