Inter climbed up to the second position in Serie A after they beat Sampdoria 2-0 on Sunday, while Udinese thrashed Palermo 7-0.

Inter now lie two points adrift of leaders AC Milan, who will host Napoli at home on Monday.

The European champions, beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich in their first leg of Champions League round of 16 last Wednesday, chalked up three precious points at Sampdoria thanks to goals from Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o.

Antonio Di Natale headed Udinese into a tenth-minute lead against Palermo and Alexis Sanchez added two more inside the opening half-hour.

Palermo were rocked again when Armin Bacinovic was dismissed five minutes before the interval and Di Natale promptly scored his second moments later, with Sanchez completing his hat-trick before the half was out.

Both players then registered again after the restart. Matteo Darmian was sent off for falling Pablo Armero.

The win moved Udinese up to fifth, a point behind Lazio, who lost 1-0 at Cagliari through an Andre Dias own goal on 40 minutes. Roma are five points behind their city rivals in sixth, having been held 2-2 at home against ten-man Parma.

At the bottom, Bari continue to prop up the standings despite drawing 1-1 against Fiorentina. The Biancorossi are eight points adrift of Brescia, who drew 2-2 with Lecce.

Elsewhere, Catania ended with ten men but triumphed 2-1 against Genoa, who had two players dismissed. Cesena beat Chievo 1-0 and are still three points away from relegation safety.