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Soccer Extras: Udinese stun sterile Milan

August 26, 2019 09:59 IST

AC Milan wear a dejected look during their Serie A match against Udinese on Sunday

IMAGE: AC Milan wear a dejected look during their Serie A match against Udinese on Sunday. Photograph: AC Milan/Twitter

Udinese handed AC Milan's new coach Marco Giampaolo a losing start when a Rodrigo Becao header gave them a shock 1-0 win in Serie A on Sunday against toothless opponents who failed to muster a single shot on target.

Becao, making his debut after joining from Bahia in his native Brazil, rose above the Milan defence at the near post to head in from a corner in the 72nd minute on a sweltering afternoon in Udine.

It capped an excellent match for the central defender who also managed to keep Milan forward Krzysztof Piatek under wraps at the other end.

 

Milan replaced Gennaro Gattuso with former Sampdoria coach Giampaolo during the close season in a bid to improve on last season's fifth place and to take them back to the Champions League.

The new incumbent was left with plenty to ponder after a performance which was all too reminiscent of last season with too much unproductive possession.

"The match gave me plenty of indications. We need to make more in attack out of our possession of the ball. It's not the fault of the players, but of their characteristics," he told reporters.

"We were sterile -- we have to try and reorganise everything completely upfront."

Udinese nearly added a second just after the goal when Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma did superbly to turn Kevin Lasagna's shot over the bar.

Udinese's only major scare was at the hands of VAR in the 81st minute.

The ball appeared to brush defender Samir's arm as he jumped at a corner but, after a VAR review which took nearly four minutes, the referee decided against a penalty.

Roma held at home by Genoa after losing lead three times

AS Roma were held to a 3-3 draw at home to Genoa in their first game under new coach Paulo Fonseca on Sunday after giving away their lead three times.

Cengiz Under raced past two defenders to fire Roma ahead after six minutes of their opening Serie A game of the season only for Andrea Pinamonti to finish off a sweeping move and equalise ten minutes later.

Edin Dzeko put Roma back in front on the half-hour with a superb effort, controlling a ball over the top before turning past two defenders to score, but Genoa hit back again with a Domenico Criscito penalty two minutes before halftime.

Aleksandar Kolarov gave Roma the lead for the third time four minutes after the break with a trademark free kick which crashed against the underside of the bar before crossing the line.

But Genoa, not be outdone, again replied in the 70th minute, this time with Christian Kouame heading in Paolo Ghiglione's cross at the far post.

It all seemed rather reminiscent of last season when Roma were dogged by inconsistency and a lack of concentration which eventually cost coach Eusebio Di Francesco his job while his team missed out on the Champions League.

"We started the game really well, especially in the first 15 minutes. In attack, we really looked good," said Fonseca.

"The problem was defensively, where we weren't able to deal with the long balls, especially in the first half. The game was mostly played in Genoa's half. But at the back we never found our balance."

Lazio forward Ciro Immobile scored twice and Joaquin Correa was also on target as they kicked off with a 3-0 win at Sampdoria, Di Francesco's new club. Immobile's first goal was his 100th in Serie A.

Two goals from Simone Zaza led Torino to a 2-1 win at home to Sassuolo while promoted Brescia won 1-0 at Cagliari thanks to Alfredo Donnarumma's second-half penalty.

Bologna coach Mihajlovic takes charge of team despite leukaemia treatment

Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic left the hospital where he is being treated for leukaemia on Sunday to take charge of his team for their opening Serie A match away to Verona.

The club announced before kickoff that the 50-year-old, who said on July 13 that he had a severe form of the illness but promised to win the battle, would "leave hospital to lead the team at Verona."

Bologna went ahead in the 15th minute when Nicola Sansone converted a penalty which also left promoted Verona down to 10 men as Pawel Dawidowicz was sent off for the foul on Riccardo Orsolini.

Bologna appeared to be in control until Miguel Veloso equalised out of the blue from a free kick in the 37th minute.

Mihajlovic, one of the sport's top free kick exponents during his playing days, took over at Bologna halfway through the last season with the team stuck in the relegation zone and performed a remarkable transformation as he led them to a 10th place finish.

A European Cup winner with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 and a Cup Winners’ Cup winner with Lazio in 1999, he also won two Serie A titles and four Italian Cups with Lazio and Inter Milan.

As a coach, he has lead several Italian teams including Sampdoria, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Torino, as well as the Serbia national team between 2012 and 2013.

PSG's Choupo-Moting breaks Toulouse resistance with solo goal

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored a second-half brace, including a sublime solo goal, as titleholders Paris St Germain thumped brave Toulouse 4-0 in their Ligue 1 match on Sunday.

The Cameroon player danced through the Toulouse defence to break the deadlock in the 50th minute and an unlucky own goal by Matthieu Goncalves gifted PSG their second five minutes later.

Angel Di Maria saw a penalty saved by Baptiste Reynet before Choupo-Moting added the third in the 75th minute and Marquinhos completed the scoring.

However, muscle injuries for both Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe took some of the gloss off the Parisians' evening as they bounced back from their 2-1 defeat against Rennes the week before and moved up to third with six points.

Uruguay forward Cavani went off after 13 minutes with what appeared to be a groin strain and Mbappe left the field midway through the second half clutching his left hamstring.

PSG, who became the first team to score in 41 successive Ligue 1 games, threatened to overrun their opponents as Reynet twice denied Mbappe in the opening five minutes.

Mbappe also came close in the 20th minute but, by that time, Toulouse had their defence organised and were beginning to frustrate the hosts.

Mbappe saw another header saved by Reynet at the start of the second half before Choupo-Moting, who replaced Cavani, sprang into action.

The former Hamburg SV, Schalke 04 and StokeCity player collected the ball on the edge of the area, twisted and turned between four defenders and fired a shot in off the post.

That opened the floodgates and five minutes later, Di Maria crossed from the left, Pablo Sarabia flicked it back across goal and 18-year-old Goncalves, making his professional debut, turned an attempted clearance into the net.

It turned into even more of a nightmare for Goncalves as he tripped and handled the ball in the area, giving away an unlucky penalty, but Reynet came to his rescue by saving Di Maria's spot kick.

Choupo-Moting then sidefooted the third after PSG carved open the Toulouse defence down the left and Marquinhos completed the rout with a bullet header from a Di Maria cross.

Earlier, goals in each half from Clement Grenier and Mbaye Niang gave Rennes a 2-0 win at Strasbourg as they went top with nine points from three games.

Source: REUTERS
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