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Christian Maggio's last-gasp goal gave Napoli their first Serie A away win in a calendar year and ended Fiorentina's unbeaten home record despite Sebastien Frey's penalty save.
This was expected to be a head-to-head for European places, but instead Napoli found themselves floudering. New boss Walter Mazzarri won on his debut in stoppages, but needed to end their record of losing all four away games this season. Paolo Cannavaro sat out a ban with the injured Fabiano Santacroce and Juan Zuniga. The Viola were fresh from a dramatic 4-3 Champions League win at Debrecen, but Marco Marchionni was sidelined and Alberto Gilardino rested.
Napoli had the first chance 120 seconds in, as Ezequiel Lavezzi spread the play right for Cristian Maggio, whose angled drive stung Sebastien Frey's palms.
Morgan De Sanctis blocked a Stevan Jovetic snapshot, but Adrian Mutu was booked for a handling offence when he prodded the Jovetic ball away from the goalkeeper.
A smart ball over the top from Cristiano Zanetti found Juan Manuel Vargas for an angled drive that shaved a coat of paint off the far post. It flashed all the way across the face of goal as the Stadio Franchi held its breath.
Napoli were very dangerous on the counter and had a double opportunity on the half-hour mark, as Lavezzi sprung the offside trap and fired at Frey, then the Marek Hamsik follow-up was also parried as the goalkeeper continued to stand his ground.
Frey continued his heroics by beating away a low Hamsik shot from close range. When Lavezzi did hit the back of the net, it was flagged offside from Lavezzi's through ball.
Gilardino came off the bench and within 90 seconds had Fiorentina's best chance of the game so far. He got his head to a corner and De Sanctis performed a desperate point-blank reaction save, then Martin Jorgensen's follow-up was cleared off the line.
Vargas went on the counter and forced a save out of the Napoli shot-stopper at the near post after Gila's penalty appeals for a coming together with Contini.
Napoli boss Mazzarri was sent off for dissent on 66 minutes. Quagliarella sprung the offside trap soon after to go one-on-one with Frey, but once again the goalkeeper stood his ground to block the shot from point-blank range.
10 minutes from time the referee awarded a soft penalty. Hamsik got away from Massimo Gobbi, who started a shirt-tug and released immediately, but the damage was done. Quagliarella stepped up and took a good angled penalty, but Frey continued his incredible match with a save!
Frey again parried a Quagliarella strike and Lavezzi had penalty appeals for contact with De Silvestri.
For the second game on the trot, Maggio scored in the final minutes to give Napoli the victory! He ran on to a ball rolled across from the right flank and slipped it past Frey at the near post from six yards.
In stoppages a row broke out between Gilardino, Aronica and Vargas.
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