MILAN: In the small break between the transfer window shutting and the Champions League group stage starting, Serie A frontloads its weekend schedule with last season’s top four in action on Saturday. Champions AC Milan face Inter at the San Siro after Juventus visit Fiorentina in the day’s opening match. Napoli conclude the evening at Lazio. After nine seasons of Juventus domination, the Milan rivalry became decisive again in the last two season, as each club won a title and finished runners-up. Inter did a lot of their big business early in the transfer window. Milan were still stuffing stars in their Prada bag right up to Thursday’s deadline, with Belgian midfielder Aster Vranckx joining from Wolfsburg and American full-back Sergino Dest coming in on loan from Barcelona.
Yet the biggest Serie A acquisition of the summer was AC Milan itself, bought on Wednesday by investment fund RedBird for a reported 1.2 billion euros (1.3 billion dollars). In Europe, Milan travel to Salzburg on Tuesday. Inter have 24 hours longer to prepare and are at home against Bayern Munich. Inter will likely be without star signing Romelu Lukaku, who missed Tuesday’s win over Cremonese with a thigh injury. Coach Simone Inzaghi made several unforced changes and indicated he will rotate again. Juventus will have an eye on Tuesday’s visit to Paris Saint-Germain. In Serie A, Juve beat Spezia 2-0 on Wednesday with one of their marquee summer signings Arkadiusz Milik coming off the bench for the last five minutes and scoring. The early season pace-setters are in action later in the weekend. Roma visit mid-table Udinese on Sunday. The next evening Atalanta are at last-place Monza.
Key stat
6: Divock Origi, who should be fit to return for AC Milan against Inter, acquired a reputation as a derby specialist by scoring six of his 22 Premier League goals for Liverpool against neighbours Everton.
Fixtures (all times GMT)
Saturday
Fiorentina v Juventus (1300), AC Milan v Inter Milan (1600), Lazio v Napoli (1845)
Sunday
Cremonese v Sassuolo (1030), Spezia v Bologna (1300), Verona v Sampdoria (1600), Udinese v Roma (1845)
Monday
Monza v Atalanta (1630), Salernitana v Empoli (1630), Torino v Lecce (1845).
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