Roma loses, Fiorentina rallies and Lazio close in on their city rival
Roma fell to their first defeat in Serie A since November 1 to see their grasp on a place in the Champions League next season loosen with a 2-0 loss at home to Sampdoria.
Lorenzo De Silvestri and Luis Muriel grabbed the goals for the Blucerchiati, who weathered a first-half storm before striking efficiently in the second half to boost their own hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.
Roma's sorry evening ended on an even worse note with Seydou Keita shown a red card late on as the Giallorossi also helped Juventus get one hand on a fourth straight Serie A title, thanks to their 14-point advantage with 11 games remaining.
Francesco Totti tested Emiliano Viviano at his near post on what was going to be a busy night for the Sampdoria number one.
He also denied Gervinho and Totti again before, on the stroke of half-time, saving the blushes of Vasco Regini when he diverted Gervinho's cross towards his own goal, but saw his goalkeeper stop the ball right on the line.
Gervinho tested Viviano again going into stoppage time, but the Samp custodian replied with another fine stop to keep his team on terms.
Having survived, thanks largely to their goalkeeper, Samp then took the lead with one of their first attacks of the game.
On the hour mark, Samuel Eto'o pulled the ball back to the edge of the six-yard box where De Silvestri had all the time in the world to turn it in.
Vasilis Torosidis sent a shot over in reaction to falling behind, but as Roma committed more and more players forward, Muriel punished them.
The former Udinese forward raced almost 50 yards with the ball at his feet before curling his shot against the right-hand post.
It fell out for Alfred Duncan, who in turn teed up Eder, and although he lost a shooting opportunity, the ball fell back for Muriel who swept it in at the second attempt.
Fiorentina 2, AC Milan 1
Fiorentina's midfielder Joaquin (L) celebrates with teammates after scoring against AC Milan.
Fiorentina came from behind to pile the misery on Filippo Inzaghi and his AC Milan team with a 2-1 win at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Mattia Destro put the visitors in front against the run of play early in the second half, but Fiorentina fought back with goals from Gonzalo Rodriguez and Joaquin inside the final seven minutes earning them all three points.
As a result, Vincenzo Montella's men now trail fourth-placed Napoli by just one point with Lazio in third just four ahead.
Milan, meanwhile, remain in 10th place, 10 points behind the Viola with 11 games left to salvage their season.
With Mario Gomez out injured, Montella picked Alberto Gilardino to lead his attack, making several changes from the side which drew with Roma in the Europa League on Thursday and suggesting that winning the return in the capital ranked higher among the Fiorentina coach's priorities than beating Milan.
The Viola were nevertheless more than a match for the Rossoneri with Josip Ilicic flashing a shot across the face of goal.
Milan had two good chances to take the lead with Keisuke Honda and Jeremy Menez both denied by Neto before Jose Basanta struck the crossbar with the biggest chance of the first half.
Fiorentina increased the pressure early in the second half, forcing Milan onto the back foot and going close through Joaquin.
A goal appeared to be in the air, but when it arrived in the 56th minute, it came at the other end.
Destro diverted Giacomo Bonaventura's shot past Neto to give Milan the lead against the run of play.
Fiorentina did not stop attacking, though, and their efforts were rewarded with seven minutes left on the clock when Rodriguez rose to head in Joaquin's cross.
That was not their only reward, though.
After a break in which the two teams played on for a short period while referee Carmine Russo was substituting himself due to injury, Fiorentina's concern was that not enough time might be added on.
Within seconds of the restart, under the auspices of replacement referee Paolo Valeri, they were instead hoping to hear the final whistle immediately after Joaquin planted a bullet header into the far corner of Diego Lopez's goal, in the final minute of normal time.
Six more were added on, much to the home fans' disappointment, but Milan - who now had Giampaolo Pazzini on as a further forward - could not find an equalizer, leaving more difficult questions for Inzaghi to answer.
Torino 0, Lazio 2
Lazio exerted some pressure on city rivals Roma with a 2-0 win at Torino which has the Biancocelesti breathing down the necks of the Giallorossi.
Felipe Anderson scored two goals in seven minutes to earn Stefano Pioli's men a win which gives them a three-point cushion over Napoli in the hunt for the third Champions League berth on offer to Serie A.
However, thanks to a run of five wins in a row, Lazio may now fancy their chances of overtaking Roma some time between now and when they meet for what could be a decisive derby on the penultimate weekend of the season.
Having seen their 12-game unbeaten run ended by Udinese last weekend, Torino were keen not to lose a third game in a week having also gone down 3-1 at Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League on Thursday.
They made a promising start at the Stadio Olimpico with Amauri, preferred to Fabio Quagliarella in the Granata attack, testing Federico Marchetti with a header.
The Lazio goalkeeper made a save, but only played the ball up for Josef Martinez, whose header missed the right-hand post.
That proved to be the best chance of the first half and, ultimately, Torino's biggest opportunity of the game.
As time wore on, the home team started to show the strain of their trip to Russia and Lazio started to gain the upper hand.
The heavy pitch caused by the relentless rain did not help Torino's tired legs, but it did not cause any problems for Felipe Anderson who took matters into his own hands, skipping past three Torino defenders before placing his shot low into the bottom left-hand corner in the 71st minute.
It was Anderson who added the second seven minutes later, tucking Miroslav Klose's throughball past Daniele Padelli, who could only deflect the ball into the far corner of his own goal.
Amauri did go close with another header, but the stuffing had been knocked out of Torino, who will look to bounce back in their Europa League return against Zenit on Thursday.
