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Ronaldinho rescued a point for Milan with a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against 10-man Atalanta at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.

The Brazilian international's late strike eased the pressure slightly on coach Leonardo, whose stuttering side still lie in the bottom half of the Serie A table after this comeback.

Atalanta had taken the lead as early as the 21st minute through veteran striker Simone Tiribocchi, but they were up against it after Ivan Radovanovic was sent off towards the end of the first half.

Milan's constant second half pressure eventually told, when Ronaldinho volleyed home after 84 minutes.

The first half was full of incident and no little controversy, as we witnessed a goal, two disallowed strikes and an extremely contentious dismissal.

Atalanta had the ball in the net via Tiribocchi after 18 minutes, but his effort was disallowed for a foul on Alessandro Nesta, two minutes before Milan had one of their own when Klass-Jan Huntelaar's header was also chalked off - this time for offside.

Tiribocchi found greater success with his next effort on goal and he had fellow front man Cristiano Doni to thank for starting the move.

Doni played the ball out to the right wing, where Simone Padoin crossed into the box and found Doni's run, but the forward allowed the ball to break to unmarked strike partner Tiribocchi, who made no mistake with a precise first time finish into the bottom corner.

Controversy followed soon after when Atalanta's Ivan Radovanovic was dismissed when he collected his second yellow card for what appeared to be rather soft foul on Alexandre Pato.

The home crowd roared their disapproval at the 39th minute decision, while the player himself could scarcely believe it and took some time to depart the pitch, throwing his shirt down as he exited the playing area.

The Atalanta fans mood almost improved two minutes before the break when some great skill down the right from Padoin again set up Tiribocchi, whose close range volley flew just over the bar.

Chasing the game, Milan introduced Ronaldinho for Flamini at the start of the second half, but it took until six minutes from time to find a way past Andrea Consigli, who was in fine form in the Atalanta goal.

Prior to the equaliser, Milan twice went close through the evergreen Clarence Seedorf and Pato also saw an effort cannon back off the crossbar in the 74th minute, but 10 minutes later Ronaldinho struck.

A delightful chipped through ball from Nesta found the substitute in the heart of the penalty area and he showed great control with his chest before volleying past a helpless Consigli.

Whether a point in Atalanta will be enough to silence the San Siro doubters remains to be seen, but Milan go up a place to 11th in the table, seven points behind rivals Inter.

Napoli boss Roberto Donadoni is under increased pressure after a 2-1 defeat at injury-hit Roma.

Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi opened the scoring for Napoli on 26 minutes after Roma had already made two substitutions including goalkeeper Julio Sergio.

Francesco Totti hit back with one lucky strike and one expert finish before being injured himself but having to stay on the pitch with Roma having used their three changes.

Sampdoria drew 1-1 at home with promoted Parma to move level on points with leaders and champions Internazionale, who beat Udinese 2-1 on Saturday thanks to Wesley Sneijder's injury-time strike.

Samp went in front through Giampaolo Pazzini's excellent header in the 23rd minute but Daniele Galloppa equalised with a well-worked goal on the half hour.

Unbeaten Juventus, joint third with Fiorentina who drew 0-0 with Lazio, can take the Serie A lead if they win at Palermo later .

Genoa are fifth after ruining Bologna's 100th anniversary party with a 3-1 away victory.

In-form Chievo won 2-1 at Cagliari and bottom side Livorno drew 0-0 at Siena.

Sean Calvert / Reuters