© EuroFootball.com
Over the weekend, the 2005/06 Italian championship season began. In the first round of matches, for the second year in a row, the "Milan" club managed to secure only one point against the league newcomers, playing a draw against "Ascoli", while no surprises were recorded in other stadiums.
"Milan" met "Ascoli" away at the "Del Duca" stadium in the rain. The vice-champions were without team captain P. Maldini and forwards F. Inzaghi and C. Vieri, but the opponent was not threatening either - "Ascoli" club returned to "Serie A" after 13 years.
Due to poor pitch conditions, both teams found it difficult to play and did not create any dangerous chances in the first half. After the break, the home team unexpectedly took the lead in the 52nd minute when N. Cudini scored a goal from close range after a penalty kick.
The visitors immediately responded with a dangerous attack, but the referee disallowed J. Stam's goal because Milan's players took the corner before the referee's whistle. Ukrainian A. Shevchenko then successfully took the initiative, sending a shot from 20 meters into the goal and equalizing the score. Towards the end of the match, both teams had opportunities to snatch the victory, but the match ended with "Milan" settling for a single point.
Unlike its city neighbor, Milan's "Inter" had a successful start to the season, crushing league debutant "Treviso" at home. All three goals were scored by the Brazilian Adriano, twice after good passes from his teammates and once after an individual run.
"Roma" also achieved a crushing victory in the first match, defeating the "Reggina" team by three goals away. The visitors took the lead after half an hour when Mancini scored, at the beginning of the second half, D. De Rossi scored from close range after a penalty kick, and the hosts added a goal in the last ten minutes through Roma's debutant S. Nonda.
"Lazio" started the season with minimal home victories, winning against "Messina" with a goal by G. Pandev, and the "Udinese" club, with S. A. Muntari scoring, defeated "Empoli". Meanwhile, "Palermo" took the lead against "Parma" in the 36th minute with C. Terlizzi's goal, but after three minutes in the second half, M. Bresciano equalized the result and helped secure a draw.
The other three matches ended with home victories by a score of 2-1: "Siena" were saved by two goals from E. Chiesa against "Cagliari", "Livorno" got a winning goal from the young R. Palladino in the match against "Lecce", and "Fiorentina" with two goals from newcomers S. Fiore and L. Toni defeated the "Sampdoria" club.
On Sunday evening, in the last round of matches, defending champions Turin's "Juventus" will host Verona's "Chievo" team at home, and the second round of the championship will take place on September 11, two weeks later.
1st round statistics:
2-1
14' [1-0] Cristiano Lucarelli
39' [1-1] Alex Pinardi (pen.)
48' [2-1] Raffaele Palladino
2-1
13' [1-0] Stefano Fiore
30' [2-0] Luca Toni
74' [2-1] Aimo Stefano Diana
1-1
58' [1-0] Mirko Cudini
63' [1-1] Andriy Shevchenko
3-0
32' [1-0] Adriano
68' [2-0] Adriano
79' [3-0] Adriano
1-0
21' [1-0] Goran Pandev
1-1
36' [0-1] Christian Terlizzi
48' [1-1] Mark Bresciano
0-3
30' [0-1] Mancini
46' [0-2] Daniele De Rossi
90' [0-3] Shabani Nonda
58' Carlos Paredes (Reggina) sent off
2-1
10' [0-1] Mauro Esposito
44' [1-1] Enrico Chiesa (pen.)
58' [2-1] Enrico Chiesa
76' Roberto D'Aversa (Siena) sent off
1-0
30' [1-0] Sulley Ali Muntari
