Antonio Conte believes he witnessed a turning point for his Napoli side as they strolled to a 3-0 win over Bologna in their Serie A home opener on Sunday.
Napoli were trounced 3-0 at Verona in Conte's first league game at the helm last week, but they bounced back with a comfortable win over the Rossoblu on Sunday.
The Partenopei's victory was their first on home soil without conceding since they beat Sassuolo 2-0 in August 2023, and Conte feels it was an important moment in his team's development.
"Today we had a great responsibility, that of giving a great response after the second half in Verona," Conte told reporters.
"I had no doubts, these guys are good guys. I see them working... and I got important answers.
"These are three points that are the start of our journey, my first three points as Napoli coach.
"I was emotional, I really cared about it. It's a starting point, we know that we have a journey to make.
"We have to gain confidence and continue to give this sense of unity that we felt today. This makes me happy, we hadn't won for a long time and we did it against an important opponent. Now let's think about Parma."
Napoli had gone eight league games without a victory prior to Sunday's match, with their previous win coming by a 2-1 scoreline against Juventus in March.
Winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia contributed a goal and an assist, and he feels having Conte at the helm is close to a guarantee of success, saying: "I really wanted to get on the pitch and give my contribution to the cause to bring home a very important win.
"I am a footballer who always wants to learn new things, to acquire useful notions to continue my path of growth.
"Having Conte on the bench is certainly a guarantee. Let's hope we can take great satisfaction throughout the whole championship."
Dybala debated Saudi Pro League move before settling on Roma stay
Paulo Dybala says he thought about taking the lucrative deal offered to him from the Saudi Pro League before ultimately deciding to stay at Roma.
The World Cup winner was being linked with a move to Al-Qadsiah, who reportedly offered him a three-year contract worth €75million.
However, Dybala chose to turn the offer down to stay in Italy and was part of the team that started their 2-1 defeat to Empoli in Serie A on Sunday.
"Everybody looks at the money, but I put many things on the table to come to my decision: my family, my wife, the city, the team, and my desire to return to the national team," Dybala told Sky Italia.
"I'm 30 and feel good. I've seen a lot of criticism about the injuries, but I try to work hard every day to take care of myself and perform the best I can."
Dybala has been a fan favourite at Roma since joining from Juventus in 2022 and has been an influential figure for the club.
He scored 16 goals in 39 appearances in all competitions last season, with only Romelu Lukaku bettering his tally (21 in 47 games).
The Argentinian was also involved in more goals than any of his team-mates (26), having registered 10 assists, while he also led the way for chances created (61) and big chances created (15) among Roma players in 2023-24.
And Dybala admitted that while he is happy with his decision to stay in the Italian capital, he did debate taking the offer.
"Surely when you see that kind of figure… I can't say I didn't think about it, but I weighed a few aspects. It made no difference to my agent. It's not true that he would have made a lot of money.
"The most important thing for him is my happiness. We've collaborated for a long time. I don't know how the Arabs reacted as I didn't speak with them directly."
Verona 0-3 Juventus: Vlahovic double keeps Motta's perfect start going
Dusan Vlahovic scored twice to help Juventus secure a comfortable 3-0 victory at Verona in Serie A on Monday.
Nicolo Savona thought he had marked his first start for the club with an early goal, slotting into the bottom-right corner, but he had strayed well offside.
Vlahovic then put Juve in front in the 28th minute with a low shot from around the penalty spot before Savona did hit the back of the net with a looping header into the far post.
The Serbian forward then made it 3-0 from the spot following half-time, after Juve were awarded a penalty for Jackson Tchatchoua's foul on Samuel Mbangula.
Juventus are the only side to win their first two games in Serie A and Thigao Motta's men currently lead the standings with six points.
Data Debrief: Vlahovic off the mark
After failing to hit the back of the net in their Serie A opener, Vlahovic's wait for a first goal of the season did not last long on Monday, scoring after 28 minutes.
The Serb has scored multiple goals in more games than any other player in Serie A over the last six seasons (18 since 2019-10), followed by Lautaro Martinez (17) and Ciro Immobile (16) in this period.
Meanwhile, Kenan Yildiz (born in 2005) is the youngest player in the top 5 European leagues to have provided more than one assist (two) so far this season.
Premier League MD2: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
We're into the swing of the new Premier League season, with matchday two bringing plenty more thrills and spills.
Big wins for Chelsea and Manchester City were accompanied by hat-tricks for Noni Madueke and Erling Haaland, while Everton's miserable start to 2024-25 continued as they were thrashed 4-0 at Tottenham.
But who were the lucky winners and the unlucky losers to emerge from this weekend's set of fixtures, according to the underlying metrics?
With the help of Opta data, let's find out.
Lucky winners: Chelsea
While Chelsea's thumping 6-2 win at Wolves was the most emphatic victory of a goal-laden matchday, perhaps fortune smiled on the Blues as they got off the mark under Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea's six goals came from an expected goals (xG) figure of just 1.68, with the Blues giving up chances worth 1.96 xG at the other end.
Madueke was joined on the scoresheet by Nicolas Jackson, Cole Palmer and Joao Felix as Maresca became the first manager in Premier League history to see his team score six goals in his first away game at the helm.
Unlucky losers: Wolves
It might be a tad generous to suggest Wolves were unfortunate after shipping six goals on home soil, four of them coming in a miserable second half as they attempted to chase the game.
However, it is certainly fair to say the scoreline did not tell the full story of a game in which Gary O'Neil's men managed 12 shots to Chelsea's 14 and bettered the Blues' 21 touches in the area, registering 25.
Chelsea's xG overperformance of 4.31 is the largest of the season by some margin, with Brighton and Spurs both outdoing their underlying figures by 1.57 in their victories over Everton.
No team managed a bigger overperformance than that throughout the entirety of last season, either, with Newcastle's eight goals from 3.92 xG versus Sheffield United the closest any team got.
Lucky winners: Arsenal
Chelsea's win at Molineux was one of just two games in the Premier League on matchday two where the victors lost the xG battle.
But on a weekend where justice was largely done, Arsenal could perhaps count themselves fortunate to leave Aston Villa with a 2-0 victory.
The Gunners accumulated just 0.87 xG to Villa's 1.28, but goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey maintained their 100% start to the season.
This is the third time they have won their first two matches of a top-flight campaign without conceding a goal, having previously done so in 1924-25 and 1971-72.
Unlucky losers: Aston Villa
Villa were a lucky winner on matchday one as they escaped the London Stadium with a 2-1 victory over West Ham, but there was to be no repeat against Arsenal.
Unai Emery's team only hit the target with three of their 11 shots, and striker Ollie Watkins was particularly wasteful as he failed to net from two efforts worth 0.87 xG.
That is the second-highest figure registered by a player who failed to score in a Premier League match this season, after Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic versus Southampton on Saturday (0.98 xG).
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