Roma heap more pain on Juventus

Claudio Ranieri's return to Turin as AS Roma coach proved triumphant thanks to John Arne Riise's added-time header which earned the Giallorossi a 2-1 win and inflicted a third successive Serie A defeat on Juventus.

Del Piero strike
A largely uneventful contest sparked into life six minutes into the second half when Alessandro Del Piero volleyed the Bianconeri in front from a tight angle, the Juventus captain's first league goal since 24 May. The tide turned, however, when Fabio Grosso fouled Rodrigo Taddei in the penalty area and Francesco Totti (68) – who replaced the injured Luca Toni early on – beat Gianluigi Buffon.

Buffon dismissed
The Juventus No1's next significant act was to fell Riise when the Norwegian was through on goal with seven minutes remaining, thus earning the Italian international a red card. Just when it seemed Ciro Ferrara's team would hold on for a point, Riise angled David Pizarro's centre across Alex Manninger into the far corner. The result means Roma − unbeaten in 15 games in all competitions − move within two points of second-placed AC Milan ahead of their encounter with leaders FC Internazionale Milano on Sunday, while Juventus remain fifth.

Catania hope
At the other end of the table, Calcio Catania are within a point of safety after a 3-0 home win against Parma FC, who have lost four of their last five. Giuseppe Mascara started the scoring on the quarter-hour mark with a powerful header but then fired wide from the penalty spot after Christian Panucci had been penalised for pulling Nicolas Spolli's shirt. Jorge Martínez (71) doubled the lead when he ran on to Mariano Izco's clever pass, while Japanese striker Takayuki Morimoto added a third six minutes later, soon after replacing Cristian Llama.