Luca Toni went top of the Serie A scoring chart two days before his 38th birthday when he netted twice in Verona’s 2-2 draw away to Parma yesterday.

With one round of matches of the season to play, the former Italy striker, who is at his 14th club and has scored at every one of them, took his tally to 21 goals, one ahead of Juventus striker Carlos Tevez and Inter’s Mauro Icardi.

Relegated Parma took a 2-0 lead with goals by Antonio Nocerino and Silvestre Varela before 2006 World Cup winner Toni pulled one back by heading in from Alessandro Agostini’s cross on 42 minutes.

Toni equalised from a penalty with 10 minutes left after Zouhair Feddal was harshly ruled to have handled Javier Saviola’s cross, and was denied a hat-trick when his header was stopped by Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante.

Toni’s varied career began with stints at lower league clubs Modena, Empoli, Fiorenzuola, Treviso and Lodigiani.

At one point he played alongside current Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola and Juve playmaker Andrea Pirlo at Brescia and also had an unhappy spell at Bayern where he fell out with coach Louis van Gaal. Among other clubs, he played briefly for Juventus and then in the UAE before joining Verona where he is completing his second season.

“We’d like to help Toni top the scorers’ chart. For us and for him, it would be like winning the Scudetto,” coach Andrea Mandorlini said.

Seventh-placed Sampdoria’s chances of qualifying for the Europa League on the pitch ended in a 1-1 draw at Empoli where Samuel Eto’o scored their equaliser in stoppage time, his second goal since joining the club in January.

However, Sinisa Mihajlovic’s team still have a chance if sixth-placed city rivals Genoa fail in their appeal to obtain a European licence, which has been denied them in the first instance.

Fiorentina, in fifth, made sure of a place in the Europa League with a 3-2 win at Palermo. Early goals from Josip Ilicic and Alberto Gilardino sandwiched a Mato Jajalo strike for Palermo.

They had to negotiate a fightback in the second half as Luca Rigoni drew the Rosanero level, before Marcos Alonso rubberstamped all three points and a guaranteed top-six finish in Serie A.

Jasmin Kurtic was sent off for picking up his second yellow card in stoppage time, but mid-table Palermo had no time to respond.

Sassuolo defeated 10-man Udinese 1-0 yesterday to continue their strong finish to the season.

Francesco Magnanelli struck the only goal at the Friuli stadium in the 70th minute.

Udinese had midfielder Guilherme sent off 10 minutes from time for a second yellow card.

Stephan El Shaarawy ended a six-month goal drought to lead Milan to a 3-0 over Torino at San Siro.

The Italy striker put Milan ahead on 18 minutes with a firm volley.

Despite having Cristian Zaccardo dismissed two minutes from the break, Milan remained on top.

On 57 minutes Cristian Molinaro fouled Marco van Ginkel in the area and was subsequently dismissed.

From the resultant penalty, Pazzini drilled the ball home for his 100th league goal before El Shaarawy added a third on 65 minutes.

Serie A

Empoli 1
Pucciarelli 57;
Sampdoria 1
Eto’o 90;

HT: 0-0. Att: 7,500.

Cesena 0
Cagliari 1
Sau 90;

HT: 0-0. Att: 16,000.

Chievo 1
Pellissier 88;
Atalanta 1
Gomez 48;

HT: 0-0. Att: 8,000.

Palermo 2
Jajalo 26; Rigoni 69;
Fiorentina 3
Ilicic 23; Gilardino 33; Alonso 78;

HT: 1-2. Att: 16,500.
Red card: Kurtic (F) 90.

Parma 2
Nocerino 21; Varela 36;
Verona 2
Toni 42, 80 pen;

HT: 2-1. Att: 11,000.

Udinese 0
Sassuolo 1
Magnanelli 70;

HT: 0-0. Att: 8,500.
Red card: Guilherme (U) 80.

Milan 3
El Shaarawy 18, 65; Pazzini 57 pen;
Torino 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 36,000.
Red cards: Zaccardo (M) 43; Molinaro (T) 57.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	37	26	8	3	70	22	86
Roma	36	18	13	5	51	28	67
Lazio	36	20	6	10	66	34	66
Napoli	37	18	9	10	68	50	63
Fiorentina	37	17	10	10	58	46	61
Genoa	37	16	11	10	61	44	59
Sampdoria	37	13	16	8	46	40	55
Inter	37	13	13	11	55	45	52
Torino	37	13	12	12	43	45	51
Milan	37	12	13	12	53	49	49
Palermo	37	11	13	13	51	54	46
Sassuolo	37	11	13	13	46	56	46
Verona	37	11	12	14	47	63	45
Chievo	37	10	13	14	28	38	43
Empoli	37	8	18	11	43	48	42
Udinese	37	10	11	16	40	52	41
Atalanta	37	7	16	14	37	54	37
Cagliari	37	7	10	20	44	65	31
Cesena	37	4	12	21	36	68	24
Parma (-7)	37	6	7	24	31	73	18

Playing today
Lazio vs Roma - 18.00

Top scorers
21 goals: Toni (Verona).
20 goals: Icardi (Inter), Tevez (Juventus).
16 goals: Menez (Milan), Higuain (Napoli).

Next fixtures

Sunday (final programme)
20.45 Atalanta vs Milan; Cagliari vs Udinese; Fiorentina vs Chievo; Verona vs Juventus; Inter vs Empoli; Roma vs Palermo; Napoli vs Lazio; Sampdoria vs Parma; Sassuolo vs Genoa; Torino vs Cesena.

Lega Pro
Play-offs SFs, first legs
Reggiana vs Bassano Virtus - 0-0
Como vs Matera - 1-1

Second legs: Sunday.

Super Cup – final game
Teramo vs Novara - 1-1

Final standings: Novara 4; Salernitana 3; Novara 1.