Panucci heads champions Roma to first win

Italian champions AS Roma grabbed their first win of the season when an 87th minute diving header from Christian Panucci enabled them to beat Fiorentina 2-1 in Serie A on Sunday.

Fiorentina had taken an early lead through a Daniele Adani header before Francesco Totti pulled Roma level with a 12th minute penalty.

Inter Milan won 1-0 at Torino, and AC Milan cruised to a 2-0 win over Lazio in the late match, allowing both Milan clubs to move level with leaders Juventus on 10 points.

Parma also notched their first victory of the campaign, with an 87th minute goal from Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata giving them a 1-0 win over Brescia, while Serie A newcomers Chievo continued their impressive start with a 4-2 win over Piacenza.

Juventus drew 0-0 at Lecce on Saturday.

Having drawn two and lost one of their opening three games to their title defence, Fabio Capello's Roma were desperate for victory against troubled Fiorentina.

But within eight minutes Roma were trailing when Fiorentina defender Adani rose well at the back post to head home a corner and put the Florence club ahead.

Roma equalised just four minutes later when Vincenzo Montella was judged to have been brought down by Emiliano Moretti -- a debatable decision -- and Totti converted the penalty.

It looked as though Roma were going to be frustrated yet again as out-of-form Argentine Gabriel Batistuta missed a great chance, heading a Damiano Tommasi cross wide from a good position, and then Totti saw a thundering drive bounce off the cross bar.

Floated Cross
But with just three minutes left on the clock, Brazilian Assuncao floated over a cross from the left and defender Panucci, a recent loan signing from Monaco, flung himself at the ball to head past Giuseppe Taglialatela.

Capello said he hoped the win meant the team had now put their poor start behind them.

"It was a good win for us, we played well and in a very determined fashion. The only result we would have been happy with was a win," said Capello.

"The team deserved victory and I hope now that we have got over our early season slump."

Inter made it three wins out of four but had to fight hard for victory in Turin.

The breakthrough came in the 73rd minute when Nicola Ventola was brought down by Torino defender Fabio Galante and Sierra Leone striker Mohammed Kallon drove home the spot kick, his fourth goal in as many games.

Ronaldo was an unused substitute for Inter after making his first competitive appearance in Thursday's UEFA Cup win over Romanian's Brasov.

The double World Player of the Year had been out of action for 17 months following a knee operation.

Filippo Inzaghi scored in the 42nd minute and defender Martin Laursen added a second goal six minutes after the break helping AC Milan cruise to a 2-0 victory over struggling Lazio and new manager Alberto Zaccheroni.

Lazio suffered several injuries to key players including Hernan Crespo, Alessandro Nesta and Dino Baggio, forcing them to play the last 30 minutes in ten men having used all up their substitutions.

Corini Double
Veteran midfielder Eugenio Corini was the inspiration behind Chievo's 4-2 win over Piacenza, scoring the first and fourth goal and creating the third for Simone Perrotta.

As well as Nakata's late winner for Parma, which eases the pressure on coach Renzo Ulivieri, Bologna also left it late for their win over bottom club Venezia, who remain without a point.

Debutant Lamberto Zauli, who signed from Vicenza in midweek, grabbed the decisive goal for Bologna three minutes into injury time.

Udinese also secured their first victory in the league thanks to Chilean international David Pizarro's 76th minute winner, while a superb curling free-kick from Cristiano Doni gave Atalanta their first three points of the campaign, against Verona.