Internazionale captain Javier Zanetti scored a late equaliser in the 89th minute to earn his side a 1-1 draw at home to Roma.

Francesco Totti put the visitors ahead just before the interval after they had been forced to endure a torrid first half in which they barely touched the ball. But despite enjoyed numerous opportunities to close out the game after the interval, Roma suffered a lapse in concentration in the final minutes costing them the extra two points.

Inter dominated from the start with preventing Roma from touching the ball inside the first five minutes and enjoying their first shot at goal in just the third minutes. However Dejan Stankovic, setting the tone of the match, snatched at the ball and sent his shot sailing over the bar.

Inter had their best chance of the night in the 20th minute when Hernan Crespo produced an acrobatic bicycle kick to connect with a Patrick Vieira cross and test Doni for the first time. But Crespo was forced to watch his shot bounce off the right post, dribble across the goal mouth, past the left post and out before Esteban Cambiasso could reach it and tap home.

The hosts continued to batter their opponents defence but failed to find that final ball to create the goal and were left to rue their chances when Totti struck in the 38th minute. The Roma skipper connected with an inch perfect pass from Max Tonetto to thump the ball past Julio Cesar and into the back of the net from the penalty spot to put themselves one goal to the good going in for the interval.

Julio Cesar was forced to produce some great saves in the second half, none less so than in the 65th minute when only the keeper's left foot prevented his side from going 2-0 down as substitute Alberto Aquilani's unchallenged shot was heading straight into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

The longer the match went on the more bad tempered it became with Philippe Mexes being sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the space of two minutes. The first, in the 81st minute came, as the defender unnecessarily ran across the corner of the pitch when making his way from behind the goal to the halfway line to come back on after an injury. But, despite arguing both with the referee and his own team-mates as he exited the match, Mexes had only himself to blame as he quickly brought Crespo crashing to the floor in midfield for a second booking.

With a one-man advantage Inter finally looked to have the upper hand in the match and Crespo forced a fantastic save from Doni who, leaping up to cover his top right corner, managed to tip the Argentine's header over the top of the bar.

But just one minute later Zanetti managed to salvage a draw for Inter firing a bullet from outside the box past Doni and into the bottom right hand corner of the net, after the ball had fallen kindly for him from a deflected corner.

ATALANTA BERGAMO 4 SAMPDORIA 1

The home side came back from going 1-0 down to Sergio Volpi's early strike.

Influential midfielder Cristiano Doni's superb backward header brought the hosts level before he put them ahead after a scramble on the line just past half an hour.

A quick break led to Sergio Floccari heading in on 36 minutes and Daniele Capelli made it four with a tap-in at the far post as Samp, without rested inspiration Antonio Cassano, fell apart after a good run.

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CATANIA 1 AC MILAN 1

The European champions, without Kaka and Andrea Pirlo, recorded their ninth draw of the campaign to slip back to fifth.

Teenage Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato scored his fifth goal since joining in January with a low long-range effort into the corner.

Home striker Gionatha Spinesi equalised with a stooping header. Catania had a goal ruled out for offside and Milan's Filippo Inzaghi also had an effort struck off.

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FIORENTINA 1 LIVORNO 0

Senegal's Papa Waigo Ndiaye netted his first goal in Serie A with a brave diving header on 58 minutes with boots flying everywhere.

Home striker Giampaolo Pazzini hit the bar in stoppage time facing an open goal but Fiorentina still moved back up to fourth and sent Livorno third from bottom.

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GENOA 2 NAPOLI 0

Marco Borriello became the league's top scorer with 16 goals with a second half penalty after Maurizio Domizzi was dismissed for tripping the striker just inside the box.

Giuseppe Sculli gave the home side the lead on 41 minutes and only moments later Marek Hamsik screwed wide for Napoli.

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LAZIO 1 REGGINA 0

Rolando Bianchi, who joined Lazio from Manchester City in January, netted his first goal for the Rome side from the penalty spot after Goran Pandev had been felled on halftime.

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PALERMO 2 EMPOLI 0

Midfielder Fabio Simplicio scored after Edison Cavani's header had been saved and Palermo's improved form was confirmed by Leandro Rinaudo's second on 38 minutes.

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PARMA 2 UDINESE 0

A goal from former Shakhtar Donetsk striker Cristiano Lucarelli and Luca Cigarini's late penalty lifted Parma out of the bottom three and left sixth-placed Udinese only a point above Sampdoria and Genoa.

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SIENA 1 CAGLIARI 0

Massimo Maccarone was again Siena's hero with his seventh of the league campaign on 88 minutes. Cagliari are now six adrift at the bottom.

Pippa Davis & / Reuters