23 September 2014
After ending their two-year top flight exile with last season’s playoff promotion from Serie B, Cesena celebrated their return to the big time with an Emilia-Romagna derby win over Parma at the Stadio Manuzzi.
Alejandro Rodriguez's strike on 38 minutes opened the scoring and, despite mounting Gialloblu pressure as the game wore on, several saves from Juventus-owned goalkeeper Nicola Leali enabled the hosts to hang on for a historic first winning Serie A start.
Their buoyant introduction was, however, tempered a week later when they travelled to the Stadio Olimpico, where a resounding performance from Lazio, stung by an opening day defeat to Milan, saw them run out 3-0 winners.
Antonio Candreva got the ball rolling on 19 minutes, before Marco Parolo and Stefano Mauri made certain of the points on a night in which Cesena were unable to muster a single shot.
They returned to the goal trail in last Saturday’s encounter against Empoli, with two strikes in as many first-half minutes from Guido Marilungo and Gregoire Defrel punishing the visitors for a host of missed opportunities.
But the Azzurri, also returning to the top flight this year following a second-placed finish in Serie B, dug deep and began to turn the tide when Francesco Tavano converted from the spot ten minutes after the restart.
And the comeback was complete with less than 20 minutes to go as defender Daniele Rugani, on loan from Juventus, prodded over the line to secure the Tuscans’ first point of the 2014/15 campaign.
Cesena’s record of a win, draw and defeat sees them currently sit in eleventh position on four points.
