Massimiliano Allegri silenced the doubters as champions Juventus beat AC Chievo Verona 1-0 in the former AC Milan coach’s first Serie A game in charge of the Old Lady of Turin.
Last season’s runners-up, AS Roma, also began with a victory as Rudi Garcia’s team beat ACF Fiorentina 2-0, with Radja Nainggolan and Gervinho grabbing the goals.
Juventus, who replaced three-time Scudetto winning coach Antonio Conte in the close season, outclassed Eugenio Corini’s men, but could only manage a sixth minute Cristiano Biraghi own-goal.
Photo: EPA
New boss Allegri — an unpopular signing with many Bianconeri fans — gave 18-year-old summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain, Kingsley Coman, a surprising start as he partnered Carlos Tevez in attack. Pleasingly, the youngster took full advantage with a confident display in Verona.
Coman’s strike partner Tevez had the first opportunity of the match, but dragged his shot wide of Francesco Bardi’s right-hand post.
Coman then got in on the action, following some splendid control from a Paul Pogba long ball, he tested Bardi with a fizzing shot from the left, but the former Inter goalkeeper easily tipped the ball away for a corner.
It was from another corner that Juventus took the lead. Tevez floated the ball in from the left and a poorly positioned Bardi was stranded as Martin Caceres rocketed a header against the defender and into the net.
The home side did have one chance of note midway through the first half as Valter Birsa burst into the Bianconeri half on the left, his through-ball sending Ezequiel Schelotto in on goal, but the 25-year-old’s long-range effort trickled wide of Gianluigi Buffon’s right-hand upright.
Just before the break, Juventus should have doubled their advantage. First, Tevez hit the crossbar from 6m, then Leonardo Bonucci hit the woodwork again with a looping header.
The second half saw more of the same from Juventus and, just a minute in, Coman almost made it 2-0 with a fantastic curling effort from outside the penalty area.
He was again denied on the hour mark as his powerful header from 12m went inches over.
Fifteen minutes from time, Maxi Lopez had a magnificent chance for Chievo. The former Sampdoria man was in the right place at the right time with the ball bobbling in he box, but unmarked on the 6m line, he was denied by Buffon.
Later on, Roma broke the deadlock just before the half hour as Nainggolan picked up a loose ball in the midfield then drove towards the Fiorentina goal. The Belgian played a delightful through-ball for Gervinho, but the Ivorian could only fire straight at goalkeeper Neto. Luckily for Roma, Nainggolan continued his run and smashed the ball through a melee of players into an empty net.
In the second half, Roma goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis was called into action twice in the space of two minutes as Fiorentina upped their game. First, a Josip Ilicic free-kick needed to be tipped onto the crossbar, before a low 5m Khouma Babacar snap-shot was palmed round the post.
Despite finding more of a rhythm in the final 10 minutes, Fiorentina were unable to find an equalizer, and paid as Gervinho secured a Giallorossi win with an incisive counter-attack, slotting past a stranded Neto.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but