Fiorentina forward Mohamed Salah, enjoying a new lease of life since his move from Chelsea, scored again to give his side a 1-0 win at Inter yesterday despite finishing with nine men due to injuries.
An inspired Felipe Anderson performance, including a majestic opening goal, led fourth-placed Lazio to a 3-0 win at Sassuolo and, at the bottom, Gianfranco Zola’s Cagliari moved closer to Serie B with a 2-1 home defeat by Verona.
In the late kick-off, Torino stopped Napoli from joining Roma in second place after beating them 1-0 at home.
Kamil Glik headed the winner in the second half as Torino moved up to eighth in the standings on 36 points to stay unbeaten in 12 league matches – their best run since 1980.
The weekend’s matches all kicked off 15 minutes late in a show of solidarity, organised by the Italian Players’ Association, for bottom-of-the-table Parma, whose game at Genoa was called off because of the club’s financial crisis.
Parma’s players have not been paid all season.
Salah, who made only 13 Premier League appearances, mostly from the bench, in his year at Chelsea, came on just before half-time and settled a disappointing game with his third Serie A goal in four outings.
The Egyptian pounced in the 55th minute after Samir Handanovic failed to hold Manuel Pasqual’s cross.
Fiorentina had to cling on after losing Nenad Tomovic to a nasty knock on the head and Stefan Savic, also to injury, in the closing minutes, having made their three substitutions.
Goalkeeper Norberto Neto made a superb save to tip Rodrigo Palacio’s header over the bar in stoppage time while the Argentine striker wasted another chance for Inter by shooting at Neto instead of passing to the unmarked Mauro Icardi.
Anderson put Lazio ahead when he curled a right-foot shot into the top corner from the edge of the area just before half-time and provided the cross for former Germany forward Miroslav Klose to head the second.
He unwittingly provided the third when his shot was deflected into the path of Marco Parolo to complete a win which kept Lazio in fourth, with 43 points from 25 games, one point ahead of fifth-placed Fiorentina.
Roberto Mancini’s Inter are eighth with 35 points.
Stefano Okaka gave Sampdoria, sixth with 39 points, a 2-1 win at Atalanta to end a five-match winless league run, tapping the ball across the line after Marco Sportiello failed to hold a Samuel Eto’o shot.
Cagliari were left stuck in the relegation zone and three points adrift of 17th-placed Atalanta and safety.
Luca Toni, with a clever finish, and Juanito Gomez put Verona in control before Daniele Conti pulled one back with a free-kick in the 90th minute.
Cesena, one place off the bottom, moved within one point of Cagliari by beating Udinese 1-0 thanks to an Alejandro Rodriguez header.
Palermo and Empoli drew 0-0.
The big game of the round is second-placed Roma hosting leaders and champions Juventus this evening.
Serie A
Atalanta 1
Stendardo 16;
Sampdoria 2
Muriel 68; Okaka Chuka 81;
HT: 1-0. Att: 10,000.
Cagliari 1
Conti 90;
Verona 2
Toni 9; Gomez 56;
HT: 0-1. Att: 9,000.
Cesena 1
Rodriguez 76;
Udinese 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 20,000.
Inter 0
Fiorentina 1
Salah 56;
HT: 0-0. Att: 39,310.
Palermo 0
Empoli 0
Att: 22,352.
Sassuolo 0
Lazio 3
Anderson 45; Klose 70; Parolo 77;
HT: 0-1. Att: 12,000.
Torino 1
Glik 68;
Napoli 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 20,274.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Juventus | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 51 | 13 | 57 |
| Roma | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 37 | 18 | 48 |
| Napoli | 25 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 44 | 31 | 45 |
| Lazio | 25 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 43 | 27 | 43 |
| Fiorentina | 25 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 37 | 24 | 42 |
| Sampdoria | 25 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 32 | 28 | 39 |
| Genoa | 24 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 36 | 29 | 36 |
| Torino | 25 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 28 | 25 | 36 |
| Inter | 25 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 39 | 32 | 35 |
| Milan | 25 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 35 | 30 | 34 |
| Palermo | 25 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 38 | 39 | 34 |
| Sassuolo | 25 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 29 | 38 | 29 |
| Empoli | 25 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 25 | 27 | 28 |
| Udinese | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 26 | 32 | 28 |
| Verona | 25 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 29 | 44 | 28 |
| Chievo | 25 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 30 | 25 |
| Atalanta | 25 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 22 | 37 | 23 |
| Cagliari | 25 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 32 | 47 | 20 |
| Cesena | 25 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 24 | 47 | 19 |
| Parma (-1) | 23 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 20 | 47 | 10 |
Playing today
Roma vs Juventus - 20.45
Top scorers
14 goals: Tevez (Juventus), Icardi (Inter).
12 goals: Higuain (Napoli), Menez (Milan), Dybala (Palermo).
10 goals: Gabbiadini (Napoli), Toni (Verona).
9 goals: Callejon (Napoli), Quagliarella (Torino), Di Natale (Udinese).
Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Sampdoria vs Cagliari. 20.45 Milan vs Verona.
Sunday: 12.30 Cesena vs Palermo. 15.00 Chievo Verona vs Roma; Empoli vs Genoa; Parma vs Atalanta; Udinese vs Torino. 20.45 Napoli vs Inter.
Monday: 19.00 Lazio vs Fiorentina. 21.00 Juventus vs Sassuolo.