Lucky penalty helps Milan close gap on Inter
Baptista goal downs Lazio
Kaka scored a contested penalty to help Milan cut the gap on Serie A leaders Inter to a point with a 1-0 home win over lowly Chievo yesterday.
The Brazilian playmaker netted after appearing to be tripped just outside the box by Simone Bentivoglio on 15 minutes.
Napoli also scored thanks to a dubious spot-kick but failed to join Milan on 26 points after two late goals gave Atalanta a 3-1 home win in an incident-packed match in Bergamo.
Champions Inter won 2-0 at Palermo on Saturday thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's superb double while Juventus, now third on 24 points from 12 games, beat Genoa 4-1 on Thursday.
Fifth-placed Lazio missed the chance to move above Juve when they lost 1-0 to struggling Roma in a lively Rome derby in the late kick-off.
Julio Baptista headed home Francesco Totti's cross on 50 minutes to give Roma only their third league win this term and put last season's runners-up three clear of the drop zone with a game in hand.
Lazio had several opportunities during the match and were close to equalising despite having Cristian Ledesma dismissed for two yellows 21 minutes into the second half. Roma's Simone Perrotta also received a second booking late on.
Second-placed Milan drew 1-1 at Lecce the weekend before after conceding in stoppage time and they risked a similar outcome at the San Siro yesterday by failing to find a second goal to kill off a plucky Chievo.
Carlo Ancelotti's side just about edged the game with Alexandre Pato and Marek Jankulovski going close to doubling their lead late on.
"It was a foul, but only the video replay can establish if it was in or out, while the human eye cannot," Ancelotti told reporters when asked about Kaka's penalty.
"On the pitch we always suffer, maybe we defended a bit too deep."
Chievo's defeat in Domenico Di Carlo's second game in charge sent them to the bottom after struggling Reggina produced an excellent display to win 1-0 at sixth-placed Udinese.
Franco Brienza volleyed in a ball which dropped quickly over his head to seal a deserved victory over an off-colour Udinese, who badly missed striker Antonio Di Natale.
Fiorentina also lost ground with the leading pack after another debateable penalty handed Cagliari a 1-0 home win over Cesare Prandelli's side.
Robert Acquafresca dispatched the spot-kick on the half hour after Alessandro Gamberini was adjudged to have fouled the Cagliari striker.
Fiorentina's in-form goalkeeper Sebastien Frey had made a superb save from Jeda early on.
Thomas Manfredini's deflected free-kick and Sergio Floccari's injury-time finish handed the spoils to Atalanta after tensions threatened to boil over in Bergamo.
Marek Hamsik's penalty had pulled Napoli level at 1-1 after Manfredini was penalised despite winning the ball in a tackle on Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Ferreira Pinto gave the hosts the lead in the second half with Napoli striker Marcelo Zalayeta sent off for two bookings after the opener.
Catania's Giuseppe Mascara bagged a hat-trick to seal a topsy-turvy game for the Sicilians against Torino 3-2.
The striker, who earlier curled in a free-kick to make it 2-1, scored from close range after Nicola Amoruso's penalty following a foul on Riccardo Colombo had brought Torino level.
Colombo had prodded in at the far post to give Torino a sixth-minute lead but Catania struck back almost immediately when Mascara tapped in from a pullback by Michele Paolucci, who later missed a good chance.
Italy squad for Greece friendly
Midfielder Gaetano D'Agostino is the latest Udinese player to catch the eye of Italy coach Marcello Lippi after being named in the squad for Wednesday's friendly in Greece.
His first call-up followed the surprise inclusion of Udinese forward Simone Pepe in the starting line-ups for last month's 0-0 draw in Bulgaria and 2-1 home win over Montenegro which kept the Azzurri top of World Cup qualifying Group Eight.
Pepe was retained in the 22-man squad along with team-mate Fabio Quagliarella but fellow Udinese forward Antonio Di Natale missed out through injury.
The squad
Goalkeepers: G. Curci (Siena), M. De Sanctis (Galatasaray).
Defenders: D. Bonera (Milan), F. Cannavaro (Real Madrid), G. Chiellini (Juventus), A. Dossena (Liverpool), A. Gamberini (Fiorentina), F. Grosso (Lyon), N. Legrottaglie (Juventus).
Midfielders: M. Camoranesi (Juventus), G. D'Agostino (Udinese), D. De Rossi (Roma), G. Gattuso (Milan), C. Maggio (Napoli), R. Montolivo (Fiorentina), S. Perrotta (Roma).
Forwards: A. Gilardino (Fiorentina), V. Iaquinta (Juventus), S. Pepe (Udinese), F. Quagliarella (Udinese), G. Rossi (Villarreal), L. Toni (Bayern Munich).