Pirlo snatches win for Milan

Andrea Pirlo's late free-kick gave stuttering Milan a 2-1 Serie A win at Cagliari yesterday in Ronaldo's first appearance of the season after injury.

Italy U-21 striker Robert Acquafresca gave the Sardinians an early lead with a header before Kaka had a penalty saved.

Alberto Gilardino brought Milan level on 61 minutes and Pirlo sealed only their fourth league win of the campaign.

Fiorentina missed the chance to reclaim second place after a 0-0 draw at Reggina, allowing rampant Juventus and 10-man Udinese to leapfrog them into third.

Juventus were simply too good for visitors Palermo who lost 5-0 after trailing by two goals at half-time following strikes by David Trezeguet and Vincenzo Iaquinta.

Juve got more wind in their sails after the break with the introduction of Alessandro del Piero who replaced Iaquinta.

Del Piero made it 3-0 with a superb goal from a free-kick and rounded up the score with a 90th-minute penalty awarded for a foul on Pavel Nedved. In between, he supplied the final pass to Marco Marchionni for Juve's fourth goal.

Udinese registered a 2-0 home win over Siena thanks to goals from lively Italy forwards Fabio Quagliarella and Antonio Di Natale.

Defender Felipe was sent off for two yellows on the stroke of half-time but the increasingly impressive Udinese still won easily to thrill coach Pasquale Marino, who penned a new contract on Saturday.

Leaders Inter are three points clear after beating Atalanta 2-1 on Saturday when Roma went second with a 1-0 win at Genoa.

The weekend's games were the first in Italy's top flight since November 11 when Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri was killed by a police bullet.

Authorities banned the fans of six top-flight clubs from travelling to away matches in a bid to avoid a repetition of the widespread trouble that followed Sandri's death.

Lazio players and fans paid an array of tributes to Sandri at Rome's Stadio Olimpico where his side beat Parma 1-0 with a last-minute goal from Fabio Firmani.

Andrea Gasbarroni shot over after a strong first half run for Parma and Lazio defender Lionel Scaloni hit the post with a searing shot before Firmani smacked the woodwork from long range.

Lazio's Lorenzo De Silvestri, a friend of Sandri, had his name sewn into his boots while before kick-off players from both sides paid their respects at a huge photo of Sandri behind the goal.

Ronaldo turned out for Milan for the first time in six months after battling a leg injury and produced a competent display, going close on a couple of occasions.

"I'm doing things slowly but I'm not too far from my best form. I had two chances where I've been close to scoring a goal," Ronaldo told Sky television.

The European champions fell behind on four minutes however, when Acquafresca powerfully headed in a corner in Nedo Sonetti's first game back in charge of Cagliari after Marco Giampaolo's sacking.

Ronaldo won a soft penalty for the visitors just before the break for shirt-pulling but Kaka, who Italian media say will be named European footballer of the year next weekend, had the penalty pushed away by home keeper Marco Fortin.

Milan looked like heading for a fourth league defeat before Cagliari made a hash of clearing Serginho's cross and Gilardino awkwardly turned the ball in.

Pirlo then fired in a free-kick five minutes from time and although the ball swerved slightly, Fortin will be disappointed that the ball flew into the middle of the goal.

Former Juventus striker Marcelo Zalayeta put Napoli ahead just before the break when he ambled through a gap in the Catania defence and kept his cool to finish expertly.

The Uruguayan repeated the trick midway through the second half to help promoted Napoli continue their strong return to the top flight.

Influential Napoli midfielder Ezequiel Lavezzi went close with a well-worked effort on half an hour and the home side could have scored more on several occasions.