Juventus slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Sampdoria.
Juventus slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Sampdoria, while Milan closed the gap on the leaders with a 4-1 win at Messina.Aimo Diana netted the only goal of the game in Turin to inflict only the second defeat of the season on Juventus as Sampdoria moved into the top five.
Milan bounced back from two successive defeats to overpower Messina 4-1.
Hernan Crespo sent Milan on their way with the opener after just eight minutes and Jon Dahl Tomasson added a second nine minutes later.
Riccardo Zampagna pulled a goal back for Messina on 29 minutes, but further strikes from Crespo (63) and Tomasson (90) wrapped up the win for Milan.
Internazionale earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over bottom of the table Atalanta at the Giuseppe Meazza.
Obafemi Martins scored the all-important winning goal for Inter on 31 minutes.
Udinese consolidated their place in fourth spot with a comfortable 3-0 win over Chievo.
Marek Jankulovski broke the deadlock two minutes after the break and an unfortunate own goal from Fabio Moro doubled the lead on 52 minutes.
Vincenzo Iaquinta sealed the victory for Udinese eight minutes from time.
Roma dropped down to sixth spot after being held to a 1-1 draw by Lecce.
Roma were gifted the lead when Guillermo Giacomazzi put through his own net four minutes after the break and things got worse for Lecce when Cristian Ledesma was sent off on 69 minutes for violent conduct.
However, Lecce refused to lie down and fought back to level through Mirko Vucinic 12 minutes from time.
Lazio's poor run of form continued as they were held to a goalless draw at home to struggling Brescia.
Cagliari came from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw at Siena.
Siena raced into a two goal lead before half time with strikes from Enrico Chiesa (4) and Tore Andre Flo (37).
Diego Lopez pulled a goal back on 58 minutes and Rolando Bianchi earned the visitors a point with an equaliser six minutes from time.
Reggina missed the chance to keep pace with the leading pack after being held to a 1-1 draw with Livorno.
Carlos Paredes gave Reggina the lead on the quarter hour mark, but Jose Vidigal secured a point for Livorno six minutes from time.
Fiorentina are still in trouble at the wrong end of the table after going down 2-1 at home to Palermo.
A Cristiano Lupatelli own goal just before the hour gifted Palermo the lead and Mariano Gonzalez doubled the lead ten minutes later.
Fabrizio Miccoli reduced the arrears two minutes later, but Palermo held on for all three points.
