A goal from the Juventus striker Fernando Llorente broke the tension in a thrilling encounter with Udinese in Turin and put his club three points clear of Roma at the top of the Serie A table.

The Sunday night meeting, which ended 1-0, might have produced several more goals if not for the remarkable displays of goalkeeping from Gianluigi Buffon and his visiting counterpart Zeljko Brkic.

The veteran Juventus goalkeeper was particularly impressive in steering the reigning champions through a sixth league game without conceding a goal. Brkic stood firm in the final half-hour as Antonio Conte's team steadily increased the pressure but Llorente broke through with a header in the first minute of added time at the Juventus Stadium.

The three points gave Juventus a comfortable cushion on Roma, whose earlier draw in Atalanta briefly put them top of the table on goal difference. It was a sixth straight league win for the resurgent Bianconeri while an eighth defeat of the season sees Udinese slide into 13th place.

Kevin Strootman had scored on the stroke of full-time to save Roma from their first defeat of the season but his goal was only good enough to salvage a 1-1 draw at Atalanta. A second-half free-kick from Davide Brivio saw the home side threaten to end Roma's unbeaten run until the Dutch midfielder came to the rescue and earn a point from a fourth consecutive draw. With daunting games against Fiorentina, Milan and Catania beckoning before the two title rivals meet in Rome in the new year, Rudi Garcia's title hopefuls could pay dearly for their slump in form.

Mario Balotelli helped Milan to a long-awaited league victory as they came from behind to beat Catania 3-1 at the Stadio Angelo Massimino.

He put Milan ahead with a smart finish midway through the second half after Riccardo Montolivo had cancelled out Lucas Castro's deflected opener. A minute after his goal Balotelli was brought down to earn Panagiotis Tachtsidis a straight red card, and Kaká wrapped up the win with a fine strike on the counter-attack.

Internazionale were unable to impress their new owner, Erick Thohir, with victory at San Siro as Renan scored at the end to salvage a 1-1 draw for struggling Sampdoria. The Indonesian billionaire purchased a 70% stake in the club in October and watched Fredy Guarín put his new club ahead in the first half.

Inter were pegged back by the Sampdoria substitute Renan, who spared his club from suffering a fourth defeat in five games with his well-taken equaliser just before full-time.

Sassuolo were denied the chance to claim back-to-back Serie A victories for the first time in their history as Cagliari rallied from two goals down to force a draw at the Stadio Sant'Elia.

The Serie B champions looked set to win again after last weekend's defeat of Atalanta when Lino Marzorati and Simone Zaza scored during the first half in Sardinia. Second-half goals from Nenê and Marco Sau, however, rescued a 2-2 draw for 14th-placed Cagliari.

Chievo escaped the relegation zone by comfortably beating Livorno 3-0 in Verona. Goals from Luca Rigoni, Cyril Thereau and Alberto Paloschi decided a second straight win for Eugenio Corini's side, who are now 16th, while Livorno dropped into the bottom three.