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Napoli fought back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in Turin, dooming Juventus to a shock defeat in this thrilling game with Amauri sent off.
Ciro Ferrara and Fabio Cannavaro faced their hometown club with Juve hoping to build on their phenomenal 5-1 win over Sampdoria. Amauri has scored four goals in the last three games, but was rested in favour of David Trezeguet, while Momo Sissoko, Alex Del Piero, Jonathan Zebina, Hasan Salihamidzic, Vincenzo Iaquinta and Martin Caceres were injured. Napoli fought back from 2-0 down to hold Milan 2-2 in stoppages, but rested Fabio Quagliarella and had Fabio Santacroce, Juan Zuniga and Roberto De Zerbi injured.
The last time the Partenopei scored in Turin was a 2-2 draw back in 1998, failing to net in the following three visits. The two Cannavaro brothers came face to face, while Gigi Buffon played just hours after the birth of his second child.
Juve nearly scored 20 seconds in! Sebastian Giovinco sprung the offside trap a third of the way up the field and rushed into the box to flash an angled drive inches past the base of the far post.
At the other end on seven minutes a taut Christian Maggio cross-shot flew past a German Denis diving header when the ball only needed a tap-in from six yards.
Morgan De Sanctis smothered a Fabio Grosso strike, but German Denis skipped past Giorgio Chiellini and pulled back for Denis, who slipped at the crucial moment near the penalty spot.
A Salvatore Aronica blockbuster from 30 yards was heading for the crossbar before Buffon got his fingertips to it. From the resulting corner Denis' header went wide with Ezequiel Lavezzi just unable to get the final touch. Moments later another Denis header whistled past the post, as 'El Tanque' was wreaking havoc from set-pieces.
A surrounded Diego managed to chip a cross to the back post for Felipe Melo, who trapped with his right foot and fired inches wide with the left.
There was a horrible accident when Mauro Camoranesi clashed with Matteo Contini and was left with blood pouring down his head. He wanted to carry on, but it was a very deep cut and he made way for Tiago Mendes before having four stitches put in.
Juventus broke through on 35 minutes with a classic Trezeguet header. The Frenchman had barely touched the ball until then, but got in front of his marker to meet Zdenek Grygera's cross, a powerful header bending De Sanctis' fingertips at the near post.
Before half-time Buffon palmed a Walter Gargano free kick round the upright and Giovinco very nearly pounced on a Maggio backpass.
After the restart Felipe Melo charged down a Marek Hamsik volley, but Napoli literally gifted the second goal to Juventus. Contini was totally unmarked to deal with a Trezeguet cross from the left, but incredibly nodded it on to the feet of Giovinco, who couldn't help but score from nine yards.
Napoli completed a comeback from 2-0 down in stoppages against Milan midweek and got right back in this game. Jesus Datolo had just come on when he flashed a low ball across the face of goal from the left that went past Lavezzi, but Hamsik fired under the bar from six yards.
Trezeguet sprung the offside trap on Tiago's through ball and was going round De Sanctis, but the goalkeeper recovered his position to block.
It was nearly 2-2 when a very dangerous Datolo cross went all the way across with Denis inches away from making contact. They were pouring forward and Datolo completed the comeback, as Buffon parried a Denis header from point-blank range and the Argentine was first to get on the loose ball.
Mazzarri wanted to win it and threw on Quagliarella for Denis. So did Ferrara, who introduced Amauri for Christian Poulsen.
This time it was Juventus who gave the goal away as Napoli went 3-2 up in Turin with eight minutes left. Lavezzi went on the counter from a Juve corner and Tiago clumsily only cleared it back to the edge of the box for Hamsik to smash under the bar with the inside of his right foot.
Ferrara introduced De Ceglie for Giovinco, as the Bianconeri were far too exposed to the counter. The substitute could've made it 3-3, but only managed a fresh-air shot on the volley.
The tension escalated and in stoppages De Sanctis just about smothered a Diego free kick and Amauri tried to get the ball, accidentally kicking the goalkeeper in the head. Napoli were furious and a scuffle broke out, leading to a red card for Amauri.
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