Inter's Lautaro Martinez sinks Monza

Inter looked like they were on their way to a convincing win when captain Martinez put the hosts ahead with just seven minutes gone at a packed San Siro. The Argentina forward finished five goals behind Osimhen in the Serie A scoring charts last season and swept home the opener from Denzel Dumfries' low cross.

And although Monza put up a fight Martinez gave Inter a deserved three points in the 76th minute with another simple finish, this time from Marko Arnautovic's cross. It was a positive first outing for Simone Inzaghi's team, who reached the Champions League final last season but have had something of a summer overhaul.

Both new forwards Marcus Thuram and Arnautovic performed well enough to suggest they could be the right replacements for the departed Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku while Yann Sommer was an unfussy presence in goal. "Today we needed to make a statement and we did that, we got off on the right foot," said Martinez

"We're a good team and we've brought in good players... we were all ready today, including the new boys."

 

August 20, 2023

Fiorentina thrash Genoa

Fiorentina strolled to a 4-1 victory at Genoa who judging by Saturday's dismal display will struggle even with Italy striker Mateo Retegui. Argentina-born Retegui barely had a kick as last season's losing Conference League finalists ran riot at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Cristiano Biraghi and Giacomo Bonaventura putting Fiorentina two ahead in the first 11 minutes.

Genoa, back in Serie A after a year away, were reeling when Nicolas Gonzalez then angled home a perfect header from Biraghi's corner five minutes before the break. And Rolando Mandragora piled on the misery in the 57th minute when he headed in Bonaventura's perfectly flighted through ball.

Davide Biraschi salvaged some pride two minutes later in front of a large home crowd who were given a wake-up call after a summer full of optimism.

 

August 20, 2023