John Arne Riise scored a last-gasp goal to earn Roma a 2-1 comeback win over free-falling Juventus in Serie A yesterday and give Claudio Ranieri a sweet return to his former club.

The Norwegian nodded in a David Pizarro cross in stoppage time after a Francesco Totti penalty had cancelled out Alessandro Del Piero's fine opener for hosts Juve in the 51st minute.

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon did not help his team's cause when he was sent off in the 83rd minute after charging out of his area and fouling Riise.

The win allowed Roma to tighten their grip on third place with 38 points from 21 games, eight points behind leaders Inter, who face second-placed Milan in tonight's high stakes derby.

Juve are five points further back in fifth after their sixth defeat in eight league games deepened the troubles of Ciro Ferrara, who replaced Ranieri in the Juve dugout just before the end of last season.

Earlier, Catania cruised to a crucial 3-0 victory at home to Parma to improve their chances of beating the drop, leaving them 18th but just one point from safety.

Giuseppe Mascara opened the scoring for the Sicilian hosts on the quarter hour but then missed a penalty eight minutes later following a foul by Christian Panucci.

Top scorer Jorge Martinez sealed the points on 71 minutes with his seventh of the season as Catania dominated.

And substitute Japan forward Takayuki Morimoto rounded off the scoring 13 minutes from time.