Newly promoted Bologna beat Milan 2-1 yesterday to spoil Ronaldinho’s debut in the opening round of Serie A.

Ronaldinho set up Milan’s equaliser with a cross headed in by Massimo Ambrosini in the 41st minute, after Marco Di Vaio had put Bologna ahead in the 18th.

Francesco Valiani sealed the win in the 79th at Milan’s San Siro stadium in front of 60,000 spectators that included Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister and Milan’s owner.

Ronaldinho showed impressive dribbling and pinpoint passing after languishing last year at FC Barcelona.

“I’m optimistic above all because of the game that Ronaldinho had,” Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “It was a strange game, one of those surprises that can happen at the beginning of the season ... We played a good game, we attacked for 90 minutes and there were two instances when Bologna was better than us.”

Andriy Shevchenko played in the second half, marking his return to Milan after two seasons at Chelsea. The Ukrainian failed to convert several passes from Ronaldinho, including one when he found himself alone in front of Bologna goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli who made the save with his feet.

Milan was not the only preseason Serie A favorite to stumble in the opening round. Inter drew 1-1 against Sampdoria on Saturday, while Roma only managed a 1-1 tie with Napoli which had 10 men for most of yesterday’s second half.

Roma pulled ahead in the 29th as Alberto Aquilani trapped a pass from Daniele De Rossi with his chest and then fired into the net among several Napoli defenders. Galvanised by the goal, Roma continued to pressure and had several chances to make it 2-0 before Marek Hamsik drew Napoli level a minute after Fabiano Santacroce’s expulsion.

“It was an open game that could have gone either way,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said.

Fiorentina and Juventus, both of which are expected to contend for one of the top spots in the league, shared points later in a thrilling 1-1 draw.

Lazio went behind 1-0 and then scored four goals in the last 30 minutes to beat 10-man Cagliari 4-1.

Chievo rallied to defeat Reggina 2-1 with a goal in the 88th by Vincenzo Italiano after the teams traded penalty kicks to make it 1-1. Reggina has never won in 11 meetings between the two teams at Chievo’s home stadium in Verona.

Also yesterday, it was: Torino 3, Lecce 0; Catania 1, Genoa 0; and Atalanta 1, Siena 0.