Milan begin title defence in style as Inter leave it late in Serie A

The only thing missing from Serie A’s opening weekend was a bleary-eyed traveller bursting into the room and demanding to know what year it is. Rodrigo Becão scoring a header against Milan? How did a story this unlikely get stuck on repeat? The Udinese centre-back’s three goals in four seasons against the Rossoneri are more than he has managed against every other opponent combined in his professional career.

Six hundred miles away, Romelu Lukaku netted on his Inter debut against Lecce, exactly as he did when he joined for the first time in 2019. The shirt on his back has changed from No 9 to No 90, and that was about how many seconds he needed to make history recur, heading home from close range to open the scoring at the Stadio Via del Mare.

One day later, Ionut Radu found himself trapped in a less happy rerun. The goalkeeper swapped Inter for Cremonese in the summer, seeking a fresh start with a newly promoted side after his howler against Bologna cost the Nerazzurri control of last season’s title race. But after a mostly strong performance against Fiorentina, he blundered again, dropping a cross at the feet of an opponent in the 95th minute to squander a hard-earned point.

It was a weekend of fast starts and late drama. Becão’s goal was the first of the season, arriving in the second minute at San Siro, but did not unsettle the reigning champs. Milan equalised from a contentious penalty and led through Ante Rebic before allowing themselves to be pegged back by an Adam Masina goal just before half-time.

That same player would gift them a chance to reclaim their advantage after the interval, failing to deal with a cross at the back post. Brahim Díaz pounced to punish his mistake and the Spaniard then set up Rebic to