Marco Borriello bagged his first goal for Juventus as they maintained their three-point lead at the top of Serie A on Wednesday with a 1-0 win over already-relegated Cesena.
Borriello's goal on 80 minutes saved Andrea Pirlo's blushes, after he missed his second penalty in a week with eight minutes gone.
Second-placed AC Milan also won 1-0 against lowly Genoa thanks to an 86th-minute goal from Kevin-Prince Boateng.
Under-pressure Genoa will feel hard done by however, as they comfortably kept Milan at bay for much of the game, even creating chances for themselves.
But the sending off of Bosko Jankovic for two bookable offences with 18 minutes to go left Genoa pegged back in their own area, and it was no surprise that Boateng smashed home the winner.
The defeat leaves them fourth from bottom on 36 points, just a point off the relegation places.
Juventus have 74 points from 34 games and AC Milan 71 with Lazio, who lost 2-1 at relegation-threatened Novara, back in third on 55.
Inter Milan and Napoli piled the pressure on Lazio in the race for a Champions League spot by winning at Udinese and Lecce respectively.
Napoli are fourth, one point behind Lazio while Udinese and Inter are on 52.
Lazio were beaten by a 35th-minute Mobido Diakite own goal and a stunning 79th-minute free kick from Giuseppe Mascara but Edy Reja was frustrated with the decision to disallow a Libor Kozak for offside.
"I saw the referee and the linesman go back towards middle of the pitch," said the Lazio manager.
"I would like to know who decided to rule out Kozak's goal, if only to know what happened, given that I don't understand.
"Everything's going wrong for us," he added.
The victory kept alive Novara's slim hopes of staying in Serie A. They are second bottom on 28 points, eight from safety.
A resurgent Inter, who have been much improved under Andrea Stramaccioni, beat Udinese 3-1 after two goals from Wesley Sneijder and a smart finish from Ricardo Alvarez cancelled out Danilo's sixth-minute opener.
Goals early in each half from Marek Hamsik and Edinson Cavani earned Napoli a 2-0 win at Lecce.
Roma, in seventh, missed the chance to close the gap on local rivals Lazio by losing 2-1 at home to Fiorentina, who moved six points clear of the drop zone.
Photograph: Giuseppe Bellini / Getty Images
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