A long break: injuries, benches and Roma on top

Real football stopped on Sunday night. Serie A's fifth matchday left behind Milan's 3-0 win over Lecce (opened by Pulisic, named man of the match by Calciomercato.com), Juventus' 2-0 against Atalanta with Bremer voted best on the pitch, the 2-2 between Roma and Inter, the 1-1 in Fiorentina-Napoli, Frosinone's 2-0 over Como thanks to Kvernadze's double, Parma's 2-1 against Genoa decided by Almqvist in the 79th minute, Lazio's 2-0 in Venice, the 1-1 in Bologna-Torino, Cagliari's 1-0 in Udine and Monza's 2-1 over Sassuolo on the Friday. After that, silence: there is nothing on the calendar today or in the coming days.

The void is filled by the treatment room, and the bulletin is long. Napoli have confirmed an adductor injury for Anguissa, out for around fifteen days (ANSA Calcio, with the medical note relayed by Corriere dello Sport); Calciomercato.com reports Kossounou out for two months with a hamstring problem and says Dimarco has had to leave the Italy camp, while Cristante gave up his place to Ricci. The same source flags Donyell Malen's absence from the Nations League with a physical problem: no small matter, given the Dutchman leads the Serie A scoring charts with six goals. At Juventus, ANSA reports that Kolo Muani has been operated on at the J Medical and that the surgery was a success.

Then come the cases and the benches. Venezia have confirmed Stroppa despite five defeats in five games (ANSA Calcio), and Genoa have reaffirmed their faith in De Rossi after a single point from as many matches (Corriere dello Sport). Juventus have been fined ten thousand euros because the minute of silence for Mazzola was not respected by their fans, a case that reached the sporting judge (DAZN). In Naples, De Bruyne made things clear from the Belgium camp: “Leave Napoli? I never considered the idea” (Corriere dello Sport). And from Spain comes an alarm that concerns Italy too: Valverde is injured and a doubt for the Champions League tie against Roma (Calciomercato.com).

So when does it restart? Not soon: Serie A returns on Saturday 10 October with Genoa-Fiorentina at 15.00, Inter-Parma at 18.00 and Napoli-Frosinone at 20.45 (Italian time), running through to the Monday night game on the 12th. The Champions League reopens on Tuesday 13 October at 21.00 with Inter-Club Brugge and Villarreal-Napoli, while the next day Como travel to Rotterdam to face Feyenoord (18.45) and, above all, Roma host Real Madrid at 21.00 - the game that makes the Valverde bulletin so heavy. The only football actually played in these hours is the women's game: in the Champions League, Inter Women won on their debut against Häcken (ANSA Calcio) and Juventus lost 1-2 at home to Benfica despite Alba Redondo's goal (OA Sport).

That leaves the table, which for three weeks will be a photograph rather than a film. Roma, Inter and Lazio lead on 13 points, all with four wins and a draw: goal difference favours Roma (14-3), Inter score more but concede more (15-8), and Lazio share with Roma the meanest defence at three goals against. Behind them, Cagliari on 12 and Milan on 11 are making more noise than expected, while Frosinone's 10 points are the club's best ever start in Serie A (Calciomercato.com). At the bottom, Venezia are still on zero, Genoa on 1 and Bologna on 2. Abroad the picture is less balanced: Barcelona have 21 points out of 21 with 31 goals scored, Manchester City lead the Premier League on 15, Dortmund the Bundesliga on 12 and Monaco Ligue 1 on 13.