Serie A : Two Brazilian fire Roma and Milan

AS Roma 1 - 0 Lazio

Brazilian forward Julio Baptista scored the winner five minutes after the break as AS Roma gave their season a welcome boost with a crucial 1-0 derby victory over ten-man Lazio on Sunday. Roma began the match only goal difference above the Serie A drop zone after a dreadful start to their season which had seen them win only twice in ten games.

Lazio started brightly and Argentine forward Mauro Zarate hit the side-netting after a clever pass from Goran Pandev opened up the Roma defence on 18 minutes. Moments later and Juan Pablo Carrizo made a sprawling save up the other end from a diving Mirko Vucinic header.

Those were isolated moments of action before the interval but five minutes after the restart the nominal hosts were in front as Baptista found the bottom corner with a header from Francesco Totti's cross.

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AC Milan 1 - 0 Chievo

Meanwhile AC Milan closed the gap at the top to a single point behind city rivals Inter Milan following a 1-0 victory over lowly Chievo. Brazilian playmaker Kaka scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot following a controversial decision by the referee.

Kaka tumbled in the area under what looked like minimal contact when chasing a flicked Ronaldinho pass but the referee gave a foul against Simone Bentivoglio. The midfielder made no mistake from the spot and although Milan went on to dominate the rest of the game, they failed to find a way through against the team that now props up the entire division. fifa

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Full results;

Palermo 0 - 2 Inter Milan
.......
AC Milan 1 - 0 Chievo
Atalanta 3 - 1 Napoli
Cagliari 1 - 0 Fiorentina
Catania 3 - 2 Torino
Sampdoria 3 - 2 Lecce
Siena 1 - 1 Bologna
Udinese 0 - 1 Reggina
AS Roma 1 - 0 Lazio