Champions Inter Milan and Juventus took the lead in the Italian Serie A on Sunday with away wins, 3-1 at Torino and by 1-0 over Cagliari, respectively.
The two powerhouses have seven points each from three games. Lazio, on a maximum six points from two games, had the chance to move back on top later Sunday, but faced a difficult match at AC Milan.
Luck lent Inter a hand at Turin's Stadio Olimpico when they took the lead on a 24th-minute own goal, their third in as many games, caused by Marco Pisano's deflection on a cross from Brazilian Mancini.
Goalkeeper Matteo Sereni again stood no chance two minutes later when defender Douglas Maicon, one of Inter's five Brazilians, fired under the bar to finish off a textbook counter-attack on the right flank.
Another counter attack in the 51st brought Zlatan Ibrahimovic face to face with Sereni for an easy flick home that sealed the champions win, despite a 75th-minute consolation goal from Elvis Abbruscato, who hit the bar 10 minutes later.
Inter's Jose Mourinho said that 'it is hard to dominate for 90 minutes, especially against a team (like Torino) who had no fear of losing and played a good, open football. But I think that, overall, Inter were the strongest.'
In Cagliari, Juve's brisk pace and good offensive tactics brought no fruits early in the game and it was Cagliari striker Alessandro Matri on 30 minutes to force a difficult save from Gianluigi Buffon, who later pulled a muscle and was replaced at the break by Alex Manninger.
The black-whites from Turin went one up on 39 minutes when their in-form Brazilian Amauri fired home a ball perfectly adjusted for him by striking mate Vincenzo Iaquinta.
'It's just the beginning,' Juve coach Claudio Ranieri said about his being top next to Inter. 'If we had converted more chances there would have been more goals. Cagliari could have levelled, while we made several mistakes in their area.'
Fiorentina edged Bologna 1-0 through a first-half header from Alberto Gilardino, now on five goals from six games, including European matches.
Palermo beat Genoa 2-1, Udinese drew 0-0 away to Napoli, who had midfielder Fabiano Santacroce dismissed with 17 minutes left, Sampdoria and Chievo played out a 1-1 draw and Lecce and Siena also drew 1-1.
On Saturday, Roma beat Reggina 3-0 for their first season win, and Catania defeated Atalanta 1-0.
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