Juventus on Monday made light work of Como with a 3-0 win on Thiago Motta’s Serie A debut with the Turin giants, while Atalanta BC brushed aside transfer upheaval with a 4-0 thumping of US Lecce.
Impressive first-half strikes from promising youngster Samuel Mbangula, a surprise starter on the left flank, and Timothy Weah, before a thumping Andrea Cambiaso finish in stoppage-time gave Juve and Motta a perfect start against promoted Como, who were playing their first top-flight match in more than two decades.
“Como are a good team and we had the right attitude tonight, when we had the ball we did really well all throughout the match,” Motta told DAZN.
Photo: Reuters
Juve could have easily won by a larger margin at the Allianz Stadium as the hosts created a series of chances against Como, who were outclassed on the night.
Dusan Vlahovic had a particularly unlucky evening up front for Juve as he struck the woodwork in each half and had what looked like a perfectly good headed goal ruled out just after halftime.
The Serbia striker was baffled as to why his strike was chalked off, but Cambiaso had strayed offside earlier in the move, denying him a goal.
Motta, who arrived after guiding Bologna to the UEFA Champions League, already has Juve playing a brand of soccer which is easier on the eye than was played under his predecessor Massimiliano Allegri.
That is despite Juve being a work in progress as a clutch of Allegri’s favorites, including Italy forward Federico Chiesa, have been sidelined to make space for players deemed more suited to Motta’s style of play.
Cesc Fabregas’ Como, an ambitious club backed by tobacco giant Djarum active in the summer transfer window, will get a better indication of their chances of staying in the division in their next two fixtures at Cagliari and Udinese.
“Today was a reality check. We need to be better,” Fabregas told DAZN. “What I sure was a difference in quality... They were devastating when they took the ball off us and we gave away too many easy balls. That’s not tactics, that’s down to individual quality.”
New boys Marco Brescianini and Mateo Retegui gave UEFA Europa League holders Atalanta a hugely impressive start at Lecce after a turbulent summer that has featured long-term injuries and star players agitating for transfers.
Brescianini, who only arrived from relegated Frosinone on Friday last week, opened the scoring on the rebound 10 minutes before halftime and confidently rolled home the fourth in the 66th minute.
The 24-year old’s strikes topped and tailed a near-perfect away performance as Italy striker Retegui netted with a bullet header on the stroke of halftime, before winning and then scoring a penalty just before the hour mark.
“It’s better than even I could have imagined,” said Brescianini, who is from just outside Bergamo, where Atalanta are based. “I’m really happy to be wearing this jersey, and I hope to repay the faith the club and fans have shown in me.”
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
WORLD SERIES: ‘The individuals that were involved in that last night was a very small segment of the east Los Angeles community,’ the Los Angeles county sheriff said Rowdy crowds took to the streets of Los Angeles after the LA Dodgers won the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, setting a city bus on fire, breaking into stores and lighting fireworks. A dozen arrests were reported by police on Thursday, but officials said that most fans celebrated peacefully. Video showed revelers throwing objects at police in downtown LA as sirens blared and officers told them to leave the area on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the MLB World Series at Giants Stadium in New York. Another video showed someone standing atop
RSS