Torino's three-year stint in Serie A came to an end with a narrow defeat at Roma today.

Entering the match third-from-bottom but level on points with Bologna, the Turin outfit needed a win to have a chance of staying up.

But they dropped into Serie B as Bologna prevailed 3-1 in their match against Catania.

Jeremy Menez's first-half goal cancelled out Tommaso Vailatti's ninth-minute opener for the visitors.

Mirko Vucinic put Roma in front with 15 minutes remaining before captain Francesco Totti converted from the penalty spot shortly after.

Nicola Ventola reduced the deficit two minutes from time but there was to be no Torino comeback.

Toro even ended the game with 10 men after Ivan Franceschini was sent off with seven minutes remaining.

It had, though, all started so well for the visitors. After nine minutes they took the lead when Vailatti fired in a tremendous shot from the edge of the area which beat Roma goalkeeper Artur.

Alessandro Rosina then fired wide from close range.

Torino continued to dominate possession and Riccardo Colombo twice had the chance to extend his team's lead but both his efforts from outside the area went too high.

But Roma who had already secured a sixth-place finish and a spot in next season's Europa League after a 3-2 victory at AC Milan in the last round, equalised shortly after the half-hour mark.

Totti's assist found Menez whose left-footed strike from the edge of the area beat Torino goalkeeper Matteo Sereni.

Torino almost regained the lead shortly after with Ventola latching onto Rosina's cross but his close-range header went wide.

Roma should have gone in front on the stroke of half-time but Vucinic's strike inside the area from Totti's cross went inches wide of the far post.

As the second half started, Torino were looking the most likely team to go down with Bologna winning comfortably against Catania.

And Sereni was forced to clear with his foot from a Marco Cassetti close-range effort.

But news that Catania had scored at Bologna gave Torino fans hope of an escape and shortly after the hour mark Ventola warmed the hands of Artur with a fierce strike from the distance which the keeper palmed over for a corner.

Rosina then missed a golden chance to put his ahead with his effort from the edge of the area going wide and high.

And news that Bologna had taken a 3-1 lead proved a hammer blow for the visitors and Toro soon fell behind.

Vucinic fired a right-footed strike from the edge of the box to beat Sereni.

After 79 minutes, Toro were unlucky not to equalise with Paolo Dellafiore's header beating Artur but rebounding off the crossbar.

But with seven minutes remaining the referee pointed to the penalty spot after Franceschini brought down Cassetti inside the area.

Franceschini was shown a red card and Totti coolly struck his shot beyond the reach of Sereni and inside the the left post.

Toro never gave up and, despite being a man down followed Franceschini's sending off, they reduced the deficit three minutes from time as Ventola's acrobatic strike from Denis D'Onofrio's cross beat Artur.

It was not enough though as Roma held on and Torino dropped out of Serie A.