Serie A: The fixtures have been released....

and in week one we have some tasty encounters. The season begins on the 28th of August with an early evening game and night game, with Sunday the 29th providing the usual afternoon and evening game. Upon which day the following games will take place remains to be seen but in week one Juventus will travel to Bari and Inter will begin their season in Bologna. AC Milan and Roma both begin their seasons at home against promoted sides Lecce and Cesena respectively while Fiorentina and Napoli will face off in Florence to provide the first big game of the season. Lazio begin their season away to Sampdoria, a fixture that has not treated the Rome side well in recent years. Palermo, 5th last year in Serie A, host Cagliari while Parma, 8th last year, begin at home to newly promoted Brescia. Completing the first round Genoa play away to Udinese while Catania travel away to Chievo.

The big games and the derbies
But, its the big games that everyone will be looking out for first of all and if you don't know already then there are some crackers early on in the season. The first huge match takes place in week five when Inter head to Rome to play Roma. Week six again sees Inter involved as the European Champions host Juventus at the San Siro while Roma head to Naples for the derby del Sud. Napoli are again involved when they host Milan in week eight, always an entertaining clash.

The big games keep coming when Juventus again travel to the San Siro but this time to take on AC Milan in week nine, while week ten sees Lazio take on Roma in the Rome derby for the first of the big derby fixtures of the season. Things however go slightly mad in week 12 which included the Milan derby, the Sicilian derby and Juve v Roma, not to mention Lazio v Napoli. Juventus play Fiorentina in week 14 in what is always a hotly contested match. Week 15 sees Lazio host Inter while in week 16 the Rome club travel to Turin to play Juve.

Week 17 sees the Genoa derby take place as well as Milan v Roma and Fiorentina v Inter. Inter again are at the heart of things in week 18 when they host Napoli, and will have to travel to the San Paolo in week 37, a place where victories have been few and far between for Inter in recent years. Week 18 also sees the return of a fantastically pasionate derby in Lecce v Bari, sure to be a spectacular affair. Finally, Week 19 sees Napoli v Juve and Sampdoria v Roma.