Roma drop 1st points in 1-1 draw at Torino

Milan: Roma failed to equal the European record of 11 straight league victories to start the season as a goal from former player Alessio Cerci saw it held to a 1-1 draw at Torino in Serie A on Sunday for their first dropped points of the campaign.

Rudi Garcia's side had already set a Serie A record by winning their opening 10 matches but were looking to equal the best start in any of the top five European leagues, set by English club Tottenham in 1960-61.

"What's important is that the squad played with heart and quality especially in the first half," Garcia said. "I liked it that we tried to win right up until the end.

"This is football, we can't win them all, but a draw away from home is not a negative result."

Roma moved three points above Juventus and Napoli, who play each other next week. Inter Milan and newly-promoted Hellas Verona are nine points behind after earlier wins against Udinese and Cagliari respectively.

Elsewhere, teenage forward Domenico Berardi scored a hat-trick to help Sassuolo beat 10-man Sampdoria 4-3, while Lazio fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat at home to Genoa.

Roma took the lead in the 28th minute. Federico Balzaretti found Miralem Pjanic on the left side of the area and he cut it back for Kevin Strootman to volley home.

Torino leveled shortly after the hour mark when Riccardo Meggiorini robbed the ball off Mehdi Benatia and crossed for Cerci to sidefoot in from close range.

It was only the second goal Roma had conceded all season and their first in 743 minutes of football.

Meggiorini had gone close to the equalizer minutes earlier with a stunning strike which Roma goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis had to dive at full stretch to save.

Earlier, Inter recorded a dominant 3-0 victory at Udinese. Palacio broke the deadlock in the 25th minute when he headed in Saphir Taider's free kick.

And it got worse for Udinese four minutes later when Zeljko Brkic completely mistimed his exit and flapped haplessly at Esteban Cambiasso's corner, allowing Andrea Ranocchia to volley in at the far post.

Fredy Guarin hit the post in the second half before Ricardo Alvarez added a third in stoppage time, slotting Palacio's cross into an empty net.

"I saw the best Inter performance of the season, even considering the level of the opponent," Inter coach Walter Mazzarri said. "We really wanted to come here and impose our game. I always try to instill that into my players, that we must not let ourselves be conditioned by whether we're playing at home or not."

Verona also dominated on its way to a sixth successive home victory, winning 2-1 against Cagliari, which has now lost three successive matches.

"This Verona side has to think only about working well as it is doing," Verona coach Andrea Mandorlini said. "It's right that the fans are dreaming, but we have to think about staying in this league."

Luca Toni headed home a corner in the eighth minute to give Verona an early lead and the home side all but sealed the match 12 minutes into the second half when Bosko Jankovic played a one-two with Romulo before curling into the far corner.

Daniele Conti volleyed in a consolation goal for Cagliari in stoppage time. In Rome, Lazio seemed in complete control in the first half and Genoa had goalkeeper Mattia Perin to thank for keeping them in the match with several crucial saves, including a spectacular stop to deny Miroslav Klose.

Juraj Kucka broke the deadlock on the hour mark with an angled drive and Genoa doubled its lead 10 minutes later when Alberto Gilardino converted a penalty following a Michael Ciani handball.

Newly-promoted Sassuolo's match at Sampdoria had already been deemed a relegation dogfight and the home side appeared to be in control after Nicola Pozzi had given it a first half lead.

However, the match turned at the start of the first half. Berardi fired in the equalizer before putting Sassulo in front from the penalty spot two minutes later after Andrea Costa had tripped the youngster. Costa was shown a second yellow card and dismissed.

Antonio Floro Flores appeared to have secured the match but Samp leveled with goals from Eder and Lorenzo De Silvestri. But it wasn't over yet and Berardi secured Sassuolo's second win of the season in the final minute, with another penalty after Shkodran Mustafi fouled Diego Farias.

In the lunchtime kickoff, Paulinho scored the only goal of the game in the 11th minute as Livorno beat 10-man Atalanta 1-0 to earn its first win in eight matches. Atalanta was forced to play for nearly an hour a man short after Carlos Carmona was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Ibrahima Mbaye.