Serie A Matchday 4 Round-Up – Roma lose as Napoli continue 100% start

Matchday 4 in Serie A is in the books and just one perfect team remains.

While Jose Mourinho’s chaotic Roma earned an overdue defeat and AC Milan could only muster a draw against relegation battlers Juventus, Luciano Spalletti’s purring Napoli steamrolled past a plucky Udinese to retain their 100% start to 2021/22.

The division is slowly starting to take shape after the first month of action, and here’s a round-up of everything that went down on the fourth matchday of the new season.

Napoli look a serious force

Napoli’s trip to Udinese on Monday night rounded off the weekend’s action. Luca Gotti’s side can be a tricky proposition for superior outfits, but Spallett’s showtime Neapolitans brushed them aside with aplomb.

Fresh off his superb brace against Leicester in the Europa League, a goal-hungry Victor Osimhen poached the opener after some wonderful work from Mario Rui and Lorenzo Insigne down the left. Amir Rrahmani was then the beneficiary of a smartly worked free-kick routine to double Napoli’s lead before Kalidou Koulibaly put the game beyond the hosts seven minutes into the second half.

The centre-back’s crashing effort was one of the goals of the weekend.

Substitute Hirving Lozano then completed a dominant display from Spalletti’s side, curling home splendidly beyond a motionless Marco Silvestri.

Mourinho stunned

Following their dramatic late victory over Sassuolo on Matchday 3, Jose Mourinho succumbed to his first Serie A defeat as Roma boss away at the struggling Hellas Verona on Sunday evening.

Things started brightly for the visitors, though, as the irresistible Lorenzo Pellegrini opened the scoring with a sumptuous flick. Verona swiftly turned it around after the break, however, with Antonin Barak and Gianluca Caprari scoring in quick succession. An Ivan Ilic own goal then levelled proceedings before the hour mark.

The contest was soon decided by a moment of magic from Verona’s Davide Faraoni. His self-assisted volley thundered beyond a despairing Rui Patricio via the crossbar to hand Igor Tudor a coaching debut to remember. A stunned Roma could offer little in the closing stages.

Simultaneously, Lazio’s horrible week concluded with a disappointing 2-2 draw with Cagliari. Maurizio Sarri’s side were dominant, but they failed to find a late winner following Danilo Cataldi’s 83rd-minute equaliser.

Impressive Inter

Saturday saw three potential contenders claim victories. The first, Fiorentina, who comfortably managed an away trip to Genoa despite Domenico Criscito’s late consolation. La Viola’s Riccardo Saponara was instrumental in the win, opening the scoring in the 2-1 triumph.

Vincenzo Italiano’s side have won three on the bounce following their Matchday 1 defeat to Roma. Expect them to be there or thereabouts in the race for European spots come May.

The champions, meanwhile, strutted their stuff at the San Siro for the second time this season as they put six past a hapless Bologna. Simone Inzaghi’s Antonio Conte-lite iteration of the Nerazzurri were simply too much for the visitors as Denzel Dumfries starred on his first Serie A start.

The goals were shared around with Lautaro Martinez, Milan Skriniar, Nicolo Barella and Matias Vecino all scoring before Edin Dzeko bagged a brace.

Later that night, Atalanta’s struggles continued but this time in victory. In what was undoubtedly Salernitana’s brightest performance of the season, La Dea were fortunate to walk away with a 1-0 win. Duvan Zapata scored with 15 minutes remaining to secure an important victory for Gian Piero Gasperini’s men.

Caputo haunts Empoli

Empoli have succumbed to back-to-back defeats since their famous victory over Juventus, and they were undone by a familiar face on Matchday 4. Francesco Caputo, who enjoyed two productive seasons at the club, scored twice for Sampdoria in their 3-0 win.

Antonio Candreva was also on target for the visitors in what was their first triumph of the new campaign.

There was drama on Sunday afternoon, meanwhile, as Thiago Motta claimed his maiden victory as Spezia boss. The former treble-winner under Mourinho at Inter has big boots to fill as Vincenzo Italiano’s successor and he’ll be hoping that Sunday’s last-gasp win will ignite his reign. Summer signing Mehdi Bourabia will not forget his stunning winner in a hurry as Spezia won 2-1.

Torino starting to find their feet under Juric

Matchday 4 kicked off on Friday night at the Mapei Stadium as Juventus loanee Marko Pjaca sunk Sassuolo with his 83rd-minute winner.

A drab contest saw two of the Azzurrini’s brightest in Torino’s Tommaso Pobega and Sass’ Davide Frattesi pit their wits against one another in midfield.

The Bianconeri’s crosstown rivals are slowly starting to find their feet under Ivan Juric following a tricky start to 2021/22. Torino have won two on the bounce and will be looking to build on their momentum ahead of next week’s Derby della Mole.

What’s next?

The first midweek round of fixtures awaits Italy’s finest on Matchday 5. Fiorentina vs Inter is certainly the highlight clash on Tuesday night, although some will also be intrigued by Sassuolo’s trip to Atalanta.

Roma will be looking to bounce back immediately when they host Udinese, fresh off their Monday night pounding, on Wednesday, while Napoli have another potential banana skin to mitigate when they visit Sampdoria. AC Milan should return to winning ways when they host Venezia.

Elsewhere, Torino take on Lazio, Bologna host Genoa, Hellas Verona visit Salernitana and Empoli travel to Cagliari with both sides in need of points.