Simone Inzaghi confirmed Kosovo international Valon Berisha will start for Lazio against SPAL. “A normal performance isn’t enough here.”
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
“This is a dangerous fixture and last season proved very costly for us,” said the Coach in his Press conference, referring to that 1-0 defeat at the Stadio Mazza.
The referees for Serie A Week 3 are announced as Massimiliano Irrati will officiate the clash between Fiorentina and Juventus.
Irrati [pictured, right] is one of Italy’s most experienced referees and was the VAR for the World Cup Final last year.
Elsewhere, Milan’s trip to Verona will be overseen by Gianluca Manganiello, Maurizio Mariani will take charge of Inter-Udinese and Federico La Penna is the man in the middle for Napoli’s visit of Sampdoria.
Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo is Serie A’s runaway highest earner on €31m a season, with Matthijs de Ligt and Romelu Lukaku already second and third.
An investigation by Gazzetta dello Sport discovered Serie A was spending €1.36bn on gross salaries – the most in the League’s history.
That is chiefly down to Ronaldo’s extravagant income of almost €600,000 a week and Juve’s wage bill of €294m – more than double that of nearest challengers Inter (€139m).
Romelu Lukaku starred during Belgium’s 4-0 victory over Scotland in Euro 2020 qualifying, but Marcelo Brozovic and Ante Rebic struggled for Croatia.
Croatia remain top of Group E but saw their lead cut to just one point after a 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan.
Inter midfielder Brozovic contributed with just a 21st-minute booking, while Milan new boy Rebic was substituted with four to go.
The Lega Serie A have released the changes to the fixtures all the way up to Week 16 in December, including new kick-offs for Fiorentina-Juventus, Milan-Inter, Inter-Juve, Juve-Milan and Inter-Roma.
All kick-offs listed below are UK time, add one hour for local time.
Week 3
Sat Sep 14
Fiorentina v Juventus (14.00)
Napoli v Sampdoria (17.00)
Inter v Udinese (19.45)
Sun Sep 15
Sampdoria have let right-back Jacopo Sala join SPAL on a permanent basis and brought in teenager Kaique Rocha from Santos.
Sala moves to SPAL on a three-year contract and belatedly succeeds Manuel Lazzari on their right flank.
The 27-year-old is a former Italy youth international, who spent his early career in England and Germany with Chelsea and Hamburg respectively.
He ends his spell at Marassi with 66 appearances and two assists in all competitions.
Samp have since taken another right-back in Rocha, who only turned 18 in February.
Football Italia is LIVE on transfer deadline day, bringing you all the breaking deals as they happen in Italy!
Serie A clubs have until 21:00 BST today to wrap up their business for the summer, and there are still several scores to be settled.
Click here if you are on a mobile/tablet device.
Bologna Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was given a surprise homecoming party by his wife Arianna following the first round of chemotherapy.
The Serbian was diagnosed with leukaemia six weeks ago and spent all summer in a clinic undergoing treatment.
He was allowed out for one evening to attend Bologna’s opening Serie A game of the season against Hellas Verona.
Last night, Miha made an emotional return to the Stadio Dall’Ara for their last-gasp 1-0 win over SPAL.
Roberto Soriano joked he got the Bologna winner against SPAL the one time he “wasn’t looking” at the goal and dedicated it to Sinisa Mihajlovic.
The Rossoblu dominated the game at the Stadio Dall’Ara this evening, denied by saves, two goal-line clearances and Soriano’s own finishing.
However, deep into stoppages, Soriano got his head to a Riccardo Orsolini cross – and collided with Thiago Cionek – for the winner.
Sinisa Mihajlovic returned to the Stadio Dall’Ara for a dramatic last-gasp win over SPAL, as Bologna were denied by saves and two goal-line clearances before Roberto Soriano’s header.
Click here for the full match report.
