Inter rivals given easy start

Inter’s main Serie A rivals Roma and city neighbours Milan have both been given a great chance to open the new season with a bang, beginning against newly-promoted teams.

Roma host Cesena this evening while Milan entertain Lecce tomorrow, in games both sides will be expected to win comfortably.

And for two sides who a year ago stumbled out of the blocks, it is possibly the perfect tonic to launch a bid to dethrone Inter, who have won the last five titles.

Cesena are probably the rank outsiders this season having arrived in Serie A after successive promotions from the third tier of Italian football.

They have not played in Serie A since 1991 and with the exception of newly-acquired Stephen Appiah, the Ghana captain, their team is made up largely of unknowns.

It means Roma will be expected to get off to a flyer and avoid the dire start that befell them last season when they lost their opening two matches and had already dropped to 14 points behind Inter a third of the way into the season.

Roma will have to cope without new signing Adriano, once the most feared striker in Serie A before reported problems with alcohol and depression saw him lose form, shape and motivation and eventually resulted in a move back to his homeland in Brazil.

However, Adriano would have been unlikely to start anyway and Roma will be close to full strength.

Milan also have what on paper looks an easy game against a Lecce side that have been something of a yo-yo team between Serie A and Serie B in recent years.

Like Roma, Milan started badly last season, scoring only six goals in their first nine matches in all competitions, winning just three.

Both Roma and Milan fought back from their poor starts to get into the title race but while the capital-based team took Inter to the wire, Milan fell away over the last month of the season.

Both, though, had the problem of playing catch-up, whereas this season the schedule, and Inter’s participation in last night’s European Super Cup, means they could steal a march on the champions.

Inter, who lost 2-0 to Atletico Madrid in Monaco last night, don’t start their campaign until Monday, away to Bologna.

While Bologna are a team that have mostly struggled against relegation these last few seasons, they can be stubborn opponents and can call on captain and forward Marco Di Vaio, who only a couple of seasons ago finished second in the scoring charts.

Even though Inter’s game looks tougher than their two main rivals, the champions will probably be one of the sharpest teams in the league at the start having by then played both the Italian Super Cup and European Super Cup, two competitive matches.

The other Italian giant Juventus have the toughest start of the big four as they travel to Bari.

Juve have also had early season games having played Shamrock Rovers and Sturm Graz in the Europa League qualifying section.

But they did not enjoy their trip to Bari last season, losing 3-1 during a mid-season collapse in which they lost five out of six games from the end of November through December.

Of the rest, Sampdoria, who were knocked out of the Champions League by Werder Bremen on Tuesday, open up with a home match against Lazio while newly-promoted Brescia travel to Parma.

Serie A

Today
Udinese vs Genoa 18.00
Roma vs Cesena 20.45

Tomorrow – 20.45
Bari vs Juventus 18.00
Chievo vs Catania
Fiorentina vs Napoli
Milan vs Lecce
Palermo vs Cagliari
Parma vs Brescia
Sampdoria vs Lazio

Monday – 20.45
Bologna vs Inter

Serie B

Today – 18.30
AlbinoLeffe vs Livorno
Ascoli vs Modena
Cittadella vs Torino
Crotone vs Padova
Piacenza vs Frosinone
Sassuolo vs Grosseto
Siena vs Reggina
Varese vs Atalanta
Vicenza vs Portogruaro

Monday – 19.00
Empoli vs Pescara