MILAN, Italy -- Roma maintained its perfect start to the Serie A season with a 2-0 win at Sampdoria on Wednesday and took sole lead of the table after Napoli was surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sassuolo. Ace Sanders . Two-time defending champion Juventus abject start to the season continued as it had to come from behind for a controversial 2-1 win at Chievo Verona, while AC Milan again scored twice in the dying minutes to draw 3-3 at Bologna. Mehdi Benatia scored a stunning first goal in Italian football for Roma and Gervinho sealed the result. The capital club has won its opening five matches and moved two points clear of Napoli and Juventus. "Im happy with our five consecutive wins, but Im more interested in entering the history books at the end of the season, not now," Roma coach Rudi Garcia said. "Its too early to evaluate everything, but Im happy for the squad. I have a fantastic group and thats important for the future." Elsewhere, Lazio bounced back from its derby defeat to Roma to beat 10-man Catania 3-1. In other results it was: Parma 4, Atalanta 3; Torino 2, Hellas Verona 2; and Livorno 1, Cagliari 1. Napoli had won its opening four matches, while Sassuolo was the only team without a point in Serie A and was still reeling from a 7-0 defeat at home to Inter Milan on the weekend. Napoli took the lead in the 15th minute when a cross was cleared straight at Blerim Dzemaili, who lashed it into the bottom left corner from 25 yards. Sassuolo had scored just one goal in its opening four matches and Simone Zaza was again the scorer five minutes later, firing into the roof of the net from a tight angle following a Jasmin Kurtic through ball. And Sassuolo held on for its first ever Serie A point. The result means that Roma is the only team still with a perfect record following its victory against Sampdoria. Roma was struggling to break down a resilient Sampdoria defence and Garcias frustration got the better of him as he was sent to the stands 10 minutes into the second half for his protests. Benatia broke the deadlock 10 minutes later with a wonderful solo effort. The Morocco striker wove his way through the Sampdoria defence, beating four players on his way into the penalty area. He then tripped but fired home as he fell. Gervinho also scored his first Serie A goal after he was sent clear by Francesco Totti, two minutes from time. Sampdoria winger Antonino Barilla was sent off for a second booking in stoppages Milan was unbeaten at Bologna since 2002 but had endured a miserable start to the season with just four points from as many games and was missing the suspended Mario Balotelli as well as a number of injured players. It took the lead in the 12th minute when Andrea Poli fired Robinhos smart pass across goal into the bottom left corner but Diego Laxalt levelled for Bologna in the 33rd following a swift counter. Milan missed a series of incredible chances and Laxalt -- who is on loan from the Rossoneris bitter rival Inter Milan -- headed in Lazaros Christodolopoulos cross seven minutes into the second half to put Bologna in front. Cristaldo also celebrated his first Serie A start with a goal, extending Bolognas lead shortly after the hour with a diving header into the bottom right corner following Alessandro Diamantis cross. Phillipe Mexes had a shot crash off the crossbar and it seemed as if Milan was heading for a third defeat of the season. However, Milan had recently come back with two late goals at Torino to secure a draw and it did so again. Robinho pulled one back in the 89th and played a part in the equalizer two minutes later. The Brazilians header was saved but the rebound ricocheted to Ignazio Abate to snatch a share of the points. "I believe that before Christmas we will be in another position," Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. "The other teams have started well and we have dropped points, but the team is growing and I have faith in my lads. I know that it wont be easy to finish in the top three but we have everything to go for it. "Im not disappointed with how we played. But I am angry because after the 3-3 we gave away the ball and risked conceding a fourth. They are things that should not happen. I am satisfied, but we arent converting even 30 per cent of our chances and that cant happen either." Juventus struggled to carve out opportunities in Verona and Chievo took a shock lead in the 27th minute. Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made a rare mistake, clearing a ball straight to Gennaro Sardo, who crossed in for Cyril Thereau to fire into the bottom left corner with a side-footed volley. Juve levelled less than two minutes after halftime. Chievo goalkeeper pulled off a fantastic save to parry Fabio Quagliarellas header from Paul Pogbas cross. Quagliarella then drove the follow up onto the crossbar but eventually managed to scramble it into the back of the net. There was controversy three minutes later. Another mistake by Buffon saw him only parry Simone Bentivoglios shot. Alberto Paloschi fired in the rebound but was harshly ruled out for offside, sparking furious protests. The assistant referee had appeared to mistake Paloschi for Thereau who had been in an offside position. Juventus took the lead in the 65th when Alessandro Bernardini dived onto Pogbas cross and turned it into his own goal. Winston Guy . A year ago, as newly appointed general manager Masai Ujiri bided his time and sat out of a lacklustre 2013 draft, this scenario seemed highly improbable. The Raptors, like every other team in the association, had at least one eye on this years rookie crop, one of the most highly touted and eagerly anticipated ever to enter the league. Andre Branch Jersey . - The Colorado Rapids say theyve received a first-round 2015 MLS SuperDraft pick, allocation money and a contract buyout from FC Dallas as compensation for coach Oscar Parejas leaving to take the same job with his former club.WASHINGTON -- With Rudy Gay gone via trade, the Toronto Raptors know they need a true team effort to keep winning games. Compiling a season-high 29 assists -- led by Kyle Lowrys 11 -- and getting 17 or more points apiece from four players -- led by DeMar DeRozans 20 -- the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors won for the fifth time in a row Friday night, beating the Washington Wizards 101-88. "They are trusting each other," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "Nobody has an ego, thinking they should get X number of shots. When one guy is down, the next guy picks him up. Everybody is cheering for each other." Patrick Patterson scored Torontos last 11 points of the third quarter, when the Raptors outscored the Wizards 36-16 to blow open a game that was tied with less than a minute left in the first half. Patterson finished with 18 points. The Raptors have won nine of 11 games since Dec. 13, when most of the players acquired from the Kings in the deal that shipped Gay to Sacramento made their debuts with Toronto. That group includes Patterson, along with Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons and Chuck Hayes. "We got workers," Lowry said after outplaying Wizards point guard John Wall, who had 11 points and six assists, zero in the second half. "We are very unselfish." Across the way, Wizards coach Randy Wittman sounded quite the opposite note, saying he was "shocked" and "very disappointed" by how his team played on a night it drew boos from the home fans. "We had creep in, for the first time in a long time, more selfish play than weve had. We cant play that way. Weve proven over the last couple years we cant play that way," Wittman said. "Getting concerned with, Why am I coming out? How many minutes am I getting? How many shots am I getting? Rather than: What is the team doing? ... Were not good enough to do it that way." Asked whether he figures his players will learn from the loss, Wittman mmade reference to the cold snap that hit the East Coast and replied: "I hope its a smack in the face. Josh Evans Authentic Jersey. I hope its 20 degrees below zero and they get smacked in the face outside with that, too. Maybe thatll wake them up, too." Wall scored a season-high 37 in a loss at Toronto on Nov. 22, but on Friday had his streak of scoring at least 20 points end after eight games. He disagreed with Wittmans assessment. "I dont see that at all. I think were playing the right way. Were playing as a team. You cant say that," Wall said. "We tried to move the ball, we tried to do the right thing, but shots werent falling," Wall added, then credited Torontos defensive play, adding: "We didnt have enough space tonight. You couldnt penetrate if you wanted to. You couldnt get open shots." Washington came in on a five-game winning streak against Eastern Conference opponents but had all sorts of problems on offence against Toronto and wound up making only 41.5 per cent of its field-goal attempts -- a hard-to-believe 18.8 per cent in the third quarter. "At times, it looked like we didnt want to play," forward Trevor Booker said. "Its pretty embarrassing, especially when they started booing us." Next for the Raptors come games against the elite of the East: at Miami on Sunday, and at Indiana on Tuesday. "You can tell that we just go out there and have fun and play with one another," DeRozan said. "We dont care who scores the ball." Notes: Wizards F Trevor Ariza was ejected with 6:08 left in the third quarter after complaining about a charging call. ... Toronto F Tyler Hansbrough sat out the game with a sprained left ankle. The team said he aggravated it during the teams win against Indiana on Wednesday. ... The Raptors sent rookie G Dwight Buycks to the NBA D-League. He appeared in only 12 of Torontos first 30 games this season, averaging 3.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 10.1 minutes. ' ' '
