Milan’s crisis deepened when they lost 4-2 at home to Parma after playing for almost the entire match with 10 men yesterday, a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions for Clarence Seedorf’s rudderless team.

In one of the two evening kick-offs, Andrea Pirlo fired Juventus 17 points clear at the top of the table with an 89th-minute free-kick that downed Genoa 1-0.

The reigning champions were off-colour at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris and an understrength team struggled to dominate an enterprising Genoa side, but Pirlo’s last-gasp effort saw Juve move further clear of second-placed Roma, who are in action tonight.

Also last night, Fiorentina re-gained fourth spot thanks to a 3-1 win over Chievo which included Mario Gomez’s first goal at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Juan Cuadrado gave the Viola the lead in the 11th minute before Alessandro Matri doubled their advantage before the break.

Alberto Paloschi took his third big chance of the match to reduce the arrears, but it was not enough as, after David Pizarro missed a penalty for the hosts, Gomez notched his first goal on home soil to seal the win for the hosts.

Milan, who had goalkeeper Christian Abbiati sent off in the seventh minute, came to life as they clawed back a 2-0 deficit, only for Parma forwards Amauri, with a brilliant back-heeled flick, and Jonathan Biabiany to win the game with two late goals.

Lazio eased their problems with a 2-0 win at Cagliari, Livorno’s 2-1 win over Bologna pulled them out of the relegation zone and Sassuolo came from behind to beat Catania 3-1 in the meeting of the bottom two.

Milan, knocked out of the Champions League after an emphatic 4-1 defeat by Atletico Madrid last week, are stuck in 11th place with 35 points from 28 games after their 11th league defeat of a miserable campaign.

Milan fans staged a protest outside the San Siro before kick-off with striker Mario Balotelli and chief executive Adriano Galliani the main targets.

It quickly got worse when goalkeeper Abbiati clattered into Ezequiel Schelotto and suffered the so-called triple punishment of penalty, red card and automatic one-match suspension.

Midfielder Michael Essien was sacrificed to make way for substitute goalkeeper Marco Amelia, whose first job was to pick the ball out the back of the net as former Milan player Antonio Cassano fired home the penalty.

It seemed to be all over when Cassano was given too much space and added a second six minutes after half-time, but Roberto Donadoni’s team then relaxed.

Adil Rami headed one back from a corner five minutes later and Balotelli levelled with a 76th minute penalty, harshly awarded after Riccardo Montolivo went down under Joel Obi’s challenge.

A heroic draw or even win was on the cards but it quickly turned to disaster when Schelotto fired over a low cross from the right and Amauri got in front of Nigel de Jong’s sliding challenge and brilliantly flicked the ball in with his heel.

Milan finished dispirited and demoralised and left the pitch to a howl of protests after Biabiany headed the fourth with the last move of the game.

Lazio, whose fans are furious with club president Claudio Lotito over a lack of investment in the team, won 2-0 at Cagliari with goals by Senad Lulic and Keita Balde to climb to seventh (41 points).

Teenager Keita’s goal came one minute after Mauricio Pinilla missed a penalty for Cagliari, who again played in front of less than 5,000 fans due to ongoing rebuilding work at their Sant’Elia stadium.

Sassuolo’s win lifted them off the bottom of the table to 19th with 21 points, where they were replaced by opponents Catania (20).

Bologna (23) dropped into the bottom three below Livorno and Chievo (24).

Serie A

Atalanta 3
Carmona 36; Bonaventura 42; Denis 56;
Sampdoria 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 14,000.

Cagliari 0
Lazio 2
Lulic 19; Keita 69;

HT: 0-1. Att: 4,900.
Red card: Conti (C) 77.
Missed penalty: Pinilla (C) 68.

Fiorentina 3
Cuadrado 11; Matri 39; Gomez 89;
Chievo 1
Paloschi 62;

HT: 2-0. Att: 31,000.
Missed penalty: Pizarro (F) 81.

Genoa 0
Juventus 1
Pirlo 89;

HT: 0-0. Att: 25,000.
Missed penalty: Calaio (G) 72.

Livorno 2
Benassi 46; Paulinho 52;
Bologna 1
Lazaros 86p;

HT: 0-0. Att: 10,000.
Red cards: Mbaye (L) 80; Emeghara (L) 85.

Milan 2
Rami 56; Balotelli 76 pen;
Parma 4
Cassano 9 pen, 51; Amauri 78; Biabiany 90;

HT: 0-1. Att: 42,000.
Red card: Abbiati (M) 7.

Sassuolo 3
Zaza 56; Missiroli 61; Sansone 89;
Catania 1
Bergessio 31;

HT: 0-1. Att: 13,000.

  P W D L F A Pts
Juventus 28 24 3 1 64 19 75
Roma 26 17 7 2 49 12 58
Napoli 27 16 7 4 52 29 55
Fiorentina 28 14 6 8 48 31 48
Inter 28 12 11 5 46 29 47
Parma 27 12 10 5 45 31 46
Lazio 28 11 8 9 36 35 41
Verona 28 12 4 12 43 46 40
Atalanta 28 11 4 13 31 38 37
Torino 27 9 9 9 39 35 36
Milan 28 9 8 11 41 42 35
Genoa 28 9 8 11 31 35 35
Sampdoria 28 9 7 12 33 42 34
Udinese 27 9 4 14 30 39 31
Cagliari 28 6 11 11 27 38 29
Chievo 28 6 6 16 23 41 24
Livorno 28 6 6 16 31 51 24
Bologna 28 4 11 13 23 43 23
Sassuolo 28 5 6 17 28 56 21
Catania 28 4 8 16 21 49 20

Playing today
Torino vs Napoli - 19.00
Roma vs Udinese - 21.00

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Torino vs Livorno; 20.45 Chievo vs Roma.
Sunday: 12.30 Parma vs Genoa. 15.00 Bologna vs Cagliari; Inter vs Atalanta; Sampdoria vs Verona; Udinese vs Sassuolo. 18.30 Napoli vs Fiorentina. 20.45 Catania vs Juventus; Lazio vs Milan.

Prima Divisione ‘A’
Entella vs Reggiana 1-0; Como vs AlbinoLeffe 2-2; Cremonese vs San Marino 2-0; Vicenza vs Lumezzane 2-1; Pavia vs Pro Vercelli 0-0; Carrarese vs Pro Patria 1-0; FeralpiSalo vs SudTirol 1-3; Venezia vs Savona 1-1.

Prima Divisione ‘B’
Pisa vs Benevento 2-2; Catanzaro vs Grosseto 1-0; Frosinone vs Prato 2-0; Barletta vs Gubbio 0-2; Lecce vs Pontedera 3-0; L’Aquila vs Perugia 0-0; Ascoli vs Viareggio 2-0.

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