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Football Briefs: Genoa fans stay silent for 43 minutes to honour victims of collapse

August 27, 2018 14:29 IST

News of all that's transpired on and off the football field

Fans of ACF Fiorentina hold up a banner in memory of the tragedy of the Morandi bridge collapse in Genoa during the serie A match at Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, Italy, on Sunday

IMAGE: Fans of ACF Fiorentina hold up a banner in memory of the tragedy of the Morandi bridge collapse in Genoa during the serie A match at Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, Italy, on Sunday. Photograph: Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

Inter Milan, touted as one of the Serie A title favourites before the season, were left with one point from their opening two matches when they squandered a two-goal lead and were held 2-2 at home by Torino on Sunday.

Beaten 1-0 at Sassuolo last week, Inter appeared to be cruising when Ivan Perisic and Stefan de Vrij gave them a 2-0 halftime lead but Torino stunned the San Siro by bouncing back with goals by Andrea Belotti and Soualiho Meite.

 

The first 43 minutes of Genoa's match at home to Empoli were played in near silence as a tribute to the 43 people killed in the collapse of a motorway bridge in the city on Aug. 14.

A stunning volley by Mirco Antenucci gave modest SPAL a 1-0 win over Parma which put them alongside Juventus and Napoli with six points from two games.

Perisic, a key player in the Croatia team which reached the World Cup final, gave Inter the perfect start by volleying home from Mauro Icardi's cross after seven minutes.

Inter were in total control and when De Vrij, signed from Lazio in the close season, added a second in the 32nd minute with a glancing header from Matteo Politano's free kick, it seemed to be all over.

Inter coach Luciano Spalletti complained last week that his side struggled after falling behind, but this time their troubles began when they were ahead.

Ten minutes into the second half, Iago Falque sent a long ball over the Inter defence which found Belotti who controlled it superbly to pull one back.

Then, Meite collected a loose ball on the edge of the area, slipped past a defender and scored with a deflected shot which squeezed between Samir Handanovic and the near post.

Both sides could have won it and Perisic's rising shot was brilliantly tipped away by Salvatore Sirigu in stoppage time.

"We conceded the first goal in a way that is difficult to explain, we were surprised by a long ball forward," said Spalletti.

"Clearly the reality is that the team is struggling with pressure."

Genoa's match against Empoli had the feeling of a game being played behind closed doors as it was played in near silence with only the shouts of the players echoing around the arena.

There was barely a whisper even when new signings Krzysztof Piatek and Christian Kouame scored in the first 20 minutes to set the Griffins on the way to a 2-1 win over their promoted rivals.

SPAL notched their second straight win thanks to an inspired Antenucci effort, the much-travelled veteran meeting Manuel Lazzari's cross with a magnificent volley on the turn from 12 metres.

Nikola Milenkovic also scored with a spectacular volley after eight minutes against Chievo to set Fiorentina on their way to a thumping 6-1 victory. Gerson, signed on loan from AS Roma, made it 2-0 before halftime.

Marco Benassi headed in Giovanni Simeone's cross after the restart and Federico Chiesa turned in Gerson's pass for the fourth. Nenad Tomovic pulled one back for the Flying Donkeys, only for Benassi and Simeone to add two more in stoppage time.

Kevin-Prince Boateng converted a stoppage time penalty -- controversially awarded for handball following a video assistant referee review -- to give Sassuolo a 2-2 draw at Cagliari, seconds after his side had Marlon sent off for a second bookable offence.

Leonardo Pavoletti twice put the Sardinians in front while Domenico Berardi scored the other Sassuolo goal.

Udinese beat Sampdoria 1-0 with an early Rodrigo de Paul goal while promoted Frosinone drew 0-0 with Bologna.

Dortmund come from a goal down to crush Leipzig 4-1

Borussia Dortmund eased past RB Leipzig 4-1 on Sunday after coming from a goal down, to make a winning Bundesliga start under new coach Lucien Favre and confirm their status as pre-season title contenders.

Following a nervous beginning during which Jean-Kevin Augustin scored for Leipzig after only 31 seconds, Dortmund got down to business, grabbing three goals in 22 minutes.

Mahmoud Dahoud's acrobatic header in the 21st minute pulled them level and Marcel Sabitzer's own goal after heading in a Marcus Reus free-kick in the 41st put them ahead as Dortmund found the rhythm and Leipzig struggled to keep up with the pace.

New signing Axel Witsel, who had also scored in the German Cup win last week, netted their third with a bicycle kick two minutes later and captain Marco Reus completed a quick break for his 100th Bundesliga goal in second half stoppage time.

"Leipzig were better than us at the start and we were not defending well," Favre told reporters. "But we showed a really good reaction.

"I don't want to say that we were lucky but it went well for us."

Dortmund, who will compete in the Champions League group stage, needed to do little in the second half other than keep the visitors out of the box.

Leipzig were far too sloppy in their attacks and forward Timo Werner was denied by keeper Roman Buerki late in the game before Reus completed Dortmund's winning start with a fine finish.

Mainz 05 also enjoyed a winning start to their season, beating VfB Stuttgart 1-0 courtesy of Anthony Ujah's 76th minute winner.

Champions Bayern Munich kicked off their season with a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim on Friday while last season's runners-up Schalke 04 slumped to a 2-1 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.

Source: REUTERS
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