Reigning Italian champions Milan replaced Juventus at the top of the division by virtue of a better goal difference thanks to this last-gasp win over Cagliari.
Even without star striker Andriy Shevchenko, who fractured cheekbone after just 11 minutes, Milan dominated the Sardegnan side, but had to wait until second-half stoppage time before Brazilian winger Serginho lashed the winner into the roof of the net.
Messina had only lost twice this season at their San Filippo stadium. Juventus were let down by a combination of poor passing and aggressive marking by the home side. Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasted their best chance of the game nine minutes from time, when he broke the offside trap only to blast his shot straight at keeper Marco Storari.
More accustomed to coming from behind, Inter found themselves on the receiving end of a last-minute goal by Udinese’s Henok Goitom, which cancelled out Juan Sebastian Veron’s earlier strike and left the Milan side a distant third, 11 points off the lead.
Brescia’s chances of winning this relegation dogfight were compromised by the sixth-minute sending-off of defender Maurizio Domizzi for a last-man foul. Alberto Gilardino put Parma ahead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute after Pierre Wome had brought down Marco Marchionni.
Gilardino’s strike partner Domenico Morfeo doubled their advantage with a long-range effort just after the interval. Brescia won a penalty of their own soon after, but couldn’t fight their way back into the contest and now stand second bottom in the table.
Roma cruised to their first win in four matches to bolster their pursuit of a Champions League place next season. Francesco Totti was the star of the show, setting up Vincenzo Montella and Simone Perrotta for Roma’s first two goals before getting on the score sheet himself with five minutes remaining.
Sampdoria pulled level on points with fourth-placed Udinese courtesy of a hat trick by striker Francesco Flachi. 2-0 down at the interval, Reggina staged a second-half fightback with Giuseppe Colucci pulling one back before Brazilian midfielder Mozart hit the bar and Emiliano Bonazzoli headed wide from a promising position.
A 70th-minute penalty for the home team after Gaetano De Rosa handled the ball, however, settled the host’s nerves and despite Giacomo Tedesco’s late strikes the visitors never looked likely to steal a point.
Following last weekend’s 2-1 win over Atalanta, Lazio continued to climb away from the relegation zone with this dour victory against fellow strugglers Chievo. The Rome-based side broke the deadlock in the 76th minute, when Tommaso Rocchi ran on to Fabio Liverani’s clever chip before lobbing the keeper.
In a bad-tempered finale Chievo were reduced to nine men following the sending-off of midfielders Matteo Brighi and Roberto Baronio, while Lazio had defender Fernando Couto red-carded.
Palermo struggled but eventually ran out deserved winners against a determined, but wasteful Lecce side. Cedric Konan gave the visitors the lead after six minutes, but his team mate Mirko Vucinic’s failure to hit the target from point-blank range proved costly as Mario Santana struck twice in quick succession to give Palermo a halftime lead. Konan equalised, but in the 76th minute Italian international Luca Toni poked home a Simone Barone cross to seal the result and consolidate Palermo’s sixth place in the division.
Former Italian national team coach Dino Zoff racked up his fourth defeat in five Serie A matches since taking charge of Fiorentina last month. Tore Andre Flo headed the winner for Siena in the seventh minute, but Fiorentina’s defeat was rendered more humiliating by the fact that Siena played most of the match with 10 men, following the 35th-minute sending-off of midfielder Giovanni Pasquale.
Bologna’s run of nine games without defeat came to an end in the most unexpected fashion as a goal in each half by midfielder Michele Marcolini and striker Stephen Makinwa gave bottom-placed Atalanta only their third win of the season.
