Roma maintain perfect record; Napoli held

AS Roma beat Sampdoria 2-0 to take sole lead of the Italian Serie A with a perfect record after Napoli were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at home by Sassuolo.

Medhi Benatia opened the scoring in the 65th minute for the visitors from Rome before Gervinho wrapped up the win two minutes from time Wednesday, reports Xinhua.

Hosts, Sampdoria, ended the game with ten men when Antonino Barilla earned two late yellow cards to compound the Blucerchiati's woes.

Roma assured themselves of their best-ever start to a season with their fifth successive win.

"Are we in the history books? It's important to make history at the end of the season, not so much now," he said.

Napoli suffered a shock draw at home as they were held 1-1 by visitors Sassuolo who lost to Inter 0-7 in last round.

Blerim Dzemaili gave Rafael Benitez's side the lead after 14 minutes, but Simone Zaza equalised six minutes later, meaning Napoli's 100 percent record was ended by a newly promoted team that had failed to pick up a single point before their trip to the Stadio San Paolo.

AC Milan plundered two goals at the death in Bologna to rescue a 3-3 draw and denied the hosts their first win of the season.

The 'Rossoneri' were forced to use a second-string strike pairing in the absence of suspended striker Mario Balotelli and his replacement Alessandro Matri was particularly wasteful in front of Bologna goalkeeper Gianluca Curci.

Andrea Poli's early opener came against the run of play but Diego Laxalt soon hit his first goals in Italian football to give Bologna the half-time lead.

Jonathan Cristaldo then headed home a third to steer the Rossoblu towards victory but a late double salvo from Robinho and Ignazio Abate spoiled the party at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.

Champions Juventus took advantage of the fact Inter and Fiorentina meet each other Thursday to move up to third in the table with a 2-1 win at Chievo.

Lazio edged up to sixth thanks to a 3-1 home win over 10-man Catania.

Elsewhere, Parma were involved in a high-scoring affair as they ran out 4-3 winners at home to Atalanta. Torino moved up to eighth after a 2-2 home draw with Hellas Verona.

Meanwhile, Cagliari's winless streak extended to four games with a 1-1 draw against seventh placed Livorno.