Serie A roundup: Inter Milan impressively beat Juventus to spark genuine suggestions of 2016-17 title race
Mauro Icardi on fire again on fire as Frank De Boer's tenure sparked into life — while Napoli quietly go top of the table
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THERE may just be a title race yet in Serie A, as Juventus succumbed to their first defeat of the season.
Frank De Boer finally made his mark at Inter Milan as they beat the champions in a pulsating encounter.
Despite the Nerazzurri not having beaten Juve at home since the heady days of Jose Mourinho, Il Derby d’Italia certainly hadn’t lost of any of it spice with tackles flying in from both sides.
Max Allegri had sprung a surprise by leaving £75.3million striker, Gonzalo Higuain, on the bench.
And they were almost made to pay when Mauro Icardi went close to breaking the deadlock after breaking free from Giorgio Chiellini and curling a beautiful effort around Gianluigi Buffon which just struck the outside of the post.
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After a goalless first-half, it looked like business as usual when Stephan Lichtsteiner opened the scoring for the away side against the run of play on 66 minutes.
But Inter hit back through Icardi two minutes later as he headed home Ever Banega’s corner.
And the Argentinian — who at this point had scored all of Inter’s goals this season — had a hand in the winner.
He burst through one-on-one with Buffon but was expertly closed down by the legendary goalkeeper.
Icardi refused to give up however, and crossed the ball in the box for Ivan Perisic to beat Andrea Barzagli in the air and head the ball into the bottom corner.
The result meant Napoli — who are now the only unbeaten side in Serie A — stayed top.
Arkdiusz Milik, who was brought in as a replacement for Higuain, scored two.
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The impressive Jose Callejon had opened the scoring as Napoli ran out 3-1 winners over Bologna to enter week five on top and as the only side whose ‘For’ column is in double figures.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was again the hero as AC Milan won their second match of the season.
The highly-rated 17-year-old was forced into plenty of saves to keep Sampdoria at bay as Vincenzo Montella’s men performed a real smash and grab.
Carlos Bacca’s 85th minute goal — which makes him Serie A’s leading marksman with four — ensured the Rossoneri took all three points back to Milan.
Juventus’ defeat opened the door for Roma but they, too, succumbed to a first loss of the season.
Fiorentina claimed their first victory over the Giallorossi for five years through Milan Badelj’s winner seven minutes from time.
Manager, Luciano Spalletti, had earlier thrown on Francesco Totti — and the 39-year-old came agonisingly close to an equaliser when his long-range effort just crept wide.
Elsewhere, Lazio kept up their impressive start to life under Simone Inzaghi as a 3-0 victory over Pescara sent them up to fourth.
Ciro Immobile was again among the scorers.
Joe Hart kept a clean sheet and made an important save as Torino drew 0-0 with Empoli.
While there was a first-ever Serie A point for Crotone as they drew 1-1 with Palermo.
The top-flight debutants, however, stay rooted to the bottom of the table.