Defending champions AC Milan remained winless in Serie A following a 1-1 draw with Udinese on Wednesday, while 10-man Juventus drew 1-1 with Bologna to end their perfect start.
Antonio Di Natale took advantage of an error by Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati to give Udinese the lead in the 29th minute, but Milan’s 18-year-old forward Stephan El Shaarawy equalized in the 63rd minute after replacing Alexandre Pato, who came off after just 19 minutes with an apparent thigh injury.
Clarence Seedorf for Milan and Giampiero Pinzi for Udinese each hit the post at the San Siro.
Photo: Reuters
In Turin, Mirko Vucinic took advantage of a quick free-kick by Andrea Pirlo to put Juventus ahead in the 29th minute, but then picked up his second yellow card just before the break for a foul and Daniele Portanova equalized for Bologna in the 52nd minute.
“I’m sorry not to have gotten the three points, but I’m satisfied for what the guys showed, not just today, but in the first three matches,” Juventus coach Antonio Conte said.
Meanwhile, Genoa beat Catania 3-0 to take over the top spot in the table, with previous leaders Napoli losing 1-0 at Chievo Verona.
Rodrigo Palacio, who had been linked to a possible move to Inter in the summer, scored twice for Genoa and then set up a third goal for Kevin Constant.
Playing in a half-empty stadium, Napoli struggled to find inspiration after their 3-1 win over Milan on Sunday and Chievo’s Davide Moscardelli took advantage of an error by defender Ignacio Fideleff to score in the 72nd minute.
Genoa, Juventus and Udinese each have seven points, but Genoa leads on goals scored.
Napoli, Fiorentina, Palermo and Cagliari are one point behind the leaders, while Milan have just two points from three matches.
Besides Pato, Milan were already missing forwards Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho, plus midfielders Massimo Ambrosini and Gennaro Gattuso to injury.
Milan’s 38-year-old forward Filippo Inzaghi came on for the final six minutes and nearly earned a penalty in stoppage-time.
Inter are also struggling and they fired coach Gian Piero Gasperini after a 3-1 loss at newly promoted Novara Calcio on Tuesday. Claudio Ranieri has reportedly agreed to a two-year deal to replace Gasperini.
Having missed all of last season because of injury, Stevan Jovetic scored twice and Alessio Cerci added another as Fiorentina beat Parma 3-0.
Israel midfielder Eran Zahavi, Nicolas Bertolo and captain Fabrizio Miccoli scored for Palermo in a 3-2 win over Cagliari, who struck back with late goals from Daniele Conti and Rajda Nainggolan.
Also, SS Lazio rallied to win 2-1 at Cesena with second-half goals from Brazilian playmaker Hernanes and Germany forward Miroslav Klose after Adrian Mutu put the hosts ahead early.
Lazio coach Edy Reja had offered to resign on Tuesday, but was asked to stay on by club president Claudio Lotito and the squad, who now have their first league win.
Having begun the season with a six-point penalty from a match-fixing and betting scandal, Atalanta BC moved back into the positive points with a 2-1 win over Lecce — giving the Bergamo team one point from two wins and a draw.
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