It finally happened. The Serie A season kicked off and Juventus opened their account with a solid 4-1 win. The first match was held on Friday between Lazio and Milan in what started out as a potential match of the year before fizzling down to an ordinary 2-2 tie. The first half saw a barrage of goals scored in a quick period with new Lazio signings Klose and Cisse finding the back of the net before Cassano and Ibrahimovic would quickly answer. However exciting the first half was, the second half turned out to be much calmer with the game ending 2 goals a piece. Saturday saw Napoli travel to Cesena and the Neopolitans capitalized on a man advantage. This was all a little appetizer leading up to Juventus' match on Sunday. Unlike last season, the first game lived up to the hype. For a packed crowd, the home side made work of Parma scoring 4 goals and barely missing a handful more. There were a lot of great things to take away from this game. Many of the new signings looked great. Pirlo made the biggest impression being a midfield general, dictating the game, making amazing passes. Lichtsteiner and Vidal both scored on their debut while Marchisio had a great game and a great goal. Even with all that going on, the best thing to take away from this match is that they allowed a goal. Too many times in the past, Juve have gotten too comfortable and then lost games they shouldn't. One of the biggest challenges this year will be to keep the team grounded when they go on a roll. The worst thing that could happen is taking teams to easy and taking the foot of the gas. Mistakes like De Ceglie's will only make Conte work the team harder and keep them focused on perfection. I absolutely love Conte's take after the game. One of the first things Conte expressed about the game was the necessary to not commit stupid fouls and get cards. I love his no-nonsense style of coaching and his attitude towards each fixture. It is good to grab some early points when neither Inter or Milan win, and it must be stressed to the players that every game is just as important as the last. It is too early to tell but this will probably be a very exciting year for Serie A. Unlike the EPL and La Liga, there are going to be a handful of teams slugging it out.
As competitive as this year will be in Serie A, this weeks results don't bode well for European glory. It is possible that the cancelled week 1 may have an effect, but Milan, Napoli, and Inter did not impress me enough to believe they can advance deep into the Champions League. Everyone is talking about Napoli's group and how hard it is. I still like Napoli and think they play a great brand of football but the 3-1 win against 10 man Cesena didn't show me enough to believe they can go out and beat Man City (who are dismantling teams right now). Neither Milan or Inter won this week and I thought the Milan defense looked a little ragged and too easily beaten down the wings. If Lazio can do that to them, how will Barcelona fair. Inter have a fairly easy group so if they can afford a slow start. This was only week one, so it is expected that their are still a lot of things every club needs to do. Either way it was a great weekend of matches and I expect many more great games to come in the future.
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