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Milan missed the chance to close the gap on Serie A leaders Internazionale after crashing to a 3-1 defeat at Palermo.

Ronaldinho missed one penalty and scored another for Milan, who were punished by second-half goals from Fabrizio Miccoli, Edison Cavani and Henrique Simplicio.

The result leaves Carlo Ancelotti's men six points adrift of their city rivals, and trailing second-placed Juventus on goal difference.

But it could have been very different for Milan had they converted a penalty on 28 minutes, after Palermo goalkeeper Marco Amelia cleaned out Alexandre Pato just inside the box.

Ronaldinho stepped up, but Amelia guessed right and palmed his effort away to take the teams into the break level at 0-0.

Palermo emerged for the second half rejuvenated and went ahead through the impressive Miccoli on 49 minutes - the striker cutting inside to crash an unstoppable drive past Christian Abbiati from just outside the box.

The home side doubled their lead on the hour mark, when Fabio Liverani found Cavani with a diagonal ball into the box and he headed back across goal and beyond the despairing reach of Abbiati.

Milan desperately tried to claw their way back into the match, but Simplicio made sure of the result on 80 minutes, heading home a cross from Federico Balzaretti.

There was still time for Ronaldinho to pull one back for Milan, converting from the spot after he himself was brought to ground on 83 minutes.

INTERNAZIONALE 2 NAPOLI 1

Jose Mourinho's Internazionale extended their Serie A lead to six points after beating Napoli 2-1 at the Giuseppe Meazza.

Despite his side's position at the top of the Serie A table, Mourinho has come under pressure following a sequence of poor Champions League results - the latest a 1-0 defeat at home to Panathinaikos in midweek.

The match was settled by three superb first-half goals. defender Ivan Cordoba opened the scoring on 16 minutes, volleying home left-footed following a corner.

Midfielder Sulley Muntari doubled Inter's advantage with a fine finish to conclude a superb move.

Julio Cruz backheeled to set up Cordoba to drive the ball across goal, and Muntari dragged the ball in from behind him with instinctive brilliance.

Napoli pulled one back with an even better strike. Ezequiel Lavezzi played a give-and-go to Marcelo Zalayeta, who returned the ball to him with a perfectly-weighted backheel, and Lavezzi finished coolly, clipping the ball in off the left-hand post.

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ROMA 1 FIORENTINA 0

Francesco Totti latched onto Rodrigo Taddei's pass to slam the ball through keeper Sebastien Frey's hands and seal a third straight league win for Roma.

Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu, who almost joined Roma in the close season, had a dipping freekick well-saved by Doni and was also just off target with a header.

Totti headed against the post and Julio Baptista rattled the bar for the hosts but the visitors had much of the play.

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ATALANTA 2 LAZIO 0

Chilean midfielder Jaime Valdes fired in on 54 minutes after a quick break following a mistake in Lazio's defence and striker Sergio Floccari sealed the win when he sprung the offside trap.

Lazio striker Mauro Zarate went close in the first half in rainy Bergamo.

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CAGLIARI 1 SAMPDORIA 0

Striker Jeda gave the Sardinians victory just after the interval following an uneventful first half.

Samp remain in the bottom half after consistently flattering to deceive.

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GENOA 1 BOLOGNA 1

Former Genoa striker Marco Di Vaio grabbed a draw for his new club with a superb controlled header, his eighth goal of the league season.

Giuseppe Sculli had headed in unmarked at the far post 10 minutes after the break to give the home side the lead in the pouring rain.

Di Vaio hit the post for second-from-bottom Bologna late on and Genoa striker Diego Milito, Serie A's top scorer this term with 11, missed a great chance in injury time.

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SIENA 1 TORINO 0

Siena striker Massimo Maccarone took advantage of some sloppy Torino defending to race clear and prod home on 19 minutes as midtable Siena secured victory.

The defeat leaves Torino coach Gianni De Biasi again fretting about his job with his side one point above the drop zone.

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UDINESE 0 CHIEVO 1

Bottom side Chievo deservedly snapped a six-game losing streak when Felipe glanced in an own goal three minutes from time.

Udinese, who have now lost four league games on the bounce, had a Antonio Di Natale goal ruled out for offside but Chievo were otherwise on top.

The Italy forward was uncharacteristically sent off on 58 minutes following a fracas.

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Played on Saturday

CATANIA 1 LECCE 1

Substitute Jose Castillo buried a sweet strike 60 seconds after coming on to grab a point for lowly Lecce on 69 minutes.

Forward Michele Paolucci, who also struck the post, had put the Sicilians ahead eight minutes earlier with an angled drive but they ended up with their first home draw this term.

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JUVENTUS 4 REGGINA 0

Alessandro Del Piero scored his 250th Juve goal with a penalty to crown an easy victory over the strugglers in snowbound Turin.

Winger Mauro Camoranesi suffered an early shoulder injury but still managed to blast in the opener on 28 minutes before his cross set up Amauri for the second just before the break.

A Giorgio Chiellini header and Del Piero's spotkick after a dubious foul on Sebastian Giovinco sealed the win. Reggina, who hit the woodwork through Santos, were angry that Franco Brienza's quickly-taken free kick was disallowed.

Follow LIVE coverage of Palermo v Milan from 19:30 UK time on Sunday evening!

Alex Chick + Will Tidey + Reuters / Eurosport