Roma and Juve lose

Nine-man Roma suffered their third defeat of the still-young Serie A season yesterday when they went down 1-0 at Siena while Juventus also remain off the pace following a 2-1 home defeat by Palermo.

Roma, runners-up last season, went behind to Mario Frick's goal in first-half stoppage time and lost defenders Philippe Mexes and Christian Panucci to red cards in the second period.

Roma were humiliated 3-0 at Siena last season and this time they were thwarted by their former goalkeeper Gianluca Curci.

Levan Mchedlidze grabbed the 81st-minute winner for Palermo at Juve, who had Mohamed Sissoko dismissed in the first half and have not won for four games in all competitions having drawn their previous three matches.

Former Juve striker Fabrizio Miccoli put the Sicilians ahead on 24 minutes and although Alessandro Del Piero netted with a soft free-kick, Juve were back on the defensive when Sissoko was dismissed for a second yellow following a studs-up tackle.

The defence then fell apart for Georgian forward Mchedlidze to slot home and send Palermo up to 12 points and keep injury-hit Juve on nine.

"Certainly a home defeat hurts. After three draws we wanted to win but the lads did everything possible," coach Claudio Ranieri told Sky TV.

"It is a difficult period, it is pointless denying it. I don't want to make excuses but to play with 10 is tricky."

Udinese are joint leaders with 13 points from six games after Italy forward Fabio Quagliarella scored twice in a 2-0 win over Torino.

Champions Inter won 2-1 at home to Bologna on Saturday to move level at the top with Lazio, who drew 1-1 at Lecce.

Milan's run of three league wins in a row came to an end in the late game at bottom side Cagliari, who hung on for a 0-0 draw and their first point of the season.

Massimo Ambrosini twice went close for the visitors but Ronaldinho was largely anonymous and was substituted.

Napoli missed the chance to go top on 14 points after losing 3-2 at Genoa in an enthralling encounter which was only bettered by Atalanta's thrilling 4-2 victory over Sampdoria.

Hosts Genoa came from behind to beat Napoli with forward Diego Milito scoring one and setting up another.

The visitors took the lead in the first minute when playmaker Ezequiel Lavezzi burst through the defence and smashed home.

Genoa levelled at the break with an angled finish by Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who was later sent off, and went on to prevail despite Marco Rossi's red card for a professional foul. Milito set up Raffaele Palladino to score and then crashed in a shot himself before German Denis pulled one back.

In Bergamo, opposing playmakers Cristiano Doni and Antonio Cassano were again the master architects in an entertaining game with striker Sergio Floccari scoring twice to help win it for Atalanta.

Samp went ahead on seven minutes when Cassano nutmegged a defender and coolly slotted home but Floccari equalised from close range after Doni's cute through ball.

The Atalanta captain soon laid the ball off for Gyorgy Garics to stroke home before Cassano levelled with a dubious penalty after the break. Floccari and Doni wrapped up the win as Samp lost Pietro Accardi and Daniele Dessena to red cards.

Italy striker Alberto Gilardino netted his fourth of the league campaign to help improving Fiorentina win 2-0 at Chievo.

Rossi call-up

Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi received his first Italy call-up yesterday for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Montenegro but Alessandro Del Piero was left out.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), Amelia (Palermo), De Sanctis (Galatasaray).

Defenders: Bonera (Milan), Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Chiellini (Juventus), Dossena (Liverpool), Gamberini (Fiorentina), Santacroce (Napoli), Zambrotta (Milan).

Midfielders: Aquilani (Roma), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Maggio (Napoli), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Nocerino (Palermo), Perrotta (Roma).

Forwards: Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Pepe (Udinese), Rossi (Villarreal), Toni (Bayern Munich).