Serie A wrap: Juve win after missing penalty

Juventus shrugged off a penalty miss from Arturo Vidal to run out comfortable 2-0 winners against Parma.

Goals from Stephan Lichtsteiner and Andrea Pirlo sealed victory for the reigning champions on Serie A’s opening weekend.

The Switzerland international turned in from Kwadwo Asamoah’s cross just after the interval, atoning for his Chilean team-mate who had seen his kick saved from the spot by Antonio Mirante.

Three points were secured by Pirlo, whose low free-kick originally appeared to have been stopped before it was allowed on the advice of the fifth official.

After a quiet start to proceedings, Juventus started to show their dominance as the half wore on. In his first official game, Kwadwo Asamoah was a dynamic force on the left hand side.

Excellent work from Asamoah out wide led to another cross, and Lichtsteiner was in exactly the right place to calmly finish and put the hosts into a deserved lead.

Parma were rattled, and captain Alessandro Lucarelli was extremely lucky to only receive a booking for an ugly challenge on Vidal that appeared to use the elbow.

A second for Juve came in bizarre fashion just minutes later. Mirante appeared to have saved Andrea Pirlo’s free kick right on the line.

But referee Romeo disagreed and, after some consultation with the fifth official, ruled that the veteran midfielder had scored.

Juve’s next Serie A test comes on Sunday, when they will visit Udinese. Parma, meanwhile, host Chievo on the same day.

Fiorentina dominated possession, but needed a late Stevan Jovetic brace to wipe out Maicosuel’s Udinese opener in their 2-1 victory.

Maicosuel gave Udinese the lead after 28 minutes on his debut when he was sent through the middle by Muriel to spring the offside trap and kept his cool, rolling an angled drive off the inside of the far post.

Fiorentina were pushing hard, but needed a stroke of luck to get the equaliser. Jovetic’s shot took a huge deflection off Danilo to loop into the air and over a helpless Zeljko Brkic.

Jovetic scored the winner in stoppage time after he hooked down a cross-field pass and placed a snooker-shot into the far bottom corner.