Roberto Mancini was still waiting for his first Serie A win since returning to Inter after they slumped to a shock 2-1 home defeat by Udinese at San Siro last night.

Unheralded Genoa continued their remarkable season by beating Milan 1-0 to go third and Napoli stuttered again as they fell two goals behind at home to Empoli before hitting back to draw 2-2.

Leaders Juventus drew 0-0 at Fiorentina on Friday.

When Inter won the Scudetto in the 2006-07 season under Mancini, they lost only one league game all season, but they have lost two out of three since he returned for a second stint at the club to replace Walter Mazzarri.

Inter dominated the opening half of play against Udinese, whose coach Andrea Stramaccioni was facing his former club for the first time, but had only a Mauro Icardi goal to show for it.

Bruno Fernandes levelled with a superb strike in the 60th minute and Cyril Thereau scored the winner 11 minutes later.

The French forward took advantage of a misjudged backward pass by Rodrigo Palacio, rounded Samir Handanovic and easily scored into the empty net.

“I’m not sure what happened in between halves,” Mancini, whose side are languishing in 12th place with 17 points, told Sky Sports Italia.

“I haven’t had enough time to reflect on it. After Udinese tied the score we stopped being a team. I’m extremely disappointed.”

Genoa coach Gian Piero Gasperini said he could hardly believe the Serie A table after Luca Antonelli’s first-half header gave his side their seventh win in 14 Serie A games this season.

“When I look at the table, I’m in disbelief,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia. “However, we’ve earned and deserve every point.”

Genoa, who have 26 points, won the last of their eight Italian titles in 1924 and finished 14th last term having narrowly avoided relegation in the two seasons before that.

Napoli dropped two points behind Genoa in fourth, with Empoli taking a 2-0 lead with goals from Simone Verdi and Daniele Rugani.

Napoli replied with two goals in five minutes as Duvan Zapata headed in from a corner and Jonathan De Guzman scored with a low shot after Christian Maggio’s centre was deflected into his path.

Lazio sent table-propping Parma to their fourth straight loss, and their 12th in 14 games, as they won 2-1 at the Tardini stadium.

Atalanta, who had only mustered five goals in their first 13 matches, scored three in eight minutes either side of half-time as they came from behind to beat Cesena 3-2.

Results

Serie A

Atalanta 3
Benalouane 45; Stendardo 50; Moralez 52;
Cesena 2
Defrel 31, 43;

HT: 1-2. Att: 7,000.

Genoa 1
Antonelli 32;
Milan 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 22,500.

Napoli 2
Zapata 67; De Guzman 72;
Empoli 2
Verdi 19; Rugani 53;

HT: 0-1. Att: 30,000.

Parma 1
Palladino 45;
Lazio 2
Mauri 45+; Anderson 58;

HT: 1-1. Att: 11,139.

Inter 1
Icardi 44;
Udinese 2
Fernandes 60; Thereau 71;

HT: 1-0 Att: 34,902.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	14	11	2	1	30	5	35
Roma	14	10	2	2	27	11	32
Genoa	14	7	5	2	20	12	26
Napoli	14	6	6	2	26	18	24
Lazio	14	7	2	5	23	17	23
Sampdoria	13	5	7	1	16	10	22
Milan	14	5	6	3	23	18	21
Udinese	14	6	3	5	17	18	21
Fiorentina	14	5	5	4	16	11	20
Sassuolo	14	4	7	3	15	18	19
Palermo	14	4	6	4	17	22	18
Inter	14	4	5	5	21	21	17
Empoli	14	3	6	5	16	21	15
Verona	13	3	5	5	15	22	14
Atalanta	14	3	5	6	8	15	14
Torino	14	3	4	7	10	17	13
Cagliari	13	2	5	6	20	24	11
Chievo	13	2	4	7	9	17	10
Cesena	14	1	5	8	11	25	8
Parma	14	2	0	12	16	34	6

Playing today
Cagliari vs Chievo - 19.00
Verona vs Sampdoria - 21.00

Top scorers
9 goals: Tevez (Juventus).
8 goals: Callejon (Napoli), Icardi (Inter).
7 goals: Higuain (Napoli), Di Natale (Udinese), Menez (Milan), Dybala (Palermo).

Next fixtures

Saturday: 18.00 Palermo vs Sassuolo; 20.45 Lazio vs Atalanta.
Sunday: 12.30 Juventus vs Sampdoria; 15.00 Genoa vs Roma; Parma vs Cagliari; Udinese vs Verona. 18.00 Cesena vs Fiorentina. 20.45 Milan vs Napoli.
Monday, December 15: 19.00 Empoli vs Torino. 21.00 Chievo vs Inter.

Serie B

Playing today
Modena vs Livorno - 15.00
Vicenza vs Brescia - 17.30

Lega Pro

Group A: Bassano vs Real Vicenza 1-1; Lumezzane vs Cremonese 1-1; Pordenone vs Monza 0-1; Alessandria vs FeralpiSaló 2-0.

Group B: Teramo vs Prato 1-0; Carrarese vs Ascoli Picchio 0-0; Grosseto vs San Marino; 2-1 Santarcangelo vs Gubbio 0-2; Reggiana vs Savona 5-0.

Group C: Ischia vs Messina 2-2; Salernitana vs Juve Stabia 3-2; Aversa vs Paganese 1-2; Catanzaro vs Casertana 0-1; Vigor Lamezia vs Barletta 0-2.