Milan thump Sampdoria; Inter slip up at Parma

Milan: AC Milan remained on target for its first Serie A title since 2004 with a straightforward 3-0 home win over Sampdoria on Saturday.

Clarence Seedorf gave Milan the lead in the first half and Antonio Cassano and Robinho scored after halftime.

"We all have to continue fighting as a team," Milan coach Massimo Allegri said. "We can't drift off and we have to stay focused because things can change in five games. We had to win tonight and we did so."

Defending champion Inter Milan slipped further behind after losing 2-0 to Parma. Sebastien Giovinco scored the first in the 35th and Amauri sealed the result five minutes from time.

Milan led Napoli by six points, and Inter was another two points adrift with five matches remaining.

"We have five games to go and 15 points to play for," Inter coach Leonardo said. "Eight points is a lot to get back, but it is still our objective and we have to worry about how we are playing."

Milan overcame the early loss of goalkeeper Christian Abbiati when Seedorf opened the scoring with a free kick past Sampdoria custodian Gianluca Curci in the 20th minute.

Early in the second half Cassano doubled the lead with a penalty against his former club after Massimo Volta was penalized for handball.

Cassano then turned creator when Robinho headed home his cross for the third.

Inter twice went close to scoring early on through Dejan Stankovic. First, he hit the bar with a long-range free kick, then he drew an acrobatic save from Parma keeper Antonio Mirante.

From then on though, Inter lacked inspiration and appeared fatigued by its recent efforts in the Champions League.

"We began this game in a rush," Leonardo said. "Parma scored with its first attack and we began to tire as we tried to come back and struggled to develop our attacks."

Giovinco put Parma ahead when he swept home Francesco Modesto's pull back. With five minutes to go Amauri was left unmarked in the box to add the second.

Palermo striker Abel Hernandez scored twice in the last six minutes to give his side a 3-2 win at Roma.

Roma took the lead through a penalty kick from Francesco Totti, and Mauricio Pinilla equalized from the spot before the interval.

Jeremy Menez and Mirko Vucinic wasted chances that would have wrapped the game up for Roma.

After Hernandez's brace, Vucinic hit his ninth goal of the season before Palermo came close to adding a fourth goal through a fierce shot from Javier Pastore.

The result came a day after Roma was bought for $100 million by American investors led by Boston executive Thomas DiBenedetto.

"We now have to wait for tomorrow's results to see if we can make fourth place," Roma coach Vincenzo Montella said.

"The current situation with the club's future in the balance isn't the easiest to work in, but I don't think the question of the future of the club affected how we played."