Serie A champions Juventus pulled ahead of the rest of the pack as their closest challengers slipped up on a dramatic fourth round of matches yesterday.

Lazio joined a host of other teams who had slipped up earlier in the day when they suffered their first league defeat of the season as Marco Boriello gave a gutsy Genoa side a 1-0 win at the Olympic Stadium.

Juventus, who won the league ahead of Milan last season, are now the only team to have a 100 per cent record.

Earlier, Napoli’s three-match winning run came to an end when they were held at Catania, a fate also suffered by Sampdoria who were held to a 1-1 home draw by Torino.

Juventus’s bid to defend their title was also reinforced after both Milan clubs suffered defeat yesterday.

Inter remained in sixth place but are now six points off the pace after a stunning 2-0 defeat at the San Siro to bottom of the table Siena.

Simone Vergassola silenced the home fans with a 73rd minute opener and Francesco Valiani came off the bench to inflict further damage with a goal on the stroke of full-time.

Inter’s second defeat at home, following a 3-1 reverse to Roma, is likely to prompt suggestions there is a curse at the San Siro: so far this season, neither Inter nor Milan have won there.

Despite losing to the league’s least successful side, Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni did not seem unduly concerned.

“It’s a bad defeat for us and it stings,” Stramaccioni told Sky Sport Italia.

“But we can’t let a defeat get in the way of the ambitions of a new team that is still looking for consistency.”

By far the biggest shock of the weekend was Milan’s 2-1 away defeat to Udinese, a third league reverse which leaves the seven-times European champions in lowly 15th place.

Despite Italy Under-21 international Stephan El Sharaway levelling Swedish striker Mathias Ranegie’s 40th minute opener 10 minutes after the restart, the visitors endured a catastrophic end to the match.

Milan’s Colombian defender Cristian Zapata was sent off, allowing Antonio Di Natale to score Udinese’s second from the spot.

The visitors’ hopes of levelling suffered a blow seven minutes from time when they were reduced to nine players after Kevin Prince Boateng was red-carded.

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri was defiant post-match, telling Sky Sport Italia: “It wouldn’t make sense to talk of my dismissal as it’s not my decision.”

He was later given the backing of club CEO Adriano Galliani, who believe the team showed a marked improvement.

“Allegri has my confidence and that of (club) president (Silvio) Berlusconi,” said Galliani. “Milan played far better, I saw a team improvement.”

Roma vs Cagliari

Roma have lodged an appeal to be awarded victory from their away match yesterday against Cagliari following its controversial postponement hours before kick-off.

The match was set to be played in an empty stadium because Cagliari’s Is Arena stadium is still undergoing renovation work.

However club president Massimo Cellino invited supporters to attend the match regardless, forcing the prefect of Cagliari to call a halt to the league fixture over security fears.

A club statement said: “In light of the decision taken by the prefect of Cagliari to postpone Cagliari v Roma, as a direct consequence of the statement published by Cagliari Calcio yesterday (Saturday), Roma would like to announce that it has lodged a complaint to the appropriate sporting governing bodies.”

Roma’s general manager Franco Baldini hit out at the alleged manipulation of the situation by Cagliari and indicated that the club would be appealing to be awarded the match victory.

Serie A

Atalanta 1
Raimondi 88;
Palermo 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 13,467.

Bologna 1
Gilardino 9;
Pescara 1
Quintero 40;

HT: 1-1. Att: 22,491.
Red card: Perin (P) 63.

Cagliari p
Roma p

Catania 0
Napoli 0

Att: 13,808;
Red card: Alvarez (C) 2.

Inter 0
Siena 2
Vergassola 73; Valiani 90;

HT: 0-0. Att: 40,357.

Lazio 0
Genoa 1
Borriello 79;

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

Sampdoria 1
Pozzi 84 pen;
Torino 1
Bianchi 69;

HT: 0-0. Att: 23,859.

Udinese 2
Ranegie 40;
Milan 1
El Shaarawy 54; Di Natale 68 pen;

HT: 1-0. Att: 20,000.
Red cards: Zapata (M) 67; Boateng (M) 83.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	4	4	0	0	11	2	12
Napoli	4	3	1	0	8	2	10
Lazio	4	3	0	1	7	2	9
Sampdoria (-1)	4	3	1	0	7	4	9
Fiorentina	4	2	1	1	6	4	7
Inter	4	2	0	2	6	5	6
Genoa	4	2	0	2	6	6	6
Atalanta (-2)	4	2	1	1	3	2	5
Catania	4	1	2	1	5	6	5
Roma	3	1	1	1	7	6	4
Torino (-1)	4	1	2	1	4	3	4
Parma	4	1	1	2	4	6	4
Udinese	4	1	1	2	6	9	4
Bologna	4	1	1	2	5	8	4
Milan	4	1	0	3	4	5	3
Chievo	4	1	0	3	3	7	3
Cagliari	3	0	2	1	2	4	2
Pescara	4	0	1	3	3	10	1
Palermo	4	0	1	3	1	8	1
Siena (-6)	4	1	2	1	5	4	-1

Top scorers
4 goals: Jovetic (Fiorentina).
3 goals: Hernanes (Lazio), Klose (Lazio), Pazzini (Milan), Lopez (Sampdoria), Gilardino (Bologna).

Next fixtures
Tuesday: 20.45 Fiorentina vs Juventus.
Wednesday: 18.30 Pescara vs Palermo. 20.45 Catania vs Atalanta; Chievo vs Inter; Genoa vs Parma; Milan vs Cagliari; Napoli vs Lazio; Roma vs Sampdoria; Torino vs Udinese.
Thursday: 20.45 Siena vs Bologna.

Prima Divisione – A
Carpi vs Cremonese 1-1; Como vs Portogruaro 1-1; Cuneo vs AlbinoLeffe 0-0; FeralpiSalo vs Reggiana 2-1; Lumezzane vs SudTirol 1-0; Treviso vs Lecce 1-3; Virtus Entella vs Trapani 3-2. Today: 20.30 San Marino vs Pavia.

Standings: Lecce 12; V. Entella 9; Carpi 7; FeralpiSalo, Reggiana Trapani 6; Portogruaro, Lumezzane, Como 5; SudTirol, Cremonese (-1), Cuneo 4; San Marino 3; Tritium, Pavia 1; Treviso 0; Albinoleffe (-10) -4.

Prima Divisione – B
Andria vs Perugia 1-1; Barletta vs Nocerina 0-0; Benevento vs Avellino 1-2; Carrarese vs Viareggio 1-3; Gubbio vs Pisa 2-1; Latina vs Sorrento 1-0; Paganese vs Catanzaro 0-0; Prato vs Frosinone 0-1.

Standings: Latina, Perugia (-1) 9; Avellino, Frosinone (-1) 8; Viareggio, Gubbio 7; Benevento 6; Pisa, Paganese 5; Sorrento, Catanzaro 4; Prato, Andria, Nocerina 3; Barletta 2;Carrarese 0.