Serie A preview, August 25-27, 2018

AUG. 23. – The Italian Serie A continues with a full round of fixtures from August 25 to 27, featuring a clash between Juventus and Lazio, Milan visiting Napoli and concluding with a match between Roma and Atalanta in the ‘Eternal City’.

The second round of the 2018/19 season opens on Saturday, August 25 with two matches: at 18:00 CAT champions Juventus will play host to Lazio, and at 20:30 CAT Napoli will welcome Milan to Stadio San Paolo.

Juve opened their campaign with a 3-2 away win over Chievo last weekend and will fancy their chances of taking three points off a Lazio team which were beaten 2-1 at home by Napoli in their opener. Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will hope his official debut at the Allianz Stadium brings him a first goal for the ‘Old Lady’.

The Partenopei Gli Azzurri, who can call on the talents of African stars Kalidou Koulibaly and Amadou Diawara, will look to give Milan a rough start to their Serie A season – Franck Kessie’s Rossoneri had their match at home to Genoa last weekend postponed due to the bridge collapse in the latter city.

A busy Sunday evening in Italy’s top flight opens with an early kick-off at the Stadio Paolo Mazza as Senegalese goalkeeper Alfred Gomis and his SPAL side play host to Gervinho’s Parma.

The pick of the 20:30 CAT matches sees Internazionale – who suffered a surprise loss to Sassuolo in their opener, and will be looking to Keita Balde for attacking inspiration – host a Torino team likely to feature Ola Aina and Nicolas N’Koulou in defence.

The other games on Sunday night sees Kevin-Prince Boateng’s Sassuolo away to Cagliari, Fiorentina will welcome Chievo Verona to the Stadio Artemio Franchi, Genoa and Sampdoria (who had their opening games postponed) face Empoli and Udinese respectively, and Godfred Donsah’s Bologna are away to Frosinone.

The round wraps up on Monday 27 August with a clash between Roma and Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico. ‎I Giallorossi began their campaign with a 1-0 win at Torino and will start as favourites to defeat an Atalanta team which can call on Gambian youngster Musa Barrow in attack.

Key match stats

Juventus v Lazio – Head-to-head, all competitions
Matches played 59
Juve wins 32
Lazio wins 15
Draws 12

Napoli v Milan – Head-to-head, all competitions
Matches played 34
Napoli wins 11
Milan wins 10
Draws 13

Roma v Atalanta – Head-to-head, all competitions
Matches played 39
Roma wins 22
Atalanta wins 11
Draws 6

Serie A fixtures, August 25-27
All times CAT

Saturday 25 August
18:00: Juventus v Lazio – LIVE on SS8, Max2 & SelGo4
20:30: Napoli v Milan – LIVE on SS8, SS10, Max360 & SelGo2

Sunday 26 August
18:00: SPAL v Parma – LIVE on SS8, Max2 & SelGo4
20:30: Cagliari v Sassuolo – LIVE on Max360
20:30: Fiorentina v Chievo – LIVE on SS3
20:30: Genoa v Empoli – LIVE on SS10 & SelGo2
20:30: Internazionale v Torino – LIVE on SS8 & Max1
20:30: Udinese v Sampdoria – LIVE on SS5

Monday 27 August
20:30: Roma v Atalanta – LIVE on SS8