Inter Milan were held to a 1-1 draw by a determined Roma at the San Siro on Sunday night - but still moved five points clear at the top of Serie A.
Mirko Vucinic put Roma ahead in the 13th minute, but Samuel Eto'o earned Inter a point early in the second half.
Both sides looked tired after their midweek commitments in Europe and they both appeared happy to settle for a draw - which will please both Juventus and AC Milan, who have carved two points off Inter's advantage at the top of the table this weekend.
In-form city rivals AC moved up to third after inflicting a 2-1 home defeat on Lazio which leaves the Rome side hovering just above the relegation zone.
Thiago Silva put the visitors ahead in the 21st minute before Alexandre Pato extended his team's lead before the break.
Lazio reduced the arrears in the 64th minute when Silva deflected Mauro Zarate's strike into his own goal and they had chances to level the score but Milan held on to claim all three points.
A hard-fought 1-0 victory at mid-table Udinese kept Fiorentina in the thick of the battle to become Inter's closest challengers.
The Viola had to wait until six minutes from time for the winner - a Juan Vargas free-kick - against their determined hosts, but the result saw them climb to fourth in the table - overhauling Sampdoria, who lost 2-0 at Cagliari.
Cagliari scored twice in the last five minutes to deny 10-man Samp the chance to go level on points with second-placed Juve.
Marius Stankevicius' dismissal three minutes before the break turned the game in the hosts' favour, although they had to wait until the 85th minute to capitalise on their man advantage as Daniele Conti broke the deadlock.
And Alessandro Matri made the points safe a minute from time to seal the home side's sixth win of the campaign.
Cagliari rise only to eighth place in a congested league table as Genoa, Parma and Bari also made headway - condemning Napoli, who drew 0-0 at Catania on Saturday, to a four-place drop in the standings.
Genoa won another dramatic encounter at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, beating Siena 4-2 to move up to sixth.
It looked all too easy for the home side when two goals from Hernan Crespo and a Raffaele Palladino strike gave them a three-goal lead after 35 minutes.
But, just like in the Europa League against Lille on Thursday, they risked throwing the win away as Michele Paolucci (80) and Massimo Maccarone (82) brought Siena right back into the game.
However, Sergio Floccari provided a last-minute fourth to end Siena's hopes of an equaliser.
Domenico di Carlo failed to get the better of his former manager as Francesco Guidolin's Parma saw off the challenge of fellow European hopefuls Chievo 2-0.
Cristian Zaccardo put the hosts ahead four minutes before half-time, and they secured the points in the 72nd minute through Davide Lanzafame to make it five wins from their last six home games.
Riccardo Allegretti scored the only goal of the game as Bari claimed all three points against struggling Livorno.
Allegretti's early free-kick was the highlight of a largely uneventful game, although Sergio Almiron came close to adding a second when he hit the bar after 29 minutes.
Marcelo Zalayeta scored his first two goals of the season in Bologna's 3-1 win over Palermo.
Zalayeta helped give Bologna just a second win in seven Serie A games and lift them to 15th, ahead of Lazio and three points clear of the relegation zone.
The Uruguayan struck either side of half-time before Marco Di Vaio rounded off victory in injury time.
Simon Kjaer had equalised after Zalayeta's first goal, but Palermo could not break down a resilient home defence after the interval as their winless run extended to three games.
On Saturday, Juventus had moved back to within four points of leaders Inter with an impressive 5-2 win at Atalanta.
Mauro Camoranesi scored twice in the space of as many first-half minutes to give Juventus, who also had three goals disallowed, a comfortable lead at the break.
Jaime Valdes reduced the arrears early in the second half, but Felipe Melo soon restored Juve's advantage.
Fabio Ceravolo brought Atalanta back into it again, but late goals from Diego and David Trezeguet completed the win for Ciro Ferrara's side.
Napoli remain in sixth place after their goalless draw at Catania.
Takayuki Morimoto had a number of opportunities for Catania while Cristian Llama tested the Napoli goal but the hosts remain second from bottom.
