Genoa’s second-choice goalkeeper Eugenio Lamanna saved a penalty with his very first touch of the ball in Serie A yesterday, although it was not enough to stop his side losing 1-0 at home to second-placed Roma.

Roma’s win moved them one point behind leaders Juventus, whose run of 25 successive Serie A wins at home ended with a 1-1 draw to Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Sampdoria.

Lamanna replaced Mattia Perin who was sent off for sliding into Radja Nainggolan as the Roma midfielder rushed towards goal, and made a dream start by saving Adem Ljajic’s penalty.

But the 25-year-old, who has spent most of his career in Serie B and the third tier Lega Pro, was powerless to stop Nainggolan from giving Roma the lead by volleying Maicon’s cross into the net five minutes before half-time.

Genoa, who began the weekend in third place and are enjoying an excellent campaign, had the ball in the net in stoppage time but it was disallowed for offside.

Juventus dominated the first half and went ahead when Patrice Evra was left unmarked at a corner to head his first Serie A goal since his move from Manchester United in the close season.

The Frenchman’s goal was debatable, however, as television replays showed that Claudio Marchisio had placed the ball outside the quadrant when he took the corner.

Sampdoria keeper Sergio Ro-mero kept the visitors in the game, and they stunned the home crowd by equalising with their first real chance early in the second half.

Manolo Gabbiadini scored with a delightful goal, curling a left-foot past Gianluigi Buffon from the edge of the penalty area.

Sampdoria, who were the last Serie A side to win away to Juventus in January 2013, nearly snatched a winner when another Gabbiadini effort was saved by Buffon.

Juventus, who have 36 points from 15 games, won all 19 home games in Serie A last season and had also won their first six matches in the current campaign.

Elsewhere, Domenico Di Carlo failed to make a winning impact in his first game in the Cesena dugout as Fiorentina claimed a comfortable 4-1 victory at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi.

The former Chievo and Livorno boss replaced Pierpaolo Bisoli last week with a view to extracting the Seahorses from a relegation battle, but he learned exactly how tough that task will be yesterday.

Goals either side of the break from Borja Valero and Stefan Savic gave Fiorentina a healthy lead and, after the latter helped Cesena out with an own-goal, home defender Massimo Volta was sent off.

Gonzalo Rodriguez and substitute Mounir El Hamdaoui promptly used the extra space to grab a goal apiece, with the defeat leaving Cesena five points from 17th-placed Torino and safety.

In the late kick-off, Milan beat Napoli 2-0 with the Rossoneri goals coming from Jeremy Menez and Giacomo Bonaventura.

It took just five minutes for Milan to break the deadlock when Menez placed his shot beyond Rafael’s reach and in the far bottom corner for his eighth goal of the season.

Milan, who join Napoli on the 24-point mark, doubled their lead early in the second half thanks to the unmarked Bonaventura who headed home without difficulty.

Results

Serie A

Cesena 1
Savic 60og;
Fiorentina 4
Valero 44; Savic 47; Rodriguez 79; El Hamdaoui 90;

HT: 0-1. Att: 16,275.
Red card: Volta (C) 77.

Genoa 0
Roma 1
Nainggolan 40;

HT: 0-1. Att: 20,000.
Red card: Perin (G) 29.
Missed penalty: Ljajic (R) 31.

Juventus 1
Evra 12;
Sampdoria 1
Gabbiadini 51;

HT: 1-0. Att: 40,541.

Milan 2
Menez 5; Bonaventura 52;
Napoli 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 40,000.

Parma 0
Cagliari 0

Att: 10,722.

Udinese 1
Di Natale 31;
Verona 2
Toni 45; H’doulopoulos 47;

HT: 1-1. Att: 8,000.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	15	11	3	1	31	6	36
Roma	15	11	2	2	28	11	35
Lazio	15	8	2	5	26	17	26
Sampdoria	15	6	8	1	20	12	26
Genoa	15	7	5	3	20	13	26
Milan	15	6	6	3	25	18	24
Napoli	15	6	6	3	26	20	24
Fiorentina	15	6	5	4	20	12	23
Udinese	15	6	3	6	18	20	21
Palermo	15	5	6	4	19	23	21
Sassuolo	15	4	7	4	16	20	19
Inter	14	4	5	5	21	21	17
Verona	15	4	5	6	18	26	17
Empoli	14	3	6	5	16	21	15
Atalanta	15	3	5	7	8	18	14
Chievo	14	3	4	7	11	17	13
Torino	14	3	4	7	10	17	13
Cagliari	15	2	6	7	20	26	12
Cesena	15	1	5	9	12	29	8
Parma (-1)	15	2	1	12	16	34	6

Playing today
Empoli vs Torino - 19.00
Chievo vs Inter - 21.00

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

Next fixtures

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

Lega Pro

Group A: AlbinoLeffe vs Lumezzane 0-1; Venezia vs Sassari Torres 2-0; Monza vs Arezzo 1-1; Como vs Alessandria 0-2.

Group B: Savona vs Forli 2-1; Lucchese vs Tuttocuoio 0-0; Pontedera vs Teramo 2-4; Spal vs Carrarese 0-2.

Group C: Paganese vs Catanzaro 1-0; Cosenza vs Aversa 2-0; Lupa Roma vs Savoia 2-2; Matera vs Ischia 0-0; Juve Stabia vs Melfi 2-0.