Teenager Stephan El Shaarawy saved AC Milan's blushes as he came off the bench to snatch an equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Udinese at the San Siro on Wednesday.
The result left Milan just a point above the relegation zone and means that neither of the two Milan giants have a victory after three games of the new season.
Inter Milan's 3-1 defeat at Novara on Tuesday, which led to coach Gian Piero Gasperini being sacked on Wednesday, means they are in the bottom three, a point behind Milan.
Genoa are the early Serie A leaders on goals scored, ahead of Juventus and Udinese, after they beat Catania 3-0.
In Milan the champions were hoping to avoid the pitfalls that befell their neighbours the day before but in the end were lucky to escape with a point.
Coach Massimilano Allegri admitted the table, with Milan in 14th, didn't make pleasant viewing.
"We played well right up until the end and only risked conceding on the counter," he said.
"It's normal that it's not nice looking at the table but the important thing is how you play.
"I'm happy because the lads played well and took risks by trying to score."
Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin admitted Milan were the better side.
"We didn't miss a chance to win, Milan did more and created more than us and we didn't have the legs," he said.
"We played very well, we should be happy. We got a point which suits us and we deserved it."
In a quiet start the only clear chance came from an Alexandre Pato header that drifted well off target.
That was just about the Brazilian forward's only contribution before he limped off to be replaced by Italo-Egyptian teenager El Shaarawy, an Italy youth international who spent last season on loan at Serie B Padova.
Milan shot themselves in the foot on 29 minutes as goalkeeper Christian Abbiati spilled a Gabriel Torje cross from the left and Antonio Di Natale accepted the gift to shoot into an empty net.
The closest Milan came in the first period was a bullet free-kick from Dutch veteran Clarence Seedorf that beat Samir Handanovic but crashed back off the post.
In first half injury time Antonio Cassano teed up Antonio Nocerino but Handanovic was out quickly to block at his feet before Ignazio Abate fired the rebound wide.
The champions turned up the pressure after the restart and Handanovic had to make another crucial stop from Cassano at point-blank range after Seedorf's clipped ball over the top.
It was backs to the wall for Udinese and they crumbled on 63 minutes as Cassano slipped the ball to his right and El Shaarawy pulled the ball back across a wrong-footed Handanovic and inside the far post.
That sparked Udinese out of their shell and they almost had the lead again 15 minutes from time when Di Natale teed up Giampiero Pinza who cracked a shot against the inside of the post, the ball rolling across the line before going wide of the far post.
In the closing stages Milan were indebted to Abbiati for holding onto a point.
First he scrambled across his line to claw away a header from Morocco centre-back Mehdi Benatia before moments later getting down quickly to save a snap-shot from Di Natale.
Rodrigo Palacio, a transfer window target for Milan, scored twice before Guinea midfielder Kevin Constant added the third to send Genoa top.
Juventus remain just behind after a 1-1 draw at home to Bologna.
Mirko Vucinic opened the scoring for the hosts before getting sent off before half-time.
Daniele Portanova scored the equaliser seven minutes into the second period.
Napoli dropped off the top after losing 1-0 at Chievo as coach Walter Mazzarri's team selection backfired spectacularly as he left out five first-team regulars.
Atalanta moved off the bottom following a 2-1 win at Lecce that means they even moved above Inter and out of the relegation zone despite starting the season with a six-point penalty.
Source: AFP
