Veteran English ace draws blank on Serie A debut

Jamie Vardy has failed to find the net in his Serie A debut and thus prevent the first scoreless draw between Cremonese and Verona for almost 40 years.

Vardy, one of England's most prolific goalscorers over the last decade, signed for Cremonese on deadline day and came off the bench in the 58th minute.

The striker has opened a new chapter in his career after progressing from part-time football to win 26 England caps and score 200 goals for Leicester City.

But there was no fairytale start for the 38-year-old who won the Premier League and FA Cup with the Foxes.

Instead, most of the chances were at the other end as Verona pushed for a first win at home since February 23.

The point moved Cremonese up to third on seven points, while Verona are 16th with two points from three games.

"Our goal is to stay up, we have the quality to compete against anyone to stay in the division, but any opponent can cause us problems," Cremonese captain Matteo Bianchetti said.

"The coach instils a lot of self-confidence and belief in our abilities, we still need to get to know ourselves well, but in this respect we're in a good place."

Romano Benito Floriani Mussolini, great-grandson of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini also came off the bench for the visitors.

His mother watched from the stands along with Rebekah Vardy, Jamie's wife, who became notorious in England for an unsuccessful court case in which she sued Wayne Rooney's wife, Colleen, after the latter accused her of leaking stories about the Rooney family to a tabloid newspaper.

Later on Monday, Genoa scored in added time to draw at Como.

Argentine Nico Paz gave the hosts the lead after 13 minutes with a lovely strike from outside the box.

Como coach Cesc Fabregas looked sure to preserve his 100 per cent record against his old Arsenal and France teammate Patrick Vieira since they both moved into the dugout but Caleb Ekuban slammed home after a goalmouth scramble two minutes into added time.

The point left Genoa winless after three games but lifted them out of joint-last place, while Como moved up to ninth.