Juve Romp As Rivals Stutter
Sunday 26th August 2001
Juventus served notice of their Scudetto credentials this season with a comfortable 4-0 win over Venezia. Concerns over the sale of Filippo Inzaghi and Darko Kovacevic were forgotten when David Trezeguet scored two goals in the opening 15 minutes in Marcello Lippi's second debut as Juve coach.
Alessandro Del Piero continued his spell of fine form in pre-season with a third on the stroke of half-time and the Italy forward sealed the win near the end.
Hector Cuper got his career as Internazionale coach off to a winning start with a 4-1 success at home to Perugia. Mohammed Kallon scored two first-half goals, the first of which infuriated visiting coach Serse Cosmi. He felt the striker had handled the ball but was sent off for his complaints.
Greece international Zisis Vrysas halved the deficit after the break. Christian Vieri bagged his first two goals of the campaign in injury-time.
Carlo Mazzone withdrew his resignation as Brescia coach this week, and you could see why as his side took a two-goal lead against AC Milan. After debutant Rui Costa went off with a dislocated elbow and broken hand that will keep him out for a month, Albania international Igli Tare broke the deadlock on 35 minutes and added a second four minutes later.
But Cristian Brocchi pulled one back for Fatih Terim's side just after the restart and Andriy Shevchenko scored a penalty won by Cosmin Contra soon after to level the scores at 2-2.
Lazio struggled to break down a stubborn Piacenza side but eventually broke through after 48 minutes thanks to Claudio Lopez. Francelino Matuzalem, who signed from Napoli in the summer, equalised and the newly-promoted side held on to earn a point.
Champions Roma expected to pick up all three points at newly-promoted Verona but Alberto Malesani's side kept I Lupi at bay until Walter Samuel scored two minutes before half-time. Verona refused to crumble after the break and Massimo Oddo bagged an equaliser 15 minutes from time to secure a 1-1 draw.
Newly-promoted Chievo stunned Fiorentina in their first ever Serie A appearance, winning 2-0 at the Artemio Franchi. Luigi del Neri's side took the lead through Simone Perotta on six minutes and doubled their advantage when Massimo Marazzina netted. The home side saw Enrico Chiesa have a penalty saved by former Roma stopper Cristiano Lupatelli.
Another new side in the top-flight, Torino, also got off to the perfect start at Udinese, where coach Roy Hodgson saw his team fall behind to an early Fabio Galante strike. Sweden forward Yksel Osmanovski doubled the lead before half-time but it was a different story after the break as Roberto Muzzi and Carlos Pavon brought the sides level. It finished 2-2.
Parma's terrible start to the season continued when they went behind at Lecce, for whom Ernesto Chevanton scored the first goal of the day after a Sebastien Frey blunder after two minutes. Marco di Vaio equalised on 70 minutes to secure a point, and Frey then redeemed himself with a penalty save from Davor Vugrinec.
