Roma follow up Barca debacle with home defeat to Atalanta

MILAN (Reuters) - Shell-shocked AS Roma followed up their midweek Champions League debacle in Barcelona by losing 2-0 at home to nine-man Atalanta in Serie A on Sunday. Roma's neighbours Lazio, also in crisis, slumped to a controversial 1-0 defeat at Empoli, their fourth loss in five league matches. Lorenzo Tonelli headed the winner after five minutes while Lazio forward Miroslav Klose had two goals disallowed in the second half, the first for a foul on goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski and the second because of a hairline offside decision. Titleholders Juventus continued their climb up their table, beating Palermo 3-0 away for their fourth league win in a row to go fifth. Mario Mandzukic outjumped his marker at the far post in the 54th minute to put them ahead, Stefano Sturaro swept the ball home after a quick exchange of passes in the 89th minute and Simone Zaza drilled in the third. Inter Milan, leaders with 30 points, visit Napoli, two points behind in joint second alongside Fiorentina, on Monday. Roma have 27 points with Juventus a further three behind. CARPI WIN Newcomers Carpi won their second-ever Serie A match with a 2-1 victory at Genoa, who played nearly the entire game with 10 men, while Verona remained winless at the bottom of the table after losing 3-2 at Frosinone. A curling effort by Atalanta's Alejandro Gomez and a German Denis penalty combined to pile the misery on Roma who also had Maicon sent off and left the field to a resounding chorus of jeers from the sparse crowd at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma, who could have pulled level with leaders Inter Milan if they had won, instead stayed fourth with 27 points from 14 games. Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who described Barcelona as "beautiful to watch" after being on the wrong end of Tuesday's 6-1 mauling, was dropped and replaced by Morgan de Sanctis. Atalanta survived some early pressure and went ahead five minutes before halftime when Gomez intercepted a casual pass out of defence and curled the ball into the top corner from outside the penalty area. De Sanctis made a superb stop with his legs to deny Maxi Moralez a goal when he broke through but Roma were buried after Maicon clumsily slid in and upended Gomez. The Brazilian defender was dismissed and Denis calmly converted. Atalanta were never under threat after that even when Guglielmo Stendardo and Alberto Grassi both received second yellow cards and were dismissed. RED CARD Genoa had Leonardo Pavoletti sent off after six minutes for elbowing against Carpi but almost immediately went ahead through Diogo Figueiras. Marco Boriello scored from a narrow angle against his old club to equalise just before the hour and, after sustained Carpi pressure, provided the cross for Cristian Zaccardo to score the winner with 10 minutes left. Verona's fate was effectively settled in the 19th minute when goalkeeper Rafael, having made a comfortable save, appeared to elbow Luca Paganini, gave away a penalty and was sent off. Daniel Ciofani converted past substitute goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini and scored a second before halftime. Federico Dionisi made it 3-0 just after the break, although Verona then burst into life as Federico Viviani and Vangelis Moras replied. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; editing by Clare Fallon and Toby Davis)