An Edinson Cavani penalty helped Napoli snatch a 1-0 win away to Sampdoria which allowed them to keep pace with champions Juventus as Italy’s Serie A saw goals galore yesterday.

Juventus underlined their status as title favourites with a 4-1 hammering of Roma in Turin on Saturday to make it 45 games unbeaten for the Old Lady of Turin.

Napoli, however, maintained their early season title charge by dominating Sampdoria in a thrilling match which was nevertheless decided by a disputed second-half penalty.

As Marek Hamsik dribbled his way into the area the Slovakian midfielder was tripped by defender Daniele Gastaldello on the edge of the area.

The referee pointed to the spot, Gastaldello was sent off and Uruguayan hitman Cavani stepped up to put Napoli into the lead to take his tally to five goals in six games.

Before then Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri had been banished from the touchline for protesting Pedro Obiang’s two-footed tackle on Paolo Cannavaro on 40 minutes.

But along with Juventus, Napoli are now the only unbeaten side in Serie A with Sampdoria suffering their first defeat of the campaign.

While the early fixture between Udinese and Genoa finished in a scoreless draw, no fewer than 25 goals were scored in other games yesterday.

Diminutive striker Fabrizio Miccoli was making his first start since Gian Piero Gasperini took over two weeks ago, and was the star for 10-man Palermo with three goals and an assist in a 4-1 win at home against Chievo giving the Sicilians their first win of the season.

Miccoli scored a superb curling free-kick on 13 minutes and gave Palermo the lead after Marco Rigoni had levelled in the 28th minute by muscling past two defenders to beat Stefano Sorrentino in the Chievo goal.

In the 80th minute Luigi Giorgi smashed the ball home after picking up the rebound from Miccoli’s shot after some good work along the goalline.

The little striker then sealed his hat-trick with an audacious volley from 40 metres.

Bologna’s second win of the campaign was a 4-0 thrashing of Catania.

Tiberio Guarente opened the scoring on 19 minutes and Alberto Gilardino scored a brace in the 40th and 61st minutes to put the match beyond Catania’s reach.

Panagionis Kone was then on hand to make it 4-0 when he slotted home the rebound from Alessandro Diamanti’s attemp-ted lob of the keeper in the dying minutes.

Torino also got in on the goal-frenzy with Rolando Bianchi levelling German Denis’s opener for Atalanta from the penalty spot following a handball in the area.

Further goals came from Alessandro Gazzi, with a superb glancing header, Alen Stevanovic and Danilo D’Ambrosio before Bianchi grabbed his second in the 76th minute.

Lazio got over their midweek setback against Napoli with a 2-1 home win over struggling Siena while Cagliari suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Pescara to remain the only team without a win in the league.

Inter moved to third in the standings after recording their first win of the season at the San Siro following a 2-1 win over Fiorentina in the late kick-off.

It was a perfect build-up for Inter ahead of Sunday’s derby with Milan.

Their goals came from Diego Milito (penalty) and Antonio Cassano. Before half-time, Romulo pulled one back for the visitors who finished the match with 10 men following the dismissal of Gonzalo Rodriguez just past the hour.

Serie A

Atalanta 1
Denis 28;
Torino 5
Bianchi 38 pen, 76; Gazzi 62; Stevanovic 66; D’Ambrosio 73;

HT: 1-1. Att: 13,738.

Bologna 4
Guarente 19; Gilardino 40, 61; Kone 90;
Catania 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 21,456.
Red card: Capuano (C) 83.

Cagliari 1
Pinilla 82 pen;
Pescara 2
Terlizzi 50; Weiss 76;

HT: 0-0. Att: 4,400.
Red card: Rossettini (C) 55.

Inter 2
Milito 17 pen; Cassano 34;
Fiorentina 1
Romulo 40;

HT: 2-1. Att: 41,082.
Red card: Rodriguez (F) 62.

Lazio 2
Ederson 18; Ledesma 38 pen;
Siena 1
Paci 90;

HT: 2-0. Att: 25,000.

Palermo 4
Miccoli 13, 59, 82; Giorgi 80;
Chievo 1
Rigoni 28;

HT: 1-1. Att: 12,411.
Red card: Brienza (P) 62.

Sampdoria 0
Napoli 1
Cavani 67 pen;

HT: 0-0. Att: 24,715.
Red card: Gastaldello (S) 66.

Udinese 0
Genoa 0

Att: 15,000.


P W D L F A Pts
Juventus 6 5 1 0 15 3 16
Napoli 6 5 1 0 12 2 16
Inter 6 4 0 2 10 6 12
Lazio 6 4 0 2 9 6 12
Sampdoria (-1) 6 3 2 1 8 6 10
Torino (-1) 6 2 3 1 9 4 8
Roma 6 2 2 2 12 11 8
Fiorentina 6 2 2 2 7 6 8
Genoa 6 2 2 2 7 7 8
Catania 6 2 2 2 7 11 8
Milan 6 2 1 3 7 6 7
Bologna 6 2 1 3 9 9 7
Pescara 6 2 1 3 6 11 7
Parma 6 1 3 2 6 8 6
Udinese 6 1 3 2 6 9 6
Atalanta (-2) 6 2 1 3 5 9 5
Palermo 6 1 1 4 5 10 4
Chievo 6 1 0 5 4 13 3
Siena (-6) 6 2 2 2 7 6 2
Cagliari 6 0 2 4 3 11 2

Top scorers
6 goals: Cavani (Napoli).
5 goals: Gilardino (Bologna).
4 goals: Jovetic (Fiorentina), El Shaarawy (Milan), Cassano (Inter), Bianchi (Torino).

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Chievo vs Sampdoria. 20.45 Genoa vs Palermo.
Sunday: 12.30 Roma vs Atalanta. 15.00 Catania vs Parma; Fiorentina vs Bologna; Pescara vs Lazio; Siena vs Juventus; Torino vs Cagliari. 20.45 Milan vs Inter; Napoli vs Udinese.

Prima Divisione ‘A’
Cremonese vs Lumezzane 0-0; Lecce vs Tritium 2-0; Pavia vs Entella 1-0; Portogruaro vs San Marino 2-1; Reggiana vs Como 0-1; SudTirol vs Carpi 2-1; Trapani vs Cuneo 3-0.

Prima Divisione ‘B’
Avellino vs Barletta 1-0; Carrarese vs Benevento 0-3; Catanzaro vs Andria 0-0; Frosinone vs Nocerina 2-2; Paganese vs Gubbio 1-0; Perugia vs Pisa 1-2; Sorrento vs Prato 0-2; Viareggio vs Latina 1-1.

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