Inter fight back after Roma hit woodwork three times
Inter fight back after Roma hit woodwork three times
Published: 01:31 pm Aug 27, 2017
MILAN: Inter Milan fell behind and survived three shots against the woodwork before hitting back in the last 25 minutes to win 3-1 at AS Roma, helped by another Mauro Icardi brace, in a pulsating Serie A match on Saturday.
Earlier, Icardi's fellow Argentine Paulo Dybala grabbed a hat-trick to give Juventus a dramatic 4-2 win at Genoa as the champions recovered from going two goals down in the first seven minutes.
Juventus, aiming for a seventh successive title, and Inter, desperate for a return to the Champions League after a six-season absence, both have six points from their opening two games.
Inter's new coach Luciano Spalletti enjoyed a winning return to Roma, who he led to second place last season with a club record points haul before deciding not to renew his contract.
Yet Roma should have been well out of sight before Icardi sprang into action for his second brace of the season.
Aleksandar Kolarov smashed a volley against the Inter post before Edin Dzeko collected Radja Nainggolan's cross on his chest and volleyed home in the 15th minute.
Nainggolan struck the foot of the post from outside the penalty before halftime and Diego Perotti also hit the woodwork in the 65th minute.
Two minutes later, Inter equalised out of the blue when Antonio Candreva found Icardi who turned and stabbed an improvised effort past Alysson.
Icardi struck again with a similar effort 10 minutes later, with Ivan Perisic this time providing the assist, and nearly scored a hat-trick before new signing Matias Vecino completed Roma's misery with Inter's third.
Juve, beaten 3-1 by the same opponents last season, fell behind after 19 seconds when Miralem Pjanic accidentally turned Goran Pandev's pass into his own net.
It got worse for Juve when Andrey Galabinov converted a penalty awarded with the help of a video review after the Bulgarian was tripped by Daniele Rugani. Juventus, however, claimed that Galabinov was offside at the time.
Dybala pulled one back in the 14th minute when he turned in Pjanic's pass, then equalised in first-half stoppage time, from another penalty, awarded after video technology spotted a handball by Darko Lazovic.
Juan Cuadrado put Juventus ahead with a superb effort in the 62nd minute, the Colombian controlling Mario Mandzukic's chipped pass on his chest before turning inside his marker and curling a left-foot shot into the net.
Dybala wrapped it up in stoppage time when he cut inside a defender and sent a low shot between Mattia Perin.
Promoted Benevento were beaten 1-0 at home by Bologna in their first-ever home Serie A match and were denied a late equaliser when Fabio Lucioni's effort was ruled out for offside after a video review.