Dominique Malonga replaced the injured Alessandro Rosina soon after kick-off and celebrated his first Serie A goal in the 15th minute as Torino went ahead

Despite losing Julio Vargas to a red card in the 27th minute, Catania battled back with Jorge Martinez scoring a deserved equaliser midway through the second half.

Torino then lost Davide Di Michele to a serious knee injury, leaving them to end the game also with 10 men.

The result means Sicilian minnows Catania are a surprising 10th while Torino are 13th in Serie A.

Catania began brightly, pegging Torino back inside their own half for the first 15 minutes of the game.

The Sicilians were enjoying a lot of freedom down the right wing, and from here, they created two excellent chances to open the scoring.

In the 11th minute, Mark Edusei sent in the cross which Gionathan Spinesi should have put past Alberto Fontana, but his header from seven yards not only failed to trouble the Torino goalkeeper, it did not even hit the target.

Two minutes later, Davide Baiocco created the next chance for Martinez, who struck a fine volley on the turn which did force Fontana into a save with his fists.

Torino finally broke out of their half after 15 minutes and no sooner had they made their first incursion into the Catania area that they were ahead.

Nicola Ventola created a chance out of nothing, striking the crossbar with an overhead kick from the edge of the penalty area and Malonga, who had only been on the field for 10 minutes to replace the injured Rosina, followed in to slot the ball in for his first Serie A goal.

Catania certainly did not deserve to be behind and it took them a while to come to terms with the shock before they resumed control of the game.

In the 21st minute, Giuseppe Colucci crossed and Giuseppe Mascara flicked his header just wide of the far post.

Vargas then ruined the game for his team, earning a red card for vigorously complaining a decision to book Spinesi for a suspected dive in the penalty area.

Mascara was forced to play as full-back for 15 minutes until Catania coach Silvio Baldini chose to sacrifice Colucci, who was playing his first game after a seven-month injury lay-off, and bring on Gennaro Sardo, a more conventional defender.

Catania were stretched, but they continued to search for an equaliser.

And they got it in the 63rd minute as Mascara's cross was pushed into an empty net by Martinez.

The low ball drew Spinesi, Fontana and another Torino defender to the near post, but the ball bypassed all three of them before finding Martinez, dead centre, and he had an easy tap-in ahead of Salvatore Lanna.

It was the last intervention of Martinez, who injured himself scoring and headed straight back to the bench to be replaced by Julio Izco.

Torino's day took another turn for the worse with little over 10 minutes remaining after Grella came off the bench to join the action.

As they looked to take the lead, Di Michele jumped in with Ciro Polito, but got his leg wrapped around the Catania goalkeeper and was left in agony on the field with Polito the first to offer assistance.

It was clear from his reaction that he had done serious damage to his knee and, on only his second appearance of the season after sitting out a three-month suspension, he faces another lengthy break.

It also meant Torino, who had already made three changes, also had to end the game with just 10 men.

And the final whistle signalled the end of a miserable day for Torino.