Benevento v Torino Preview

Torino will look to make it consecutive Serie A victories when they face newly promoted Benevento on Sunday evening.

The Granata were impressive 3-0 winners over Sassuolo before the international break, with Andrea Belotti scoring an early 'goal of the season' contender.

New signings Cristian Ansaldi, Nicolas Burdisso and M'Baye Niang are all included in the squad, whilst Daniele Baselli has recovered from injury and could feature.

Benevento have lost both their opening two fixtures against Sampdoria and Bologna, both by a single goal margin, although former Toro winger Vittorio Parigini could make his debut for the Stregoni.

Toro have never faced Benevento in league action before, but they did meet in the Coppa Italia in 1982, with Torino coming from behind to emerge 2-1 winners.

Prediction
Benevento 1-3 Torino

Transfer Window Summary

With the summer transfer window closing on Thursday, here is a summary of all the deals done including a number of dramatic transfers on the final day.

Torino started their business early, with deals to sign Brazilian defender Lyanco and goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić arriving from São Paulo and Legia Gdansk before the transfer window had even officially opened.

Goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu signed on a free transfer from PSG to replace Joe Hart who had returned to Man City after his loan spell expired. Cameroon international Nicolas N'Koulou was a surprise arrival from Lyon, with the defender arriving on loan with an option to make the deal permanent.

Midfielder Tomás Rincón also arrived on loan from local rivals Torino, although the Granata will be obliged for this to become permanent at the end of the campaign. Spanish winger Alex Berenguer arrived from Osasuna on a permanent deal, with Toro seeing off interest from Napoli to sign the talented youngster.

Striker Umar Sadiq signed on loan from Roma to provide back up for Andrea Belotti in a complicated deal which Toro can make permanent, but Roma also have a counter option.

A number of players have left the club in the summer, with Daniele Padelli joining Inter after his contract at the club expired. Defenders Carlão and Arlind Ajeti joined APOEL and Crotone on loan, whilst Gaston Silva and Luca Rossettini left permanently to sign for Pumas and Genoa.

Marco Benassi was Torino's highest profile departure, with the highly rated midfielder leaving the club to join Fiorentina. Saša Lukić left the club to join Levante on loan, whilst Mattia Aramu went to Virtus Entella on a temporary basis.

A number of deals also took place on deadline day, with Davide Zappacosta surprisingly being signed by Chelsea in a deal that could be worth €30m. Zappacosta was replaced by Inter defender Cristian Ansaldi, who signed on a two year loan with an obligation to make permanent.

Fellow Argentine Nicolás Burdisso also signed for Toro on a free transfer, whilst Torino's marquee signing of the summer also took place on the final day, with M'Baye Niang signing from AC Milan in a deal which will break Toro's transfer record.

There were also outgoings on Thursday, with Danilo Avelar leaving to join French side Amiens, Maxi Lopez departing for Udinese, and Vittorio Parigini for Benevento. 

Torino 3-0 Sassuolo

Torino won their first game of the new season as they kept their first clean sheet since January with a 3-0 victory over Sassuolo.

Lorenzo De Silvestri, Antonio Barreca and Tomas Rincon all came into the team from the side who drew with Bologna on the opening day.

Toro made a bright start in the opening ten minutes, but first Alex Berenguer, and then Andrea Belotti were unable to make contact with crosses from the right wing.

The Granata took the lead on the stroke of half time in a move started by an excellent piece of composure by new signing Nicolas N'Koulou. The Cameroon international then passed the ball to Lorenzo De Silvestri whose deep cross was scissor-kicked into the net by Andrea Belotti.

The away side almost equalised in fortuitous circumstances as his cross was deflected and almost beat Sirigu at his near post but it instead hit the post.

Simone Edera almost made an instant impact after coming off the bench, but dragged his shot wide of the target within seconds of entering the pitch.

However, Toro doubled their lead with just over five minutes remaining as Iago Falque intercepted a poor back pass by Alfred Duncan, and unselfishly set up Adem Ljajic who scored his second of the season.

