With a trip to Roma and a match against mighty Milan in their opening two fixtures, Cesena could have been forgiven for embarking upon only their 12th season in Serie A with a touch of fear.
But the Emilia-Romagna team, who two seasons ago were playing in Serie C, have defied the odds and sit top of the Italian tree after drawing in Rome and beating the Rossoneri and Lecce at their atmospheric Dino Manuzzi stadium.
On Sunday, Cesena needed all the help from the ground’s boisterous 23,000 fans – a quarter of the city’s population – after playing most of the match against Lecce with 10 men.
Midfielder Giuseppe Colucci was given his marching orders following a second caution after apparently being mistaken for Japanese defender Nuto Nagatomo. But despite the injustice, Albanian Erjon Bogdani struck his second goal of the campaign to claim all three points and keep his side above Inter on goal difference.
Cesena, who are yet to concede in Serie A this term, will need all that fighting spirit along with Colucci, who is appealing the dismissal, when they take on Catania in Sicily today.
“We are not looking at the table. We just want to stay up,” said coach Massimo Ficcadenti, whose cosmopolitan squad features a clutch of on-loan players.
“There’s no particular secret to our game – we are playing with team spirit.”
Breathing down their necks are champions Inter, who host Bari after entertaining and impressing in equal amounts on Sunday with a 2-1 comeback win at Palermo.
Samuel Eto’o, who grabbed a brace, confirmed his fine form but Diego Milito, last season’s goalscoring hero, has been struggling in front of goal and was taken off with some words of advice from new coach Rafa Benitez.
“We talked about (Peter) Crouch, who at Liverpool went 19 games without scoring,” said the former Reds boss, who is hoping Dutchman Wesley Sneijder will be able to return from injury.
Fresh from their stunning comeback win at Sampdoria, the unpredictable Napoli host third-place Chievo at the San Paolo stadium.
Fifth-place Brescia, victors at Chievo on Sunday, entertain Roma, who have begun the season in the kind of sluggish form that saw Luciano Spalletti replaced by Claudio Ranieri early last season.
“The defence is not working as it did last year,” said Ranieri, whose side is refusing, yet again, to talk to reporters after captain Francesco Totti was quoted as describing Roma’s tactics as ‘the old ways of catenaccio’.
“We respect the press but someone has not been fair to me and the players.”
To add insult to injury, city rivals Lazio have begun the season surprisingly well with two wins out of three and sit fourth in Serie A following Saturday’s impressive victory at struggling Fiorentina.
Edy Reja’s side entertain Milan in what is shaping up to be a match that will test both sides’ credentials.
With a win, a loss and a draw, new Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri has had a chance to weigh up his forward-heavy squad and he is eager to make new striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic a central component of his team’s play.
Improving Juventus, who enjoyed the luxury of strolling through the second 45 minutes against Udinese after scoring three of their four unanswered goals in the first half, host out-of-sorts Palermo tomorrow.
Playing today (20.45)
Cagliari vs Sampdoria; Lazio vs Milan; Catania vs Cesena; Inter vs Bari; Napoli vs Chievo; Brescia vs Roma; Lecce vs Parma; Genoa vs Fiorentina; Bologna vs Udinese.
Tomorrow (20.45)
Juventus vs Palermo.