Inter Milan were held to a 1-1 draw against newly-promoted Bari in their opening game of the Serie A campaign. The defending champions went ahead in the 56th minute when former Barcelona star Samuel Eto’o scored on his Italian league debut from the penalty spot after Diego Milito was brought down inside the area by Leonardo Bonucci.
The visitors, who had enjoyed few chances up to then, hit back with 16 minutes remaining when Vitaly Kutuzov struck an equaliser. Dropping two points at the San Siro has added to a frustrating start to the season after Inter’s Italian Super Cup defeat to Lazio earlier this month.
Udinese’s Antonio Di Natale denied Parma a winning return to Serie A with an injury-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw at the Stadio Friuli on Sunday night. Francesco Guidolin’s newly-promoted side had twice gone ahead, but on both occasions it was the Udinese skipper Di Natale that pulled the hosts level.
Italy Under-21 international Alberto Paloschi had put Parma ahead after 42 minutes but they could not even keep the lead into the break – Di Natale scoring an injury-time penalty after Alessandro Lucarelli fouled Christian Zapata in the area. Lucarelli made up for his mistake with a towering header four minutes after the break, and that strike had looked to be the decisive moment before Di Natale bobbed up again in injury time.
Tommaso Rocchi ensured Lazio got their campaign off to a winning start against Atalanta as his team won 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico. The Italian striker netted the only goal after 22 minutes against a team that made the hosts sweat for the victory.
Genoa defeated Roma by the odd goal in five after all the goals were scored in a dramatic second half at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Domenico Criscito opened the scoring for Genoa in the 49th minute, but Roma turned the game around with goals from Rodrigo Taddei in the 54th minute and Francesco Totti 10 minutes later. But Genoa refused to lie down and levelled again through Alberto Zapater in the 69th minute before Giuseppe Biava grabbed the winner seven minutes from the end.
Livorno got a point under their belts at the first attempt as they drew 0-0 with Cagliari on their return to Serie A. The Leghorn side were rock bottom as they dropped out of the division two years ago, but they matched a Cagliari side still smarting from their early Coppa Italia exit. Neither team could dominate as both created chances, but a lack of cutting edge meant the sheets remained clean at both ends.
In Sunday’s other games, Sampdoria beat Catania 2-1, Juventus edged to a 1-0 win over Chievo and Palermo won 2-1 against Napoli.
On Saturday, Leonardo made a winning start to his reign as AC Milan coach with a 2-1 Serie A victory at Siena. Ronaldinho produced one of his best performances since joining the club over a year ago to set up the win. The Brazilian had a goal disallowed and set up both goals for his compatriot Alexandre Pato in the 29th and 48th minutes. Abdelkader Ghezzal brought Siena level in the 34th minute, but they had to accept defeat to the better team at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Earlier, Bologna and Fiorentina shared the spoils in the first Serie A match of the 2009/10 season with a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Dal Ara. The home side had the better of the first half and took the lead through former Viola striker Pablo Osvaldo in the 24th minute. Osvaldo missed the chance to make it two before the visitors, boosted by the entry onto the field of Adrian Mutu, equalised through the Romanian striker in the 65th minute to earn a point for Cesare Prandelli’s side.
