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Genoa overcame Sampdoria 3-0 in a feisty affair at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris as three goals and three red cards were racked up in an ill-tempered Serie A derby.

Two of the hosts' goals came from the penalty spot as Omar Milanetto opened the scoring in the 10th minute, and Raffaele Palladino added the third in identical fashion in the 75th minute.

The penalties were either side of Marco Rossi's second-half strike which effectively secured victory for Gian Piero Gasperini's side, despite Giuseppe Biava being shown the first red card on the stroke of half-time for a second bookable offence.

Sampdoria's numerical advantage was squandered in the 66th minute, as Marco Rossi was brandished a second yellow card, before Fabrizio Cacciatore epitomised the visitor's poor discipline with a reckless hack two minutes from time.

The match frequently bordered on a farce in the second half as the game was held up regularly due to pathetic histrionics, ill-feeling and needless theatrics, almost entirely and inevitably centred around the irrepressibly antagonistic Antonio Cassano.

Genoa's first penalty came as Reto Ziegler tripped Rodrigo Palacio to enable Milanetto to coolly slot away the game's opening goal, before the scorer turned provider for Rossi, who slammed home the hosts' second.

Genoa twice hit the woodwork as Ziegler turned a devilish cross from Biava on to his own post, before Giuseppe Sculli rose imperiously to head against the crossbar.

The game's second penalty arose as Ziegler was again caught out and the defender this time brought down substitute Socratis Papaststhopoulos with Palladino sending Luca Castellazzi the wrong way.

As a result of the victory, Genoa move above Fiorentina into sixth place in Serie A, with Sampdoria missing the opportunity to move above Milan into third.

Udinese brushed aside Livorno to seal a 2-0 victory at Stadio Friuli with both Bianconeri forwards on target.

Antonio Di Natale opened the scoring in the 29th minute with an exquisite, curled free-kick from 25 yards which found the top corner of Alfonso De Lucia's net to give Pasquale Marino's side the lead.

The second was less emphatic, but equally as clinical, with fellow forward Antonio Floro Flores (pictured, left) meeting Aleksandar Lukovic's pinpoint cross with a powerful header nine minutes later.

Livorno were generally devoid of ideas going forward, compounded by the fact that Udinese were both obdurate and organised at the back.

But a moment of brilliance from striker Cristiano Lucarelli almost hauled Serse Cosmi's side back into the contest on the hour-mark.

A deep cross from Nico Pulzetti dipped at the feet of Lucarelli, who unleashed a rasping volley which brought a stunning reflex save from Samir Handanovic in the Udinese goal to somehow preserve his side's clean-sheet.

Di Natale could have netted a brace but for a tame header straight at De Lucia in the 64th minute after Dusan Basta's foraging run down the right resulted in the midfielder outwitting Davide Moro and dinking a precise delivery to the forward.

Lucarelli was then the culprit for squandering a point-blank opportunity to reduce the deficit in the 76th minute when he stole into the Udinese six-yard box to meet Antonio Filippini's cross, but contrived to miss his kick.

The hosts defended stoutly to close out the match in an efficient manner as both managers made their full allocation of substitutions in an increasingly scrappy finale.

Udinese's victory sees them move up to 12th place in Serie A, with Livorno trapped below Atalanta in 18th.

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport