Radja Nainggolan scored on his debut as Inter Milan claimed their first three points of the Serie A season with a 3-0 win in Bologna yesterday. Nainggolan missed the first two games of the campaign with injury following his summer move from Roma. But the 30-year-old Belgian midfielder made amends on his league debut, opening his and Inter’s account at the Stadio Dall’Ara after 66 minutes. Italy midfielder Antonio Candreva and Croatia’s World Cup runner-up Ivan Perisic added two quickfire goals in the final ten minutes to seal all three points.
The win gives Luciano Spalletti’s side four points from three games, equal on points with Roma who lost 2-1 at AC Milan on Friday. Filippo Inzaghi’s Bologna are stuck on one point, without a single goal scored in three games. 
Inter captain and striker Mauro Icardi tried, unsuccessfully, to shake off a muscle strain by warming up before being compelled to watch from the stands, along with Lautaro Martinez. It left Keita Balde as Inter’s sole striker, but with Nainggolan, Matteo Politano and Perisic in support.
Perisic nodded into the side-netting early with Roberto Gagliardini also firing over for the visitors before Bologna threatened, Filip Helander’s header cleared off the line by Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.
Nainggolan missed a chance to open the scoring just before the break with a powerful half-volley from the edge of the box flying over. But the Belgian made no mistake after the break, controlling Politano’s cross to fire past his former Roma teammate Lukasz Skorupski. Candreva replaced Keita on 79 minutes and three minutes later turned in a low cross from Perisic, the Croatian sealing victory two minutes later. Champions Juventus were playing at Parma late last night with Cristiano Ronaldo looking to open his scoring account in Serie A while runners-up Napoli play Sampdoria in Genoa today. 
On Friday, Substitute Patrick Cutrone scored a last-gasp winner to give AC Milan their first win of the season at their San Siro stadium with a 2-1 victory over Roma. Franck Kessie had gotten AC Milan off the mark after 40 minutes with Cutrone sealing victory five minutes into injury time to hand Roma their first defeat in over three years at the San Siro.
Defender Federico Fazio had pulled Roma level 1-1 on the hour mark. Roma’s World Cup winner Steven Nzonzi and AC Milan’s Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain both had goals disallowed. Both sides had been looking to put stuttering starts to the season behind them with Gennaro Gattuso’s Milan losing 3-2 at Napoli last week despite leading by two goals. Milan’s opening game against Genoa at the San Siro had been postponed because of the bridge disaster in the western port city. “There were huge regrets over the defeat to Napoli,” said Gattuso. “But it’s only the second match of the season. I can’t talk about a turning point after two games. I know how our lads work and that we still need to become a team in some areas.”
Roma counterpart Eusebio Di Francesco made several changes from the side that drew 3-3 with Atalanta in Rome last Monday, but he conceded his tactics did not work. “We lacked sharpness,” said Di Francesco. “We’re conceding too many goals, make too many bad choices on the field and it’s something we have to work on in training.”
The match was also watched by the club’s former Brazilian star Kaka along with new directors Leonardo and Paolo Maldini, also former club legends. “It’s only right that there is enthusiasm for those who wrote the history of Milan, but we mustn’t think that the current squad should shoulder all that,” said Gattuso.
“We must find our motivation by ourselves, on the training field every day. We can play good football this year, work with greater calm than last season and do good things.”
Italian Serie A results
Bologna 0 Inter Milan 3 (Nainggolan 66, Candreva 82, Perisic 85)
Played Friday: AC Milan 2 (Kessie 40, Cutrone 90+5) Roma 1 (Fazio 59)
Playing today: Fiorentina v Udinese (1600 GMT); Atalanta v Cagliari, Chievo v Empoli, Lazio v Frosinone, Sampdoria v Napoli, Sassuolo v Genoa, Torino v SPAL (all 1830)