SSC Napoli substitute Manolo Gabbiadini converted a penalty with the last kick of the game to salvage a 3-3 draw at ACF Fiorentina, who were inspired by a superb display from Federico Bernardeschi.
Bernardeschi scored two goals and provided the third for Mauro Zarate as Fiorentina twice came from behind to lead 3-2 in a game that produced stunning goals, mistakes, drama and controversy.
In other games, second-placed AS Roma came from behind to beat AC Chievo Verona 3-1 and Cagliari fought back from 3-1 down for a 4-3 win over US Sassuolo, who played the second half with 10 men.
Photo: EPA
Roma’s win took them onto 38 points, four behind leaders Juventus, who were yesterday scheduled to play AC Milan in the Supercoppa Italiana in Doha.
Napoli are third with 35, one ahead of SS Lazio.
Lorenzo Insigne gave Napoli a deserved lead when he beat Ciprian Tatarusanu with a vicious dipping shot from long range in the 25th minute.
Bernardeschi leveled seven minutes after the restart with a free-kick, which went through the middle of the Napoli wall and caught Pepe Reina off guard.
Napoli went back in front when Fiorentina defender Nenad Tomovic failed to control a straightforward pass and let in Dries Mertens, who scored his eighth league goal in three games with a clinical finish in the 68th minute.
One minute later, Bernardeschi collected the ball in midfield and unleashed a wicked long-range left-foot shot that bounced once and went in off the post.
The 22-year-old was in inspired form and chipped a delightful ball over the top of the Napoli defense into the path of Mauro Zarate, who met it first time and side-footed the ball past Reina with nine minutes left.
Fiorentina were on the point of celebrating a famous win until Carlos Salcedo clumsily tripped Mertens and Gabbiadini, who has been struggling for form, calmly slotted his spot-kick into the bottom corner.
Roma suffered a fright when Jonathan de Guzman headed Chievo in front at the Stadio Olimpico, but Stephan El Shaarawy curled home a free-kick to level in first-half stoppage time to calm their nerves.
In the second half, Roma’s Edin Dzeko tapped in his 13th goal of the season and substitute Diego Perotti converted a penalty to ground the Mussi Volanti.
Injury-hit Sassuolo’s topsy-turvy season took another twist at Cagliari.
Lorenzo Pellegrini put them 2-1 ahead in the 32nd minute, but was sent off almost immediately afterward for a shocking two-footed challenge. Nevertheless, Francesco Acerbi increased Sassuolo’s lead from a penalty just before the hour.
However, things quickly began to go wrong, as Marco Borriello pulled one back, Diego Farias equalized with a deflected shot and then grabbed the winner for the Sardinians, with their last three goals all coming inside 14 dramatic minutes.
Cristiano Biraghi converted a stoppage-time penalty to give basement club Delfino Pescara 1936 a 1-1 draw at US Citta di Palermo, while Andrea Belotti scored his 13th goal of the season in Torino’s 1-0 win over Genoa.
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