Author: Serg Atrakhov, Amrit Santlani
Udinese – Juventus – 0:3
After winning the Scudetto for the last time in 2020, and after finishing seventh, missing out on the Champions League and the club’s ongoing financial turmoil, the Old Lady’s fans finally had something to celebrate as they kicked off the new season with a convincing win over Udinese.
Juve traveled to the Udinese Stadium, the same venue where both teams played their final matches of last season. The eminent visitors scored three goals in the first half. Turintsy opened the scoring very quickly. In the fifth minute, Vlahovic found Chiesa with a pass. The Italian shot straight at Marco Silvestri, who could only watch as the ball went into the back of the net. 1:0.
Fifteen minutes later, after a corner kick, Alex Sandro hit Ebosele’s exposed hand. Vlahovic took the penalty with precision – 2-0.
In injury time, Rabiot was in the right place at the right time to score a header from four meters after Silvestri came out to collect Andrea Cambiaso’s cross, but he didn’t get anywhere near the ball either.
In the second half, Schensny made some good saves. Maybe Udinese deserved a goal, but no more than that. The hosts missed many chances in the second half and Vlahovic had the ball in the back of the net again, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
With regard to the Brazilians. Wallace spent the entire match for the hosts with the captain’s armband. At Juventus, the central defensive trio was Brazilian: Bremer, Alex Sandro and team captain Danilo. Although the last two received yellow cards, the victory with a “dry” score is to their credit.
Inter – Monza – 2:0
Monza had beaten Inter at San Siro in April, so Simone Inzaghi’s men were wary of the threat posed by last season’s Serie A surprise package.
Despite Monza’s ambitions, there was no giant-killing in the capital, as Inter opened the scoring with a brilliant team goal finished off by their captain. Nicolo Barella and Denzel Dumfries took part in the move and, after some dubious defending, Martinez got ahead of his marker and fired the ball into the net from close range.
Federico Dimarco almost scored the second goal after a quick Inter Milan counter-attack, but the full-back’s shot was narrowly off target. Both teams had plenty of chances before the break, but neither managed to add to their tally.
Marko Arnautović, on his debut, provided an assist for Martinez, who was lurking at the back post, to kill off the contest and clinch all three points for Inter.
Brazilian Carlos Agusto came on for Monza in the 67th minute and, in the 88th minute, could have scored from a corner, but he headed over the goal.