A spectacular late volley by defender Leonardo Bonucci gave Juventus a 3-2 win over Roma in a stormy top-of-the-table clash which produced three first-half penalties, three red cards, several scuffles and heaps of controversy yesterday.

Both sides held the lead before defender Bonucci settled matters in the 86th minute, showing outstanding technique as he met the ball at an awkward height after Roma headed clear a corner.

Carlos Tevez converted two first-half penalties for Juve while Francesco Totti replied for Roma, also from the spot, and Juan Iturbe briefly gave the visitors the lead which threatened to end Juve’s run of 21 successive home league wins.

Juventus playmaker Andrea Pirlo was included for his first game of the season after recovering from a hip injury while Roma fielded captain Totti for his third match in eight days.

The game erupted in the 27th minute when Pirlo’s 30-metre free-kick was charged down by Maicon in the Roma wall and referee Gianluca Rocchi pointed to the spot.

Roma protested furiously and coach Rudi Garcia, imitating a violin player on the touchline, was sent off before Tevez fired home.

Rocchi pointed to the spot again five minutes later after Juve’s Stephan Lichtsteiner rugby-tackled Totti. The latter side-footed in and ran off to celebrate with Roma fans in the corner to pick up one of the six yellow cards handed out in the first half.

Roma went ahead when Gervinho split open the Juventus defence with an exquisite reverse pass and Iturbe fired between Gianlugi Buffon and the near post.

The Ivorian nearly put Roma further ahead when he broke away from Martin Caceres, who pulled up with a thigh strain, and shot over the bar from good position.

He was immediately confronted by furious Juve players, angry that he had not put the ball out.

Roma’s lead lasted three minutes before Miralem Pjanic clumsily raised his foot as he slid in on Paul Pogba, who went down in the area for another penalty which Tevez once again converted.

Pjanic should also have put Roma back ahead but contrived to fire wide from six metres after Gervinho created more trouble in the Juve defence.

Tempers flared again in the 89th minute when Juve substitute Alvaro Morata slid in on Konstantinos Manolas from behind, the Greek reacted angrily and the two squared up and were sent off.

At least a dozen players joined in including Buffon who ran 60 metres to join the action.

Juventus lead with 18 points, three clear of Roma, followed by Sampdoria who beat Atalanta 1-0 to remain unbeaten.

In the late kick-off, Fiorentina put Inter to the sword to register their first home win of the season.

The Tuscans have struggled to get going thanks chiefly to serious episodes of stage fright at their Stadio Artemio Franchi base, but they thumped out-of-sorts Inter 3-0.

First-half stunners from Khouma Babacar and Juan Cuadrado had the Nerazzurri reeling and centre-back Nenad Tomovic struck after the break to rubber-stamp the visitors’ fate.

Serie A

Empoli 3
Maccarone 4; Tonelli 34; Pucciarelli 64;
Palermo 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 7,504.

Lazio 3
Mauri 9; Djordjevic 25; Candreva 35;
Sassuolo 2
Berardi 26, 50 pen;

HT: 3-1. Att: 27,000.
Red cards: Cana (L) 49; Peluso (S) 61.

Parma 1
Coda 67;
Genoa 2
Perotti 54; Matri 90;

HT: 0-0. Att: 12,441.
Red card: Roncaglia (G) 56.

Sampdoria 1
Gabbiadini 35;
Atalanta 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 25,000.

Udinese 1
Fernandes 62;
Cesena 1
Cascione 90 pen;

HT: 0-0. Att: 15,000.

Juventus 3
Tevez 28p, 45p; Bonucci 86;
Roma 2
Totti 32p; Iturbe 44;

HT: 2-2. Att: 41,200.
Red cards: Manolas (R) 89, Morata (J) 89.

Fiorentina 3
Babacar 7; Cuadrado 19; Tomovic 76;
Inter 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 34,279.

Napoli 2
Insigne 55; Callejon 72;
Torino 1
Quagliarella 14;

HT: 0-1. Att: 20,100.
Red card: El Kaddouri (T) 90.

  P W D L F A Pts
Juventus 6 6 0 0 13 2 18
Roma 6 5 0 1 11 4 15
Sampdoria 6 4 2 0 7 2 14
Udinese 6 4 1 1 9 5 13
Milan 6 3 2 1 13 9 11
Verona 6 3 2 1 6 5 11
Napoli 6 3 1 2 8 7 10
Lazio 6 3 0 3 11 7 9
Fiorentina 6 2 3 1 5 3 9
Inter 6 2 2 2 11 8 8
Genoa 6 2 2 2 6 6 8
Empoli 6 1 3 2 8 8 6
Cesena 6 1 3 2 5 10 6
Torino 6 1 2 3 4 7 5
Cagliari 6 1 1 4 7 9 4
Chievo 6 1 1 4 5 9 4
Atalanta 6 1 1 4 2 8 4
Parma 6 1 0 5 11 16 3
Palermo 6 0 3 3 6 14 3
Sassuolo 6 0 3 3 3 12 3

Next fixtures

Saturday, Oct. 18: 18.00 Roma vs Chievo. 20.45 Sassuolo vs Juve.

Sunday, Oct. 19: 12.30 Fiorentina vs Lazio. 15.00 Atalanta vs Parma; Cagliari vs Sampdoria; Verona vs Milan; Palermo vs Cesena; Torino vs Udinese. 20.45 Inter vs Napoli.

Oct. 20: 20.45 Genoa vs Empoli.

Top scorers
Six goals: Tevez (Juventus).
Four goals: Osvaldo (Inter), Cassano (Parma), Di Natale (Udinese), Honda (Milan), Djordjevic (Lazio), Callejon (Napoli).

Lega Pro

Group A: Alessandria vs Sudtirol 2-2; Feralpisalo vs Como 0-2; Pordenone vs Cremonese 1-0; Bassano vs Arezzo 2-1; Vicenza vs Venezia 2-0.

Group B: Lucchese vs Carrarese 0-1; Teramo vs L’Aquila 0-1; Prato vs Gubbio 0-1; Pisa vs Pontedera 1-1.

Group C: Catanzaro vs Aversa 2-0; Lupa Roma vs Barletta 2-0; Reggina vs Co-senza 3-0; Melfi vs Benevento 2-2.

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