AC Milan needed a late winner from Mathieu Flamini to edge past Novara 2-1 and reach the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.

Filippo Inzaghi put Milan ahead in the 12th minute, but Pablo Andres Gonzalez levelled in the 46th minute to give the visitors hope of staging an upset.

But Flamini struck with nine minutes remaining to spare the Serie A side's blushes.

Juventus enjoyed rather smoother progress with a 3-0 home win over 10-man Napoli to ease the pressure on under-fire coach Ciro Ferrara.

Diego opened the scoring in the 24th minute before Alessandro Del Piero finished Napoli off with two late goals, his second coming in the 83rd minute from the penalty spot.

Napoli had Matteo Contini sent off for a second yellow card for a foul on Diego in the lead-up to the penalty.

Genoa conceded two goals in the first eight minutes and had two players sent off as they lost 2-1 to Catania.

Two goals from Gianvito Plasmati put the visitors two up before Marco Rossi pulled one back in the 57th minute.

But Genoa hopes of a comeback were dashed when first Socratis Papastathopoulos (58) and then Rossi (59) were sent off.