The fifth Match Day of the Serie A 2018-19 season saw the league leaders Juventus up against newly promoted Frosinone, with Juve summer signing Ronaldo looking to forget his controversial red card in the mid-week clash against Valencia in the Champions League. Napoli took on Torino with an aim to solidify their position in the table and keep their title challenge alive this season. Inter Milan faced off against a tough Sampdoria side, winning only in stoppage time following three goals disallowed by VAR in the match.
Here, we take a look at the five main talking points from Match Day 5 of the Serie A 2018-19 season
Milan held to a draw in the Serie A again against Atalanta
Milan and Atalanta both have had a tough start to their respective Serie A campaigns this season with Milan securing 4 points from their opening three games and Atalanta on the same number of points having played a game extra. Atalanta, however, could not qualify for the Europa League Group stage this season and could afford additional rest as compared to Milan who had to see off Luxembourg side Dudelange in the Thursday night Europa League fixture.
Gattuso started his team in a 4-3-3 while Atalanta began with a cautious 3-4-1-2 formation. The Argentines Gonzalo Higuain and Alejandro Gomez were leading the attack for Milan and Roma respectively.
Higuain struck in the second minute itself to hand Milan a lead early on, with Suso providing the assist. Things were looking good for Milan when Bonaventura scored again in the 21st minute but the goal stood disallowed due to VAR. The first half ended 1-0 in favour of Milan, with Bonaventura’s effort hitting the post and Kessie’s shot saved by the Atalanta keeper.
Brozovic wins it for Inter against Sampdoria with a late goal as VAR rules out three goals
Inter had started the Serie A campaign on a rough note this season with only four points from their opening four matches. But they had turned it around against Tottenham in the midweek Champions League opening day clash, coming back from behind to defeat the English team. Icardi was the main man responsible for the turnaround against Spurs and the same was expected of him against Sampdoria as well. Sampdoria had started their Serie A season with 7 points from their opening 4 games including an impressive win over Napoli.
Luciano Spalleti started the match with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Candreva, Politano and Naingollan supporting the lone striker Icardi. Both teams created enough chances but failed to score in the first half. Naingollan scored a brilliant goal in the 44th minute only to disallowed by VAR. The first half ended goalless. In the second half, Candreva and Quagliarella had the best chances for Inter and Sampdoria respectively but both failed to score. With less than three minutes remaining, Asamoah scored but again the goal was ruled out as the ball went out of play in the build up and Inter were denied again. The same happened again minutes later with Defrel scoring for Sampdoria but VAR ruled it as offside. With the match all set to finish goalless, Brozovic scored in the 94th minute off a low range shot from a free kick on the left wing.
As Inter edged past Sampdoria, they are now the 9th place with seven points, behind Sampdoria on goal difference. Up next for Inter is a tough clash against Fiorentina while Sampdoria face off against Cagliari away.
Roma’s poor run continues as they lose to Bologna
Roma have not had best start so far this season having secured only 5 points from their four matches in Seria A before this and also losing their opening Matchday clash against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in the UEFA Champions League.
Coach Eusebio DiFrancesco was hoping to turn things around with a win against Bologna who had themselves been unimpressive bagging only a solitary point from their four matches. Roma lined up in a 4-3-3 with Dzeko, Kluivert and Perotti leading the attack against Bologna’s largely defensive 3-5-2 formation. Roma dominated possession across both the halves but were not clinical enough to score. Dzeko, Florenzi and Pastore, who had come on for Cristante in the second half, had several clear cut chances which they missed. Bologna took full advantage of this with Mattielo and Santander scoring a goal each in the 36th and 59th minute respectively.