Serie A leaders Lazio progressed to the fourth round of the Coppa Italia with victory against Portogruaro.
Novara cause upset of the night as Lazio and Udinese progress
Serie A leaders Lazio progressed to the fourth round of the Coppa Italia with victory against Portogruaro.
Meanwhile, Serie B leaders Novara caused a big upset by knocking out Cesena while Catania progressed following a thrilling contest against plucky Varese.
Former Italian champions
Lazio last won the Coppa Italia in 2008-09 and Edy Reja's side will be looking forward to repeating that feat as they swept aside the second division strugglers
Portogruaro with a 3-0 victory.
Goals from Alvaro Gonzalez, Libor Kozak and Mark Bresciano were enough at the Stadio Olimpico.
Upset
Serie B leaders
Novara caused a major upset when they defeated
Cesena 3-1 after extra-time at the Stadio Silvio Piola.
Novara only gained promotion to the Italian second division at the end of last season after winning the Lega Pro Prima Divisione A and their progress has been nothing less than spectacular.
With the scores level at one apiece Attilio Tesser's side continued their impressive winning streak thanks to goals from Francesco Evola and Guillaume Gigliotti goals.
Marco Giampaolo's
Catania secured their first win in five matches with a dramatic 4-3 victory against
Varese after extra-time.
Nicolas Spolli's 107th minute effort was enough to secure a much needed win for the Sicilians after the game had finished 3-3 after 90 minutes.
In-form
Udinese made light-work of second division high fliers
Padova to cruise into the next round with a 4-0 win.
The hosts, who won their third successive league fixture at the weekend against Palermo made it through thanks to a brace from Bernardo Corradi and further goals from Antonio Flores and Gabriele Angella at the Stadio Friuli.
Struggling
Cagliari swept past
Piacenza with a comfortable 3-0 victory at the Sant'Elia.
Pierpaolo Bisoli's side had won just one game all season going into the game against the side third from bottom in Serie B.
A brace from Nene and Robert Acquafresca's effort on the hour mark was enough for the Sardinians.
Distraction
Coppa Italia action proved a welcome distraction for
Bologna as they progressed to the next round with exciting 3-2 win against
Modena at Renato Dall'Ara.
Bologna are yet to lose in front of their home supporters despite going 2-1 down, Ivan Radovanovic and Gaston Ramirez rescued the hosts.
Brescia defeated second division side
Cittadella 1-0 at home with former West Ham striker Alessandro Diamanti scoring the only goal of the game.
Lecce and
Siena entertained the fans as the hosts prevailed with a 3-2 success.
Lecce, who sitting in 10th position in Serie A were made to work hard against the Serie B side with Javier Chevanton's 70th minute goal proving to be the match winner.
The all Serie B clash between
Frosinone and
Reggina produced six goals as the Dark-Reds overcame their rivals 4-2 after extra-time at the Comunale.
The visitors, who are on course to regaining promotion to Serie A are currently on a seven-game unbeaten run in the league.
Reggina coach Gianluca Atzori was a relieved man after seeing his side have to recover twice in normal time before eventually going through thanks to goals from Ivan Castiglia and Dominic Adiyiah in the extra 30 minutes.
In another all-Serie B clash,
Vicenza edged past
Ascoli 1-0 at the Stadio Romeo Menti.
Ascoli have now lost six of their last seven games as the high-rated 19-year old midfielder Fausto Rossi bagged the only goal of the game just after the hour mark for the side chasing automatic promotion.
Atalanta and
Livorno locked horns at the Stadio Atleti with the visitors securing a path to the next round courtesy of a goal three minutes from time.
Both these teams suffered relegation from Serie A last season but it was Livorno who stretched their unbeaten run to six matches after on loan striker Gaston Cellerino scored the only goal of a largely dull encounter.
The clash between
Crotone and
Albinoleffe proved to be a very competitive fixture with the visitors eventually running out winners thanks to Matteo Piccinni's strike.
