Mario Balotelli scored twice on his Milan debut to give his new club three precious points that lifted them level in fourth place on 40 points with neighbours Inter, beaten eerlier by Siena.

Balotelli gave Milan the lead with a volley from eight metres after some good work by El Shaarawy on the left flank. Milan could not close the game in spite of their domination and were punishedwhen Pinzi pounced on a defensive blunder to equalise after the interval.

Milan piled on the pressure and after Niang hit the crossbar, they scored the winner with the last shot of the game. Referee Valeri awarded Milan a controversial penalty following a tackle on El Shaarawy for Balotelli to slot home the winner.

Earlier, Juventus won 2-1 at Chievo Verona on Sunday to move three points clear of Napoli again at the top of Serie A.

Juventus striker Alessandro Matri scored 10 minutes in at the Bentegodi stadium with a spectacular volley and midfielder Stephan Lichtsteiner doubled the lead in the 42nd after receiving a backheel pass from Sebastian Giovinco.

Cyril Thereau pulled one back for Chievo in the 52nd.

On Saturday, Napoli beat Catania 2-0 to provisionally draw level with Juventus, marking the first time in 23 years the southern club had been in first place at this point in the season.

Juventus led Napoli by 10 points just a few weeks ago, but the Turin squad had struggled in recent matches.

"This is definitely a very important victory for the squad, because in January, in part due to bad luck, we lost a few too many points," Lichtsteiner said. "We showed that even if we struggled a bit, we were able to bring home these three points."

Elsewhere, third-placed Lazio lost 3-2 at Genoa, where Marco Rigoni scored the winner in the fifth minute of added time with a header.

Marco Borriello and Andrea Bertollacci had scored for Genoa in the 16th and 22nd and Sergio Floccari and Stefano Mauri — with a penalty — replied for Lazio in the 58th and 82nd.

The result left Lazio nine points behind Juventus.

Meanwhile, fourth-place Inter Milan lost 3-1 at Siena.

Innocent Emeghara, who just signed on loan from French club Lorient, gave Siena the lead in the 21st. Antonio Cassano quickly equalized for Inter in the 22nd but Alessio Sestu restored Siena's lead four minutes later and Alessandro Rosina added a penalty for the hosts in the 56th.

Fiorentina moved provisionally into fifth with a 2-0 win over Parma, with goals from Luca Toni and Stevan Jovetic.

In other matches, Atalanta won 2-1 at last-placed Palermo and Bologna won 3-2 at Pescara.