Serie A, Week 3: Roma down Parma to keep pace with Napoli at the top

Round 3 in Serie A started with five teams at the top of the table. After drawing of the Derby d’Italia, Juventus and Inter slipped out of first place. Fiorentina soon followed after a late equalizer from Cagliari. By Monday, only Roma and Napoli were sharing the top spot...and, despite Parma giving it their all for about 10 minutes, Monday ended as it began, with two teams on top.

The season’s first episode of the Derby d’Italia was more fun than the scoreline suggested, as both sides strove for all three points. It may be early in the season, but it’s possible that the meeting between Inter and Juve revealed more than Juventus’s “mental toughness,” as evidenced by an Arturo Vidal equalizer less than two minutes after Mauro Icardi put the nerazzurri ahead. Could it be that Walter Mazzarri has finally brought back Inter’s competitive edge?

Totti curled a tame 25 yard effort into Mirante’s gloves, before a ball over the top found Maicon with space in the area. However, the Brazilian drilled his half volley into the side netting.

Biabiany spurned a great chance when he ballooned over in the area from a Cassano corner. The pace of the ball caught the Frenchman by surprise as he right footed it into Row Z. Totti and Amauri both saw weak efforts saved as the game started to open up.

The second half started off in a similar manner, with Samporia winning possession then finding themselves unable to do anything with that possession.Instead it was Genoa that capitalized on their chances, scoring their second with only their third shot of the match. The goal again came from the right, with Sime Vrsaljko setting up Emmanuele Calaio, for his first Genoa goal.

As the match went on, ‘Doria continued to attack, but rarely put Genoa under any real pressure. A quick glance at the statistics might give the impression that Samp dominated the match, having had more of the possession and more shots on goal. However, Genoa kept the Samp attackers outside the area, limiting them to speculative shots that rarely came close to their target.

Puggioni could only watch as Candreva’s pinpoint lob rattled the crossbar. Klose was desperate for a goal, but the Chievo shot stopper thwarted the German’s close range header.

Lazio: Marchetti; Konko, Biava, (Ciani 15) Cana, Cavanda; (Keita 90) Candreva, Onazi, Ledesma, Lulic; Ederson; (Gonzalez 78) Klose

The problem was that the usually-excellent midfield combo were looking slow and laboured in their movements and this wasn’t helped when the lively Cuadrado fell awkwardly and injured his shoulder. After a lengthy treatment period he returned to the pitch but he was clearly uncomfortable and he had to make way for Joaquin just before the half-hour mark.

The match was beginning to warm up at least in terms of chances, but in terms of actual play it remained a scrappy affair, with neither side really able to come up with any fluency. Giuseppe Rossi hit what looked like a tame, bouncing free kick goalwards but it was so well placed that it had Agazzi scrambling across to claw it wide, the resulting corner headed wide by Gonzalo Rodriguez.

Cigarini sent a free-kick down Reina’s throat. From the resulting goal kick, Pandev poured forward and flashed wide after opting to ignore strike partner Higuain, who was in space and screaming for the ball.

Denis continued to be a menace for the Napoli defence. On the half hour mark, the striker clashed with Cannavaro to meet a Del Grosso cross and directed his header just wide.

So Milan drew with Torino on Saturday night, but you’d be forgiven if you missed that minor detail. After all, this match marked Ricky Kaka’s re-debut in a rossoneri shirt, and anyone paying attention to anything as plebian as a result clearly didn’t understand just how important the Brazilian’s return actually was.

Hey, did we mention Kaka yet? Because he’s back, guys. He’s back.

Fiorentina injuries and suspensions

Cagliari injuries and suspensions

Sunday’s match is the 60th Genovese derby in Serie A. So far, Sampdoria have 21 wins and Genoa 15, while 24 games ended as draws. However, over the last few seasons, since both teams returned to Serie A, Genoa have been more successful, winning five, losing three and drawing one -- their last clash in April.

none

Napoli injuries and suspensions

Out: None