Serie A title hopefuls Napoli suffered their first defeat since the opening day of the season when they were stunned 3-2 at Roberto Donadoni’s resurgent Bologna in a midday match, yesterday.
Mattia Destro, revitalised since the new coach was appointed, scored in each half for Bologna, either side of a Luca Rossettini header.
While Gonzalo Higuain scored two late goals to set up a dramatic finale, Bologna held on to secure one of the unlikeliest results of the season and raise doubt about Napoli’s title credentials.
Napoli slid to third place in the standings on 31 points, missing the chance to retake top spot from Inter, who beat Genoa 1-0 on Saturday, while victory took Bologna out of the relegation zone.
Maurizio Sarri’s side headed into this match with Serie A’s joint-best defensive record, having conceded only nine goals, and their superb backline had underpinned an 18-game undefeated streak in all competitions, stretching back to an opening-day loss at Sassuolo.
Bologna, though, have lost only once since Donadoni replaced Delio Rossi at the end of October and started strongly, taking the lead in the 14th minute.
Destro was picked out by a long ball from Amadou Diawara, and outmuscled Raul Albiol before slamming the ball past Pepe Reina for his third goal of the season.
Rossettini extended the advantage seven minutes later when he headed Franco Brienza’s pinpoint corner past Reina, before the Spanish keeper let a first-time Destro shot slip past him on the hour mark after lax defending by the visitors.
Higuain revived Napoli when he pulled a goal back on 87 minutes after touching a Lorenzo Insigne cross past Mirante, and added another three minutes later with a low strike to set up a tense finale.
Fiorentina later assumed second place by trouncing Udinese 3-0 at home.
Napoli’s defeat at Bologna left them vulnerable to being leap-frogged by Fiorentina, who duly obliged thanks to goals from Milan Badelj, Josip Ilicic and Gonzalo Rodriguez.
Paulo Sousa’s men are now one point behind leaders Inter.
Their next league engagement sees them visit bitter rivals Juventus and victory there, coupled with a poor result for Inter at Udinese, would take the Tuscans top.
Sassuolo stunned Sampdoria 3-1 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris to move back into the race for a Europa League place.
The visitors dominated throughout and Francesco Acerbi opened the scoring with a deflected goal inside eight minutes.
Sergio Floccari soon tucked away Sime Vrsaljko’s cross while goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano was on the ground.
Teenager Lorenzo Pellegrini, 19, made it 3-0 with his first Serie A goal six minutes before half-time, the young Sassuolo midfielder beating Viviano by converting his own blocked shot.
Sampdoria then scored a consolation goal through Ervin Zukanovic right on the stroke of full-time.
Meanwhile, in the late kick-off, Milan were unable to go beyond a goalless draw against relegation-threatened Carpi to fall behind in the race for Champions League places.
Despite seeing more of the ball for the entire match, the Rossoneri were kept back by modest Carpi who remain 19th place in the standings, five points away from safety.
Serie A
Atalanta 3
Denis 18; Cherubin 25; De Roon 80;
Palermo 0
HT: 2-0. Att: 15,000.
Red card: Migliaccio (A) 76.
Bologna 3
Destro 14, 60; Rossettini 21;
Napoli 2
Higuain 87, 90;
HT: 2-0. Att: 22,334
Carpi 0
Milan 0
Att: 8,000.
Fiorentina 3
Badelj 26; Ilicic 62 pen; Rodriguez 86;
Udinese 0
HT: 1-0. Att: 27,021.
Frosinone 0
Chievo 2
Paloschi 89 pen; Meggiorini 90+3;
HT: 0-0. Att: 7,252.
Red card: Pepe (C) 90+2.
Sampdoria 1
Zukanovic 90;
Sassuolo 3
Acerbi 8; Floccari 27; Pellegrini 39;
HT: 0-3. Att: 21,500.
Verona 0
Empoli 1
Costa 62;
HT: 0-0. Att: 15,198.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Inter | 15 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 9 | 33 |
| Fiorentina | 15 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 30 | 12 | 32 |
| Napoli | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 28 | 12 | 31 |
| Roma | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 30 | 18 | 28 |
| Juventus | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 22 | 11 | 27 |
| Sassuolo | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 26 |
| Atalanta | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 15 | 24 |
| Milan | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 19 | 18 | 24 |
| Torino | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 19 | 22 |
| Empoli | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 20 | 21 |
| Chievo | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 16 | 19 |
| Lazio | 15 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 17 | 24 | 19 |
| Udinese | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 20 | 18 |
| Sampdoria | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 21 | 25 | 16 |
| Bologna | 15 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 16 | 21 | 16 |
| Genoa | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 20 | 16 |
| Palermo | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 23 | 15 |
| Frosinone | 15 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 26 | 14 |
| Carpi | 15 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 27 | 10 |
| Verona | 15 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 25 | 6 |
Top scorers
14 goals: Higuain (Napoli).
10 goals: Eder (Sampdoria).
9 goals: Kalinic (Fiorentina).
7 goals: Insigne (Napoli), Pjanic (Roma), Dybala (Juventus).
Serie B
Cagliari vs Como - 1-1
Vicenza vs Salernitana - 0-0
Lega Pro
Group A: FeralpiSalo vs Cuneo 0-1; Reggiana vs Pavia 0-0; Renate vs Pro Piacenza 0-2.
Group B: Maceratese vs Carrarese 4-1; Lucchese vs Teramo 3-1; Lupa Roma vs Savona 2-1; Pistoiese vs Arezzo 1-1; Spal vs US Ancona 1-1.
Group C: Akragas vs Foggia 0-1; Casertana vs Monopoli 2-1; Martina vs Lupa Castelli Romani 3-0.