Yann Karamoh's first goal for Inter Milan settled their fraught 2-1 victory over nine-man Bologna at San Siro.
The 19-year-old forward, an Ivory Coast-born France under-21 international, was making his first Serie A start for the Nerazzurri and some of the pressure was lifted from his shoulders when his more experienced teammate Eder plundered an opener inside two minutes.
Former Inter striker Rodrigo Palacio drew Bologna level in the 25th minute, largely thanks to a mistake by Joao Miranda, but Karamoh restored the hosts' lead after the hour mark, rattling home a stunning drive following a clever one-two with Rafinha.
Bologna's game plan fell apart as defenders Ibrahima Mbaye and Adam Masina were dismissed, but Inter could not find a third goal to further punish the mid-table outfit.
In-form Sampdoria moved closer to breaking into the top five by overcoming lowly Hellas Verona 2-0 at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
After a first half of toil, Edgar Barreto stuck away Gianluca Caprari's cross to open the scoring and, five minutes from time, Fabio Quagliarella made the points safe from the penalty spot.
A last-gasp goal from Diego Laxalt fired Genoa to a 1-0 victory at Chievo that boosted the Rossoblu 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
One minute into second-half stoppage time, Laxalt's first-time swipe at a Gianluca Lapadula pass ensured back-to-back wins for Davide Ballardini's side.
Andrea Belotti got back to goal-scoring ways with the second strike in Torino's 2-0 home win against Udinese.
Nicolas N'Koulou converted Iago Falque's 32nd-minute assist and in the 66th minute Belotti found the back of the net for the first time in four matches when notching at the end of a rapid counter-attack.
In the early match, Sassuolo failed to pick up a first win in six Serie A games after being held 0-0 at home by Cagliari.
Domenico Berardi wasted Sassuolo's best opportunity at the start of the second half when he should have presented Khouma Babacar with an open goal.
Cagliari nearly snatched victory in the final seconds when Nicolo Barella's audacious attempt from the halfway line almost caught out Sassuolo goalkeeper Andrea Consigli.
Cengiz Under scored twice as Roma recovered to defeat basement boys Benevento 5-2 in an exciting clash at the Stadio Olimpico.
The rock-bottom Witches took a surprise early lead through Guilherme and Roman nerves were jangling until Federico Fazio headed Aleksandar Kolarov's cross home for the equaliser.
Edin Dzeko soon nodded in an Under assist and the Turkish winger promptly turned scorer with a brace -- and his second, a curling strike in the 75th minute really impressed the capital-city crowd.
Benevento, who handed recent signing Bacary Sagna his Serie A debut from the bench, created late excitement with a goal from Enrico Brignola but Gregoire Defrel scored from the penalty spot to restore Roma's three-goal lead.