ROME: AS Roma’s Francesco Totti shoots during the Serie A match against Sassuolo on Sunday.—AFP

MILAN: Inter Milan remained the only perfect team in Serie A with a 1-0 win at Chievo Verona on Sunday, while titleholders Juventus won for the first time by overcoming Genoa 2-0 and Francesco Totti scored his 300th competitive goal for AS Roma in a 2-2 draw with Sassuolo.

Inter’s Mauro Icardi scored his first goal of the season shortly before half-time, slotting in from the edge of the area after taking a pass from prized offseason signing Geoffrey Kondogbia and left Roberto Mancini’s Inter with 12 points from their opening four games.

“I’m very satisfied with the performance,” Mancini said. “The merit for the improvement this year goes to the entire squad. The more we work together the better we become. And of course the new players are helping a lot.”

Inter will remain top for at least another week, with a two-point cushion on Torino, who saw Juve reject Fabio Quagliarella hit the net twice in a precious 2-0 home win over hapless Sampdoria. Roma and Sassuolo are next, a further four points back.

Inter’s last title came in 2010 under Jose Mourinho.

“It’s important to be atop the table at the end of the season, not now,” said Mancini, who guided Inter to three straight titles from 2006-08 and rejoined the club last November. “Of course it’s great to be up there but we can’t think about it.”

Paul Pogba created one goal and scored another as four-time defending champions Juve got off the mark at 10-man Genoa after they had failed to win in their opening three games.

Juve enjoyed a huge slice of fortune when Pogba volleyed against the underside of the crossbar from Roberto Pereyra’s cross but the ball hit Lamanna on the chest and bounced into the goal in the 37th.

Genoa defender Armando Izzo was shown a second yellow before half-time and Pogba converted a penalty for Juve on the hour mark after Giorgio Chiellini was fouled to seal the win but Juve are still eight points adrift of Inter.

TOTTI REACHES 300

Roma were stunned by Gregoire Defrel’s solo goal after 22 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico before Totti, in his 24th season at his only professional club and one week short of his 39th birthday, sprang into action.

Sassuolo goalkeeper Andrea Consigli sent an attempted clearance straight to Miralem Pjanic who found Totti and he rolled the ball into the net.

It was far from spectacular, but the goal took Totti’s tally to 300 in all competitions for the club for whom he made his debut in March 1993 — his 244th in Serie A moving him within 30 of Silvio Piola’s all-time record.

Matteo Politano put the visitors back in front on the stroke of halftime and a brilliant Mohamed Salah volley early in the second half rescued a point for Roma.

Elsewhere, Bologna beat Frosinone 1-0 with a first-half goal from French forward Anthony Mounier in a matchup of two promoted clubs while Eros Pisano scored an injury-time equaliser as 10-man Hellas Verona drew 1-1 at Atalanta.

On Saturday, Carlos Bacca scored twice to give AC Milan a 3-2 win over Palermo and hand the Sicilians their first Serie A defeat of the season.

The Colombian international opened the scoring in the 21st minute and, after Oscar Hiljemark had hit his second of the night to level Giacomo Bonaventura’s 40th minute free kick, he restored Milan’s lead on 75 minutes with a powerful glancing header as Milan moved to six points, one behind Palermo.

Also on Saturday, a stoppage time goal by Massimo Maccarone gave Empoli their first win of the season as they beat Udinese 2-1 away.

Published in Dawn, September 21st , 2015

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