Serie A leaders AC Milan and second-placed Juventus were held to draws by lowly opponents on Saturday but in starkly contrasting fashion.
In a pulsating match in Florence, Juve came from behind three times with two goals from Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic helping them salvage a 3-3 draw at Fiorentina.
Milan were held 1-1 at home to Brescia after a thundering equaliser from the visitors' defender Pier Wome three minutes from time ended their run of eight successive wins.
Those results left Milan top on goal difference with both teams on 67 points from 30 matches and eight games left.
Third-placed Inter, who face Milan in a Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday, won 1-0 at Bologna with an early goal by Julio Ricardo Cruz against his old club. Despite the win Inter are still 14 points behind the leaders.
Giampaolo Pazzini fired Fiorentina in front against Juventus after 14 minutes with a fabulous strike from outside the area.
Just eight minutes later Alessandro Del Piero brought Juve level with a near post shot that Fiorentina keeper Cristian Cejas should have kept out.
A Giorgio Chiellini header from a Martin Jorgensen cross sent the Florence side in 2-1 up at the break but another mistake from Cejas allowed Juve to equalise again.
The Fiorentina keeper raced out of his area but his weak clearance fell straight at the feet of Ibrahimovic who drifted the ball into the unguarded goal.
With 15 minutes remaining Fiorentina went ahead for the third time in the game with a Dario Dainelli header but once again the Viola, coached by former Juventus favourite Dino Zoff, were unable to hold on to their lead.
With eight minutes remaining Juve produced a fluent passing move and, after a smart one-two with Marcelo Zalayeta, Ibrahimovic's classy finish earned the Turin side a point.
SEVERAL CHANGES
Milan, without injured captain Paolo Maldini and with several changes to the side that beat Inter 2-0 on Wednesday, got the perfect start with Rui Costa's beautiful strike after he cut in from the wing to score his first goal of the season.
Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf then went close to a second with a similar effort from the edge of the area that flew just wide of the post.
Danish forward Jon Dahl Tomasson missed a good chance for Milan but Carlo Ancelotti's side struggled after the break to create any clear scoring opportunities.
With a ninth successive league win looking on the cards, Wome struck from over 20 metres with a sweetly-timed left foot drive that whistled past Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper Dida.
"We have won quite a few games with late goals and now we have conceded one. They deserved the equaliser," said Ancelotti.
"We struggled. It is not easy to prepare for games like this. We got the early goal but we weren't able to build up on it," said the Milan coach.
Inter's opener came when Dutch winger Andy van der Meyde wound his way down the right flank and slipped the ball to Argentine Cruz who slotted home from close range after just four minutes.
Soon after Bologna had a 'goal' disallowed when Albanian Igli Tare headed home only for his effort to be ruled out for offside and that was the closest they came to an equaliser.
