A Paulo Dybala scorcher and late Moise Kean nutmeg turned around the Giacomo Raspadori opener, as Juventus beat Sassuolo to close within a point of third-placed Napoli.
The Bianconeri were decimated by injuries and illness, with Matthijs de Ligt only fit for the bench, Dusan Vlahovic rested after the Coppa Italia semi-final, Juan Cuadrado, Arthur Melo, Manuel Locatelli, Kaio Jorge and Federico Chiesa injured. Sassuolo missed Jeremy Toljan and Pedro Obiang, but Domenico Berardi returned after he was ruled out of the surprise defeat with Cagliari.
The Neroverdi won 2-1 in Turin in October, but their only ever home victory against Juventus was in 2015, when Max Allegri was again on the visitors’ bench.
Giacomo Raspadori, who has been heavily linked with a move to Juve, shrugged off two defenders for a curler that skimmed the far top corner from the edge of the box.
Davide Frattesi’s header on a corner was inches over the bar and Domenico Berardi stung Wojciech Szczesny’s gloves with a scorcher.
Frattesi made a decisive block from close range on Paulo Dybala, but Szczesny was again called into action by a ferocious Gianluca Scamacca strike from a tricky angle.
The Sassuolo goal had been coming and arrived after a long passing move, which saw Berardi’s back-heel flick on the Kyriakopoulos through ball to send Raspadori clear for a powerful angled drive.
Juventus equalised on the stroke of half-time when Morata robbed Kyriakopoulos in a touchline tussle that Sassuolo felt was a foul, setting up Dybala for a fantastic left-foot strike into the roof of the net from a tricky angle.
It was very nearly 1-2 straight after the restart, Andrea Consigli with a spectacular reaction save to claw Morata’s header out from under the bar on a corner.
At the other end, Mert Muldur stung Szczesny’s gloves again, Scamacca booked for trying to score on the rebound with his arm.
Morata spun round to drill just wide, as did Kyriakopoulos, while Moise Kean tested Consigli from point-blank range and Szczesny was almost caught out by a deflected Scamacca attempt.
It was Juventus who snatched a winner in the final minute. Leonardo Bonucci’s long ball over the top was knocked down, Moise Kean turned Vlad Chiriches with his body and drilled between Consigli’s legs at the near post.
Sassuolo 1-2 Juventus
Raspadori 39 (S), Dybala 45 (J), Kean 89 (J)