Parma defeat Fiorentina while Genoa held to draw by Atalanta in Serie A
Parma picked up only their third win of the season on Tuesday, denying wasteful Fiorentina a place in Serie A's top six with a 1-0 victory at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.
Andrea Costa scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute to earn Roberto Donadoni's men a much-needed victory which nevertheless does not lift them off the foot of the table.
Fiorentina's defeat was compounded by red cards for Gonzalo Rodriguez and Stefan Savic, who will both miss the clash with Palermo at the weekend, and a penalty miss by Mario Gomez, who remains on just one goal for the season.
Genoa 2, Atalanta 2
Genoa recovered from going two goals behind to pick up a point from a 2-2 draw with Atalanta at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Davide Zappacosta's first goal in Serie A and a Maximiliano Moralez effort put Stefano Colantuono's men in command in Liguria.
Iago Falque pulled a goal back from the penalty spot soon after before Alessandro Matri netted his first goal at the Marassi to earn the high-flying hosts a point.
Chievo 0, Torino 0
Chievo and Torino shared the spoils in an uneventful 0-0 draw in Verona on Tuesday afternoon.
The hosts were the better side but could not make the most of their chances and had to settle for a point.
The result at the Marc' Antonio Bentegodi stadium lifted Chievo up to 16th place, five points clear of the drop zone.
Meanwhile, Torino, who halted a six-match winless run in Serie A with a 2-1 win over Genoa in their last game of 2014, are two places above Chievo.
Palermo 5, Cagliari 0
Gianfranco Zola endured a difficult start to life as the new coach of Cagliari in the shape of a 5-0 defeat at Palermo on Tuesday.
Cagliari, who lost captain Daniele Conti to a second yellow card in the 26th minute, trailed 3-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Michel Morganella, Ezequiel Munoz and Paulo Dybala.
Dybala struck his second of the afternoon in the 72nd minute before Edgar Barreto capped a wonderful start to 2015 for the Sicilian club by scoring his team's fifth.
Cagliari lost for the ninth time this season to remain in the relegation zone.
Palermo, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten run to nine games to climb to eighth in the standings.
