The Serie A 2020/21 season returns for its second weekend after last week’s exciting opening fixtures. Last week saw victories for Champions Juventus as they ran out 3-0 victors over Sampdoria, Napoli defeated Parma 2-0 away from home and Roma after drawing 1-1 with Hellas Verona were suspect to registering an ineligible player of the wrong age, they were forced to forfeit their point they gained and the result changed to a 3-0 Hellas Verona victory. Here’s a quick look ahead to this weekend’s fixtures.
Torino vs Atalanta 14:00pm SAT
This week starts with the exciting Atalanta visiting the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino to face a Torino side that will be looking to improve on last season’s 16th place disappointing finish. Atalanta on the other hand will be looking to build on last season’s excellent showing and gain consistency in their young adapting squad. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side were by far and away the highest scorers in the division with 98 goals with their 3rd place finish in Italy’s top league. Torino started their campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Fiorentina whereas Atalanta are yet to play.
Inter Milan vs Fiorentina 19:45pm SAT
Antonio Conte will be looking to build on an impressive first campaign in charge of the blue side of Milan guiding Inter to 2nd place in the Serie A table aswell as runners-up in the Europa league, losing out to Sevilla in the final 3-2. Inter Milan are yet to play this season but will be looking to Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez to continue their excellent goalscoring form from the previous campaign. Fiorentina got off to a good start with a 1-0 win over Torino at the Artemio Franchi, the goal from Gaetano Castrovelli being the deciding factor in the game. Fiorentina will be looking to ex Wolves player Patrick Cutrone for the goals and hope they can return to the European places this season after a disappointing 10th place finish last campaign.
Napoli vs Genoa 14:00pm SUN
Sleeping giants Napoli welcome Genoa to the San Paolo this Sunday with the side looking to build on the impressive 2-0 win at Parma last weekend. Goals from Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne helped the side win in the Ennio Tardini. Genoa had a very impressive start to the season after winning their first match 4-1 against league newcomers Crotone, on paper it should have been a straightforward win for Genoa but nevertheless a big victory gives them a basis to build on. Last season was a disappointing season for both these sides with Napoli sacking Carlo Ancelotti and letting Gennaro Gattuso taking the helm, he guided them to a 7th place finish after a poor start left them trailing behind their rivals. Genoa finished 17th last season surviving on the last day with victory over Verona on the final day. Both sides looking to build on their opening day glories.
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Crotone vs AC Milan 17:00pm SUN
Speaking of sleeping giant’s AC Milan will also be looking to improve on their great start to the new Serie A season, after their 2-0 victory over Bologna at the San Siro. It must be make or break for AC Milan this season with the club made barely any progress in the recent years after a major fall off. AC Milan’s resident Swede Zlatan Ibrahimović at the age of 38 scored a brace to secure the 3 points on Monday night. Crotone are the new boys to the Serie A after winning the Serie B last season and look to have a major task on their hands to stay up this season. They lost a few key players from the squad that helped them gain promotion and look to be real favourites to be in the relegation zone this season. As previously mentioned, they suffered a 4-1 defeat to Genoa on the opening weekend. AC Milan will be without their star man Zlatan Ibrahimović after he tested positive for Corona virus, our condolences are with the COVID 19 in these tough times.
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Roma vs Juventus 19:45 SUN
Andrea Pirlo got off to the perfect start as manager of The Old Lady last weekend as Juventus ran out 3-0 winners over Sampdoria with goals from young swede Dejan Kulusevski, Leonardo Bonucci and of course Cristiano Ronaldo. Juventus will be searching for another Serie A title and look the favourites to do so. It will be interesting to see how Pirlo does in his first real managerial job and with his first real test being this weekend we may start to see the way he wants his side to play. For Roma they were stripped of their point they received against Hellas Verona for registering midfielder Amadou Diawara as an U-22 player when he is actually 23-years-old. Roma will feel hard done by and will want to bounce back, not necessarily the best team to be facing after such a controversial fixture. Roma last season finished 5th securing European football and will be looking to develop that and try to get back into the Champions League but may be without star striker Edin Dzeko as he may be on his way to the opposition side.