Rome—AC Milan missed the chance to open up a four point lead at the top of Serie A, as they were held to a controversial 1-1 draw against unbeaten Juventus at the San Siro stadium on Saturday night.

 The Rossoneri took the lead when Antonio Nocerino hit a stunning drive from the edge of the area after Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci’s sloppy pass was cut out by Brazilian Robinho, allowing the Italian midfielder the space to make it 1-0 with 15 minutes on the clock.

Ten minutes later Milan’s Ghanaian striker Sulley Muntari headed past Gianluigi Buffon for what should have been 2-0, but the referee’s assistant waved play on and the goal was not allowed to stand.

Replays clearly showed that the ball was a yard over the line before Buffon clutched it out and that it was a terrible oversight by the assistant ahead of a promised goal line technology decision by FIFA in July.

If Muntari’s header had been awarded, Milan would have been 2-0 up at half-time and the end result may well have been different, not to mention the final destination of the Scudetto, while the more cynical fans will point the finger at Juventus’ previous match-fixing pedigree of 2006.

Although Juventus too were on the end of another bad decision when substitute striker Alessandro Matri had a strike chalked off for an offside, when replays showed he was clearly in line with the last man eleven minutes from time.

Juve did get their equaliser and rather fittingly it was Matri who scored it with seven minutes of the match remaining.

Milan’s Brazilian defender Thaigo Silva failed to clear allowing Simone Pepe to whip in a cross that was half-volleyed in.

Juventus went down to ten men a minute from time when Arturo Vidal Pardo was given a straight red card for a vicious two-footed lunge on Mark van Bommel from behind, before the referee blew up to end a whirlwind night at the San Siro which will certainly add more fuel to the goal line technology debate.

Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri rather ironically summed up his feelings to Sky Sport Italia on the Muntari ‘goal’ matter: "That incident that certainly falsified the result. Either the line was drawn wrong and was a bit too big."

But Juventus goal-scorer Matri told the same programme:"My disallowed goal? It ties us with AC Milan, as I have said [Muntari's header] to be a regular goal."

There were reports of angry scenes in the tunnel at half-time of which Antonio Conte apologised for after the game: "These things happen, and I'm sorry that this match had too much tension."

AC Milan stayed a point ahead of Juventus at the top of the table having played a game more.

On Sunday night Napoli defeated Inter Milan 1-0 in Naples to leapfrog Roma into fifth place in the table.

The goal came on the hour, with fine work from Swiss forward Blerim Dzemaili, who beat Inter defender Lucio before passing to Ezequiel Lavezzi to strike a curling shot past Julio Cesar and into the corner to extend Napoli’s unbeaten run to four games.

Inter have now failed to win in their last eight matches and remain in seventh and are in serious danger of failing to qualify for Europe next season and could be looking for a new manager soon if their free-falling continues.

Third placed Udinese were in impressive form as they ran out 1-3 winners in Bologna.

Antonio Di Natale scored the first, his 18th goal of the season, from the penalty spot after Bologna midfielder Diego Perez brought him down in the area seven minutes before half-time.

Serbian Dusa Basta doubled the away team’s lead 11 minutes after the restart, with a shot from inside the area that beat Jean Francois Gillet in the Bologna goal.

Bologna pulled a goal back through Greek midfielder Panagiotis Kone nine minutes from time before substitute Antonio Floro Flores extinguished any hope of a home team fight back with a goal three minutes later.

Meanwhile, Lazio beat Fiorentina 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico to keep up the pressure on Udinese for a Champions League spot and continue to trail them on goal difference.

German striker Miroslav Klose was on the score sheet after 36 minutes for the only goal of the game when he was fed by Hernanes and managed to beat Fiorentina’s Polish keeper Artur Boruc from a difficult angle.

Roma had two men sent off as they were thumped 4-1 away at Atalanta thanks to a hat-trick from Argentine German Denis and a goal from Guido Marilungo.

The Giallorossi’s Argentine striker Pablo Osvaldo was first for an early bath after a foul off the ball, before defender Marco Cassetti was given his marching orders eight minutes from time after an altercation with the assistant referee.

Fabio Borini got Roma’s goal in a match that will stunt their recent revival in the league and will need to be quickly forgotten before next Saturday’s Rome derby with Lazio.

At the bottom end Siena gave their survival hopes a huge boost when they came from a goal down to thrash Palermo 4-1 in Siena, while Lecce’s 1-2 win away against Cagliari keeps them just two points away from safety.

The bottom two sides both lost with Cesena being defeated 1-0 at Chievo and Novara going down 3-1 in Sicily against Catania.

In Saturday’s early kick-off a last minute Rodrigo Palacio goal salvaged a point for Genoa in a 2-2 draw, which saw Parma’s Alessandro Lucarelli sent-off for his continued protests that the goal should not have stood due to an offside.

 Full Serie A Results:

Saturday

Genoa 2-2 Parma

AC Milan 1-1 Juventus

Sunday

Atalanta 4-1 Roma

Chievo 1-0 Cesena

Siena 4-1 Palermo

Caglieri 1-2 Lecce

Catania 3-1 Novara

Bologna 1-3 Udinese

Lazio 1-0 Fiorentina

Napoli 1-0 Inter Milan