The ninth round of games had its share of the obvious, the not so obvious, as well as a couple of cantankerous results that have become commonplace in the Serie A.

Sampdoria cruised to a 4-1 victory against Bologna owing to four goals within a span of 25 minutes to kill the game well before the first half drew to a close. Giampaolo Pazzini opened the scoring, while a sensational volley by Daniele Mannini served to double the lead. Reto Ziegler added a third, and Marco Di Vaio was given marching orders for insulting the referee. Mannini scored his second of the game when some mesmerising play by Antonio Cassano allowed him to head home the game killer. The Blucerchiati took it easy in the second period, and were given a wake up call when Pablo Daniel Osvado got onto the score sheet, but they had no problem keeping the score line unchanged thereafter.

Meanwhile, Genoa succumbed to their third loss in their last five games, as they lost 3-2 to Cagliari at the Stadio Sant’Elia. A goal from Davide Biondini was sandwiched between one each from Giandomenico Mesto and Sergio Floccari, but the home side came back in the second half to snatch a sensational victory from the hands of defeat. The Isolani were awarded a spot kick, as Giuseppe Biava handled the ball in the area. Nene put the ball where it belonged, and Andrea Lazzari sent one in three minutes before time to scrape a victory for his side.

Here are the results:

Atalanta 3-1 Parma
Bari 2-0 Lazio
Cagliari 3-2 Genoa
Chievo 1-2 Milan
Fiorentina 0-1 Napoli
Inter 2-1 Catania
Palermo 1-0 Udinese
Roma 0-1 Livorno
Sampdoria 4-1 Bologna
Siena 0-1 Juventus

Football Italiano