Napoli snatch win; Vidic endures miserable start

Reuters/Milan

Erratic Napoli won 2-1 at Genoa thanks to a stoppage-time goal by debutant Jonathan de Guzman while Inter Milan defender Nemanja Vidic began his Serie A career by giving away a penalty and getting sent off in a 0-0 draw at Torino on Sunday.

Thirty-six-year-old Antonio Di Natale, who back-tracked on last season’s decision to retire, was as sharp as ever and scored both goals in Udinese’s 2-0 win over promoted Empoli to follow his four-goal haul in the Coppa Italia last week.

Sampdoria trailed for 83 minutes at promoted Palermo and played the entire second half with 10 men after Vasco Regini was sent off, but still managed to draw 1-1 thanks to a goal by Daniele Gastaldello in the last minute.

Promoted Cesena beat Parma 1-0 and Sassuolo drew 1-1 with Calgiari in Sunday’s matches.

Napoli took an early lead at Genoa through Jose Callejon but the hosts levelled just before halftime with a superb header by Chile forward Mauricio Pinilla on his debut following his move from Cagliari.

Napoli, who failed to qualify for the Champions League after losing 3-1 to Athletic Bilbao due to a shambolic defensive display, grabbed the three points when Dutchman De Guzman sneaked in behind the Genoa defence at a free kick to score from close range.

Rafael Benitez’s side were plagued by inconsistency last season and seem to be in for an equally turbulent ride this time around.

“Italian football needs to calm down and not consider every match a life or death situation,” Benitez told reporters. “Before our goal people acted as if the title was beyond us and we were going into Serie B.

Vidic conceded a first-half penalty with a foul on Fabio Quagliarella against Torino but his blushes were spared when Samir Handanovic saved Marcelo Larrondo’s spot-kick.

The former Manchester United defender was given a straight red card in stoppage time, however, for sarcastically applauding the referee.

Inter coach Walter Mazzarri was furious with the referee, claiming his side should have had a penalty for a foul on Mauro Icardi.

“If the referee gives the first penalty, he should have given the one on Icardi, which was much clearer than the one on Quagliarella,” he told reporters.

“As they do in England, Vidic applauded a decision he made and the referee interpreted it wrongly. It was an absurd red.”

Di Natale, Serie A top scorer in 2009/10 and 2010/11, opened his account in the 57th minute after a playing a one-two with Luis Muriel, then pounced on a bad back pass for his second goal five minutes later.