Inter went four points clear of Milan in the Serie A title race, while Roma kept up the pace with the top two.
Inter go four points clear; Roma remain in hunt; Milan stumble
Inter strengthened their position at the top of Serie A by coasting to a 3-0 victory at home against bottom club Livorno.
The hapless visitors were stunned when Samuel Eto'o popped up twice in quick succession with two first-half goals to put his side in control, notching in the 35th and 41st minutes to see his side cruise into the break 2-0 ahead.
The relegation certainties struggled to force a way back into the affair, with defender Maicon adding a third with just over an hour played.
The win proved to be vital as it sent Jose Mourinho's men four points clear at the summit, capitalising on
AC Milan's 1-0 defeat at
Parma to put the pressure on Leonardo's men.
Milan were felled by a last-gasp goal from on-loan Manchester City man Valeri Bojinov, who came off the bench to hand Parma a narrow win that extended their unbeaten run to five matches.
Roma kept up the pace in the title hunt and Milan's defeat also helped them draw level with their rivals, coming away from
Bologna with a 2-0 victory.
A John Arne Riise hit four minutes into the second half set the visitors on their way, with substitute Julio Baptista striking with eight minutes remaining to make the win safe.
Action-packed
Atalanta boosted their hopes of survival by picking up a 3-1 triumph over
Cagliari in an action-packed encounter.
The away side were reduced to 10 men in the first half as Daniele Dessena saw red for serious foul play just 17 minutes in, and it was all uphill for the visitors from then as Simone Tiribocchi opened the scoring after the restart.
Jaime Valdes then doubled the advantage from the penalty spot, before making the win safe by completing his brace. Daniele Conti hit the last minute consolation for Cagliari.
Lazio eased their relegation worries by seeing off second bottom
Siena 2-0, goals from Stephan Lichsteiner and Julio Cruz sending them five points clear of the drop.
Palermo ended their match with
Genoa with only nine men, but still came away with a point in a 2-2 draw that kept them in the reckoning for a European place.
The away side took the lead when Abel Hernandez found the net in the first-half, however Salvatore Bocchetti levelled for Genoa.
Javier Pastore restored his team's lead, before Simon Kjaer went for an early bath after picking up his second yellow card.
Palmero looked good to hold on for three points but goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu saw red and Houssine Kharja snatched a point from the resulting spot kick.
Bari beat
Sampdoria 2-1 to dent their hopes of taking Palermo's fourth place in the table, Barreto notching four minutes from time to give the hosts the win, meanwhile
Catania picked up a useful 1-0 victory over
Fiorentina thanks to Giuseppe Mascara's early winner.
In the other match of the night,
Udinese and
Chievo played out a 0-0 stalemate.
