Rome  - Reggina worsened their situation as Serie A tail- enders Saturday, suffering a 5-0 drubbing at Sampdoria in a game they played, for the most part, with 10 men.

The Genoa hosts kept some of their best players on the bench in order to conserve energy for the Italian Cup final they are set to play Wednesday in Rome against Lazio.

Samp's game, however, soon turned into an easy affair as Dessena opened the scoring in the first minute and the guests from Reggio Calabria had Uruguayan Carlos Valdez dismissed on 19 minutes for a last-man foul on Giampaolo Pazzini.

After his low winning drive, Dessena scored again on 31 minutes, this time drilling a shot into the top corner to the left of Christian Puggioni.

Luck didn't help Reggina five minutes later, when a header from Gennaro Delvecchio found the deflection of Brazilian defender Gleison Santos to again beat Puggioni.

The young Guido Marilungo added a fourth goal right after the break and Giampaolo Pazzini beefed up his tally to 11 goals with a smashing drive.

Reggina did well in the past three games, winning 1-0 at Atalanta, drawing 2-2 with Juventus and clinching a 2-1 away win over Bologna, who are only two points ahead before visiting Torino on Sunday.

Second-from-bottom Lecce also play Sunday at Napoli with one more point than Reggina, while Torino are one point above Bologna with four games remaining.

Later Saturday, Lazio also look to save energies for Wednesday's game as they welcome Udinese in Rome for a mid-table tie.

AC Milan and Juventus highlight the weekend late Sunday as they vie for second place currently occupied by Milan. Front-runners Inter Milan play at minnows Chievo with a seven-point lead over city rivals Milan. (dpa)