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Goals from Clarence Seedorf, Marco Borriello, Alexandre Pato and Ronaldinho gave Milan a 4-3 win over Cagliari in a hugely entertaining Serie A clash at the San Siro.

Alessandro Matri, Andrea Lazzari and Nene were on target for Cagliari, who led at one point and could have snatched a late point but for Dida's great save from Joaquin Larrivey.

The victory put Milan second for a few hours although Juventus took that place back with a 1-0 win over Udinese in the late game.

A crazed first half saw Milan go ahead against the run of play when, on five minutes, Seedorf freed Borriello down the right, who held the ball up and cut it back for the Dutchman to finish low into an empty net.

Three minutes later Matri had a penalty appeal waved away after colliding with Dida, but seconds afterwards the former Milan trainee put Cagliari on level terms with a close-range finish after he cleverly got away from the Milan defence to meet Andrea Lazzari's cross.

Brazilian striker Jeda went close twice while Matri forced a good stop from Dida as the visitors pressed for the lead.

They got a deserved second on the half hour thanks to the impressive Lazzari, who rifled a drive across Dida into the right-hand side of goal after Michele Cannini spotted him unmarked on the left.

Milan looked shell-shocked but they drew level nine minutes later when, following an Andrea Pirlo corner, Borriello nodded over the line after recent Italy cap Federico Marchetti could only divert Pato's bullet header across his own goal.

And in a madcap minute Milan were back in front thanks to a moment of magic from Pato.

Fellow Brazilian Ronaldinho, at that point the Rossoneri's brightest player, did well to find the 20-year-old with a clever reverse pass but, on the right of the box and with defenders facing him, Pato had it all to do: with a sublime first touch he created the space needed to smash a ferocious drive that Marchetti barely saw as it flew into the top left.

It was more of the same in the second half.

Dida saved smartly from Davide Biondini while Seedorf should have made Marchetti work after Ronaldinho played him in, but his touch let him down.

Ronaldinho extended the Rossoneri's lead to 4-2 with a fierce penalty after Boriello was chopped down by Davide Astori following a classic Pato-led break, with the former Barcelona forward hammering an unstoppable spot-kick to the left of the goal.

But Cagliari were not finished. Skipper David Lopez forced a very good low save from Dida with a 67th-minute free-kick and within a minute they had pulled it back to 4-3 when substitute Nene raced on to compatriot Jeda's through ball, held off Kakha Kaladze and finished neatly to make it 4-3.

They were agonisingly close to claiming a remarkable draw but Argentine sub Larrivey's diving header off Lazzari's cross was batted out by Dida.

Juve overcame Udinese 1-0 in a cold Turin in after Fabio Grosso popped up in the area to guide in fellow fullback Martin Caceres's cross early in the second period.

The hosts, who brought on Alessandro Del Piero for only his second appearance of the campaign after injury, continued their habit of failing to find a killer second goal and were lucky that Udinese were blunted by Antonio Di Natale's suspension

Francesco Totti marked his return from almost two months out with a recurring knee injury by scoring a powerful hat-trick in Roma's 3-1 win over Bari.

The striker, who has retired from Italy duty but has hinted he would consider a return at the World Cup, netted a spot kick before blasting home a free kick and then slamming in from a tight angle all inside the first half-hour.

The win was the perfect tonic for mid-table Roma, whose future ownership remains unclear amid debts and fan unrest.

Walter Zenga's Palermo drew 1-1 at home with his former club Catania in the Sicilian derby and early pacesetters Sampdoria beat Chievo 2-1 in Genoa for their first win in four games.

Napoli drew 0-0 at home with Lazio while at the bottom Siena are three adrift after a 2-0 home defeat by Atalanta which prompted supporter protests and further weakened the position of interim coach Marco Baroni.

Lowly Livorno grabbed a very late winner to beat Genoa 2-1.

Reda Maher / Reuters