Roma beat Udinese to stay top in Serie A

Rome: AS Roma beat Udinese 1-0 to maintain their perfect start to the Italian Serie A season, while AC Milan lost 2-3 at Parma.

Substitute Michael Bradley scored the winner in the 82nd minute, 16 minutes after his teammate Maicon was shown a red card, to ensure leaders Roma to stay on top by sealing their ninth consecutive Serie A win Sunday, Xinhua reports. The Giallorossi matched the record set by Fabio Capello`s Juventus in 2005-2006, and what`s more impressive is that they won the match without the injured Francesco Totti and Gervinho. "It`s true that winning in this very difficult arena is impressive, as Udinese were unbeaten here in over a year," Roma head coach Rudi Garcia said. "This victory is very important for us and will be for our future too," Garcia said. Thanks to two first-half penalties from Gonzalo Higuain, Napoli beat Torino 2-0 and stayed in the second place. Juventus beat Genoa 2-0 to keep level on points with Napoli. Goals from Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez secured the win in a match that marked a return to form for Juve, who lost at Fiorentina before suffering a Champions League defeat against Real Madrid in midweek. Marco Parolo scored a brace and set up another for Antonio Cassano to give Parma a 3-2 win that fired them into the top half of the table as AC Milan`s second-half comeback at the Stadio Ennio Tardini proved in vain. Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri admitted his side did not perform up to par against Parma and was particularly unhappy with Mario Balotelli. "In the first half we created little and conceded twice on the counter-attack," Massimiliano Allegri said. "We were naive and conceded two goals just before the end of each half. We should`ve closed down and not allowed any more space, but instead we got it wrong. "Balotelli had a few good moments, but overall it was not a good game. I needed a centre-forward who could really play that role and Balotelli wasn`t doing it, although he has the characteristics," he added.