Lazio beat Bari 2-0 on Sunday to come back to the top of the Serie A table, while Samuel Eto'o silenced racist chants with a goal in Inter Milan's 1-0 victory at Cagliari.

Thanks to goals from Brazilian Hernanes and Sergio Floccari, Lazio set the pace of the league following wins for Inter and AC Milan.

The few fans who had chosen to attend the match at the Stadio San Nicola on a wet and humid evening were hardly entertained in the first half. A header from Andre Dias which missed the post by inches was the only highlight of a very disappointing opening 45 minutes.

It did not look like the second half was going to be much better until Hernanes opened the scoring in the 53rd minute. It was a scrappy goal with Stefano Mauri's harmless-looking ball finding its way through to Hernanes, who placed his shot through the legs of Jean-Francois Gillet.

The game finally came to life and Hernanes almost scored a second three minutes later, but this time he shot into the side-netting. The second goal arrived within ten minutes of the first and was another messy effort.

Mauri struck his shot poorly but still managed to inadvertently find Floccari in the centre. Floccari's shot was even worse as he thumped the ball into the ground, but it looped up over Gillet and into the goal.

The earlier match in Sardinia was briefly held up after just three minutes as Eto'o seemed to suffer racist taunts from the home side's 'ultra' fans.

Following a stadium announcement reminding those fans that the game could be abandoned if they continued, the match resumed with Eto'o proving the hero.

However, Cagliari coach Pierpaolo Bisoli later suggested it was a misunderstanding over the nature of the 'boos'.

Inter are now level on points and goal difference with city rivals AC Milan, who beat Chievo 3-1 on Saturday, but trail them on goals scored.

Inter earned their breakthrough on 39 minutes thanks to Eto'o's brilliance.

Alessandro Agostini failed to clear his lines properly and the ball spun into the air off Wesley Sneijder.

Eto'o plucked the ball out of the air with a piece of sublime control using his right foot, then shifted onto his left, leaving Davide Astori bamboozled, and finished crisply inside the post.

To celebrate, the Cameroon forward mocked those who had abused him by imitating a monkey.

Juventus and Palermo both moved to three points from the summit after knocking in four goals each.

Alberto Aquilani, a Felipe Melo penalty, Fabio Quagliarella and Alessandro Del Piero scored in Juve's 4-0 defeat of Lecce sending them fifth.

Javier Pastore, Mauricio Pinilla and Slovenian pair Josip Ilicic and Armin Bacinovic netted for the Sicilians in their 4-1 success against Bologna to go sixth.

Fourth-placed Napoli missed the chance to join the Milan neighbours at the top as they drew 1-1 at Catania while Fiorentina went bottom following their 2-1 reverse at Sampdoria.