Toro added a third goal minutes later as a great run by Belotti resulted in the Granata skipper cutting the ball back for Joel Obi who side-footed home.

Forza Toro

Torino v Sassuolo Preview

Torino will look for their first victory of the new Serie A season when they face Sassuolo at the Stadio Grande Torino on Sunday evening.

Brazilian defender Lyanco is available after injury and could make his debut, whilst Tomas Rincon could make his first start in midfield.

This was an entertaining fixture on the final day of last season, with Toro prevailing as 5-3 winners, with Iago Falque and Andrea Belotti both on the scoresheet.

The Sassuolo coach on that day, Eusebio Di Francesco, has since left the club to join Roma, so it was new coach Cristian Bucchi who oversaw their opening game of the season last weekend - a 0-0 draw at home to Genoa.

Prediction
Torino 2-1 Sassuolo

Bologna 1-1 Torino

Torino opened the 2017/18 Serie A season with an away draw against Bologna, but saw a late winner disallowed in farcical circumstances due to confusion over the new VAR system.

Salvatore Sirigu, Nicolas N'Koulou and Alex Berenguer all made debuts for Toro, whilst Afriyie Acquah was a surprise starter despite speculation regarding his future.

There was a minute's silence before the match to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack in Barcelona on Thursday. This was particularly poignant for Toro fans, because one of the Italian victims, Luca Russo, was a Torino supporter.

Andrea Belotti had Torino's first chance of the match, but he headed Davide Zappacosta's fine cross wide of the target. However, just before the half hour mark, Toro fell behind when Federico Di Francesco fired a fine left footed volley into the top corner.

Toro were level just six minutes later thanks to a fine individual goal from Adem Ljajic, as the Serbian playmaker nutmegged a defender before hitting a low shot into the corner of the net - although Antonio Mirante will be disappointed not to save it.

Mirante made amends in the second half by making an excellent save to deny Ljajic's long range free kick.

With only minutes remaining, Toro thought they had a winner when Alex Berenguer converted after Andrea Belotti's assist, however the referee had already blew his whistle to check with the Video Assistant Referee whether Belotti had been offside in the build up. It turned out that Belotti was on side as the through ball came off a Bologna player, and therefore Toro had been denied a valid winning goal due to a refereeing error.

However, Toro made a promising start to the new season and will now look for their first victory of the season at home to Sassuolo next Saturday.

Forza Toro and RIP Luca

Bologna v Torino Preview

Torino will begin the 2017/18 Serie A season with a trip to Bologna, hoping to start the new campaign with a victory.

Toro have managed to keep hold of prized asset Andrea Belotti, whilst new signings Salvatore Sirigu, Nicolas N'Koulou and Alex Berenguer should all start.

However, the Granata have not kept a clean sheet since January 8th and lost this fixture last season 2-0 - albeit without the suspended Belotti.

Bologna have already been eliminated from the Coppa Italia after an embarrassing 3-0 home defeat to Cittadella after former Toro winger was sent off after only five minutes.

Prediction
Bologna 1-2 Torino

Torino 7-1 Trapani

Torino made a stunning start to the new season with a thumping 7-1 victory against Serie C side Trapani on Friday evening to progress to the next round of the Coppa Italia.

Siniša Mihajlović chose to line up with arguably his strongest available eleven as Salvatore Sirigu, Nicolas N'Koulou and Alex Berenguer all made debuts.

Toro were ahead after only thirteen minutes as Adem Ljajic's excellent through ball found Andrea Belotti, and il Gallo slid the ball past Richard Marcone to open his account for the season.

However, Trapani were surprisingly level five minutes later when defender Pasquale Fazio headed home at the near post from a corner. However, Fazio then diverted Belotti's cross into his own net as Toro quickly regained the lead.

Spanish winger Alex Berenguer scored a debut goal after rounding the keeper, whilst Belotti and Joel Obi both scored before the break to give Toro a 5-1 half time lead.

Iago Falque volleyed home a lovely Adem Ljajic assist to score a sixth, whilst substitute Lorenzo De Silvestri scored from an acute angle in the closing minutes to give Toro the perfect start to the new campaign.

Forza Toro