Inter Victory... Napoli's Fall

Defending champions Inter Milan continued their strong start by overturning a deficit against hosts Bologna to secure a 3-1 victory in the seventh round of the Italian league yesterday. Inter entered the match following a painful home defeat midweek against Belgian side Club Brugge, 3-4, in the single-pool Champions League group, after an opening loss to Spain’s Real Madrid, 1-2. They found themselves trailing Bologna from the 10th minute when Tommaso Pobega scored following a pass from Spaniard Juan Miranda. However, they entered halftime level thanks to Frenchman Marcus Thuram, who equalized with a powerful header from a Nicolo Barella cross (44'). Making an immediate impact after coming on for Federico Dimarco, Brazilian Carlos Augusto gave Inter the lead after receiving a cross from Polish player Piotr Zielinski that struck the right post (69'). Augusto then became the provider for the third goal, set up for substitute Ivorian Jean-Yves Bouni in the 83rd minute, sealing the three points that took coach Cristian Chivu’s side to the top of the table with 19 points, two ahead of newly second-placed Roma, who defeated Genoa 2-0. After three difficult matches without a win—drawing 2-2 with Inter and 0-0 with Como in the league, and losing 3-4 to Real Madrid at home in the Champions League—Roma returned to winning ways by beating visitors Genoa 2-0 with second-half goals from Argentine Santiago Castro (50') and Emmanuel Lalletti (68').