Ronaldinho sparkled on his debut, but could not prevent AC Milan slumping to a dismal 2-1 home defeat to Serie A newboys Bologna in their opener at the San Siro on Sunday.
Former Milan forward Alberto Gilardino scored an equalizer a minute from time to earn 10-man Fiorentina a 1-1 home draw against Juventus and it was a poor start all round for the scudetto hopefuls as AS Roma were held 1-1 at home to 10-man Napoli.
But it was in AC Milan’s game with Bologna that the real drama took place, as Carlo Ancelotti handed debuts to Gianluca Zambrotta and Mathieu Flamini, as well as Ronaldinho.
PHOTO: EPA
Marco Di Vaio gave the visitors a shock lead on 18 minutes after the ball fell kindly to him in the box. Ronaldinho was at the center of everything that was good for Milan and it was his cross that Massimo Ambrosini headed home to restore parity on 41 minutes.
The Brazilian magician then created two glorious chances for veteran striker Filippo Inzaghi and another for second-half substitute Andrei Shevchenko, back from a two-year nightmare at Chelsea, but neither could finish.
Then Francesco Valiani won it for Bologna 11 minutes from time with a thunderbolt from 25m out into the top right-hand corner.
Juventus took the lead six minutes before the break against Fiorentina, when Czech veteran Pavel Nedved converted a cross from Zdenek Grygera.
A minute from time Gilardino turned Swedish defender Olof Mellberg and squeezed home a shot in off the far post.
AS Roma were no less disappointing than Milan as they were held by a Napoli team that played more than half-an-hour with 10 men. The hosts went in front when Alberto Aquilani ran onto a delicate chip over the defense from Daniele De Rossi and took the ball down on his chest before firing home. Despite having Fabian Santacroce sent off on 54 minutes, Napoli were level soon after through Slovakia midfielder Marek Hamsik.
Lazio are the early pacesetters as they came from behind to win 4-1 at 10-man Cagliari.
Torino are also off to a fine start with a 3-0 home victory against newly-promoted Lecce, while Chievo marked their return to the top flight with a 2-1 success over Reggina.
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