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Roma and Juventus both lose after dismissals |
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Monday, 06 October 2008 |
 MILAN (Reuters) - Nine-man AS Roma suffered their third defeat of the still-young Serie A season on Sunday when they went down 1-0 at Siena while Juventus also remain off the pace following a 2-1 home defeat by Palermo.
Roma, runners-up last season, went behind to Mario Frick’s goal in first-half stoppage time and lost defenders Philippe Mexes and Christian Panucci to red cards in the second period.
Roma were humiliated 3-0 at Siena last season and this time were thwarted by their former goalkeeper Gianluca Curci.
Levan Mchedlidze grabbed the 81st-minute winner for Palermo at Juve, who had Mohamed Sissoko dismissed in the first half and have not won for four games in all competitions having drawn their previous three matches.
Former Juve striker Fabrizio Miccoli put the Sicilians ahead on 24 minutes and although Alessandro Del Piero netted with a soft free kick, Juve were back on the defensive when Sissoko was dismissed for a second yellow following a studs-up tackle.
The defence then fell apart for Georgian forward Mchedlidze to slot home and send Palermo up to 12 points and keep injury-hit Juve on nine.
LARGELY ANONYMOUS
“Certainly a home defeat hurts. After three draws we wanted to win but the lads did everything possible,” Juve coach Claudio Ranieri told Sky TV.
“It is a difficult period, it is pointless denying it. I don’t want to make excuses but to play with 10 is tricky.”
AC Milan’s run of three league wins in a row came to an end in the late game at bottom side Cagliari, who hung on for a 0-0 draw and their first point of the season.
Massimo Ambrosini twice went close for the visitors but Ronaldinho, who scored in last weekend’s 1-0 win over Inter Milan, was largely anonymous and was substituted.
Udinese are joint leaders with 13 points from six games after Fabio Quagliarella scored twice in a 2-0 win over Torino.
Champions Inter won 2-1 at home to Bologna on Saturday to move level at the top with Lazio, who drew 1-1 at Lecce.
Napoli missed the chance to go first on 14 points after losing 3-2 at Genoa in an enthralling encounter which was only bettered by Atalanta’s thrilling 4-2 victory over Sampdoria with playmaker Cristiano Doni in exceptional form.
Italy striker Alberto Gilardino netted his fourth of the league campaign to help improving Fiorentina win 2-0 at Chievo. (Reporting by Mark Meadows; Editing by Rex Gowar and Padraic Halpin)
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