The Serie A leaders, Juventus, suffered a 2-1 defeat at mid-table Fiorentina as the title race came alive following a bad-tempered but pulsating match.
Juve’s fourth league reverse of the season, all away from home, meant the champions’ lead at the top was cut to one point after second-placed Roma beat Udinese 1-0 away despite a penalty miss from their leading scorer, Edin Dzeko.
Juventus still have a game in hand but the momentum now appears to be with Luciano Spalletti’s Roma side who have won six of their last seven Serie A games and have 44 points.
Napoli beat Pescara 3-1 to stay third on 41 points, with Lazio a further point back in fourth after a 2-1 win over Atalanta in which both coaches were sent to the stands.
Fiorentina, who are one of the best teams in Serie A on their day but suffer from inconsistency, deservedly went ahead against Juventus through Nikola Kalinic seven minutes before halftime.
Federico Bernardeschi won possession off Alex Sandro and slipped the ball through to Kalinic who guided a well-placed shot wide of Gianluigi Buffon.
Kalinic’s fellow Croat Milan Badelj doubled Fiorentina’s lead in the 54th with a cross that found the net as the Juve defence were distracted by Federico Chiesa’s lunge at the ball.
Gonzalo Higuaín pulled one back three minutes later with a typically opportunist goal, the Argentine’s 13th in the league this season, to set up a tense final half-hour.
Play was repeatedly interrupted by late tackles and the match finished with 38 fouls and eight yellow cards, but there were also chances for both sides.
Higuaín had a header parried at point-blank range by Ciprian Tatarusanu who managed to gather the ball at the second attempt.
Paulo Dybala got into an excellent scoring position but fired wildly over while Fiorentina’s Josip Ilicic missed a golden chance on the break at the other end.
Radja Nainggolan gave Roma a 12th-minute lead at Udinese, scoring on the half-volley, before Dzeko’s penalty miss six minutes later. The Bosnia forward, who has scored 13 league goals this season, sent his effort high and wide of the goal.
The Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny spared Dzeko’s blushes soon after with a brilliant save to deny Felipe’s close-range header and then managed to turn away Rodrigo de Paul’s shot from under the bar in the next Udinese attack.
Francesco Totti passed another landmark when the 40-year-old came on for Roma in the second half – he has now played for them in each of the last 25 years.
Napoli broke loose after half-time against Pescara with goals from Lorenzo Tonelli, Marek Hamsik and Dries Mertens while Gianluca Caprari replied with a stoppage-time penalty.
Andrea Petagna gave Atalanta the lead at Lazio with a superb effort when he collected Stefan Radu’s pass with his back to goal and scored with a half-volley on the turn.
The Lazio coach, Simone Inzaghi, had already been sent off for dissent before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic headed in Lucas Biglia’s free-kick to equalise just before half-time. Immobile earned and converted a penalty in the 68th to win the game for the hosts.
Inzaghi’s opposite number, Gian Piero Gasperini, was also ordered from the touchline as his frustration boiled over.
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