Inter’s troubles continued when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Genoa in soggy Serie A yesterday and Napoli lost ground with the leading pair after conceding a late goal in a 2-2 draw at lowly 10-man Bologna.

Alessandro Matri, who joined Fiorentina on loan from Milan on Wednesday, made an immediate impact by scoring twice in the first half as they overcame their injury-crisis with a 3-0 win at table-propping Catania.

Substitute Hernanes scored a last-minute goal to give Lazio a 3-2 win at Udinese after they twice trailed and Parma left it even later in a 2-1 win at Chievo, courtesy of a stoppage-time goal by Alessandro Lucarelli.

Sassuolo, whose sensational 4-3 win over Milan last week brought about coach Massimiliano Allegri’s sacking, were brought back to earth by Torino who won 2-0, hurling them back into the relegation dogfight.

Allegri’s replacement Clarence Seedorf made his debut at home with a 1-0 win over Verona in the evening match at San Siro.

Seedorf made a winning start thanks to a late Mario Balotelli penalty which gave his side all three points at stake.

Despite the win, it was another unconvincing performance from Milan who struggled to create chances and always looked vulnerable in defence.

Balotelli side-footed home in the 82nd minute after Verona defender Alejandro Gonzalez had needlessly fouled Kaka, tripping the Brazilian with a clumsy tackle even though the ball was already heading out of play.

Milan remained 11th with 25 points after only their sixth league win in 20 attempts this season.

Luca Antonelli easily out-jumped a static Inter defender to head in from a corner with seven minutes left on another miserable afternoon for Walter Mazzarri’s team who have won only one of their last eight league games.

In appalling conditions, with large puddles on the pitch, Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin ensured three points with a superb late save from Ruben Botta’s header.

It was an especially enjoyable win for Genoa coach Gian Piero Gasperini who had a miserable spell at Inter at the start of the 2011/12 season and suffered the indignity of being sacked after just five games in charge.

Rafael Benitez’s exasperatingly inconsistent Napoli trailed at half-time at Bologna after Rolando Bianchi got away from his marker to score with a glancing header.

Gonzalo Higuain equalised with a penalty in the 62nd minute and Jose Callejon fired Napoli ahead with 10 minutes to go after Bologna lost possession.

The hosts had Panagiotis Kone dismissed for a second bookable offence but Napoli relaxed too soon as they left Bianchi unmarked to fire the equaliser in the 90th minute.

Matri needed only 45 minutes to better his tally of only one goal in 15 appearances for Milan.

Having set up the first goal for Matias Fernandez just before the half hour, he scored twice from close range in a 13-minute spell before the break, showing the kind of opportunism he lacked at Milan.

Matri was hired after strikers Mario Gomez and Giuseppe Rossi both suffered knee ligament injuries.

Serie A

Atalanta 1
Bonaventura 68;
Cagliari 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 14,000.
Red card: Ibarbo (C) 90.

Bologna 2
Bianchi 37, 90;
Napoli 2
Higuain 62 pen; Callejon 80;

HT: 1-0. Att: 21,000.
Red card: Kone (B) 84.

Catania 0
Fiorentina 3
Fernandez 25; Matri 28, 41;

HT: 0-3. Att: 14,000.

Chievo 1
Paloschi 15;
Parma 2
Cassano 28; Lucarelli 90;

HT: 1-1. Att: 11,000.
Missed penalty: Amauri (P) 25.

Genoa 1
Antonelli 83;
Inter 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 20,274.

Milan 1
Balotelli 82 pen;
Verona 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 30,593.

Sassuolo 0
Torino 2
Immobile 25; Brighi 49;

HT: 0-1. Att: 13,000.

Udinese 2
Di Natale 8 pen; Badu 68;
Lazio 3
Candreva 63 pen; Lazzari 82og; Hernanes 90;

HT: 1-0. Att: 13,000.
Red card: Onazi (L) 54.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	20	18	1	1	50	14	55
Roma	20	14	5	1	42	10	47
Napoli	20	13	4	3	43	22	43
Fiorentina	20	12	4	4	37	20	40
Inter	20	8	8	4	38	24	32
Verona	20	10	2	8	34	31	32
Torino	20	7	8	5	33	27	29
Parma	20	7	8	5	31	27	29
Lazio	20	7	6	7	26	28	27
Genoa	20	7	5	8	20	24	26
Milan	20	6	7	7	32	30	25
Atalanta	20	7	3	10	21	29	24
Sampdoria	20	5	6	9	24	31	21
Cagliari	20	4	9	7	19	29	21
Udinese	20	6	2	12	20	31	20
Chievo	20	4	5	11	15	26	17
Bologna	20	3	8	9	19	35	17
Sassuolo	20	4	5	11	21	43	17
Livorno	20	3	4	13	16	36	13
Catania	20	3	4	13	13	37	13

Top scorers
14 goals: Rossi (Fiorentina).
11 goals: Tevez (Juventus), Berardi (Sassuolo).
10 goals: Palacio (Inter), Vidal (Juventus), Higuain (Napoli), Immobile (Torino).

Next Serie A fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Napoli vs Chievo; 20.45 Lazio vs Juventus.
Sunday: 12.30 Verona vs Roma. 15.00 Cagliari vs Milan; Inter vs Catania; Livorno vs Sassuolo; Parma vs Udinese; Sampdoria vs Bologna; Torino vs Atalanta. 20.45 Fiorentina vs Genoa.

Serie B
Varese vs Novara1-1

Prima Divisione ‘A’
Como vs San Marino 0-0; Pro Patria vs Savona 3-2; Lumezzane vs Feralpi 1-0; Cremonese vs AlbinoLeffe 1-1; Pro Vercelli vs Reggiana 1-0; Pavia vs Sud-Tirol 0-0; Carrarese vs Vicenza 2-4.

Prima Divisione ‘B’
Pisa vs L’Aquila 2-2; Prato vs Barletta 0-0; Lecce vs Benevento 2-0; Grosseto vs Nocerina 2-1; Frosinone vs Catan-zaro 3-0; Ascoli vs Paganese 3-2; Saler-nitana vs Gubbio 2-1.