League leaders Juventus got back to winning ways with a 2-1 away at fourth-placed Udinese.
Juve boldly went with a three-pronged attacking formation with Zlatan Ibrahimovic playing alongside David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero.
It was the Swede who got between two defenders and put Juve 1-0 after just 38 seconds. Mauro Camaronesi then doubled the visitors’ lead. David Di Michele pulled one back for the home side in the last minute but it proved to be no more than a consolation.
Milan kept up the pressure at the top with a 1-0 win at Reggina. Marco Zamboni’s own goal was enough to give the Rossoneri all three points. The gap at summit is still just two points.
Elsewhere, Sampdoria missed the chance to move into fourth place after losing 1-0 to Livorno; Cristiano Lucarelli hit the only goal of the game nine minutes from time.
Down at the bottom, Brescia boosted their chances of survival with three precious points against Cagliari. Davide Zoboli hit the winning goal, whilst Cagliari’s hopes of gaining anything from the game evaporated with the sending off of Alessandro Budel on 54 minutes.
Parma slipped into the bottom three after going down 2-1 at Fiorentina giving new coach, Dino Zoff his first win in charge of the Viola. Giorgio Chiellini gave the hosts the lead before Fabrizio Miccoli doubled their tally. Alberto Gilardino reduced the arrears with six minutes remaining but Parma could not find the equalizer.
Palmero moved into the top six with a 1-1 at Bologna. Luca Toni put Palmero ahead, before the hosts were reduced to ten men after Stefano Morrone was dismissed on 68 minutes. Bologna took full advantage of the extra man and grabbed a leveler on 76 minutes through Igil Tare.
Lecce climbed into the top half of the table with a comfortable win over Chievo. Cedric Konan netted first for the home side on 26 minutes before two goals in two minutes from Jamie Valdes (74) and Mirko Vucinic (76) wrapped up the game.
Siena twice came from behind to earn a point at home to Messina. Arturo Di Napoli gave the visitors the lead after just five minutes. The home side’s luck didn’t improve with Daniele Portanova being sent off after just 25 minutes.
Siena refused to give in, and veteren Enrico Chiesa leveled the game up two minutes after the half time interval. Alessandro Parisi restored Messina’s lead scoring from the penalty spot on 67 minutes, but Davide Chiumiento earned Siena a valuable point with an 83rd minute equaliser.
